In the past two weeks, the ANC has shown that it couldn’t care less about what people think of the whole #NkandlaGate saga as they continue on their stance to defend the president.
I have always said that arrogance will be the ANC’s downfall and this past week, they have shown just how arrogant they are.
Time and again the party has shown that owning up to mistakes and taking responsibility for your actions is foreign to them.
We have a president who seems to be living in his own universe, where he can do as he pleases and no one can touch him.
After the recent events, instead of taking some kind of disciplinary action against the president, the ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, has warned those in the ANC who publicly criticise the president to stop or face the music.
Gwede warned that ANC members who speak out against president Jacob Zuma will ‘pay the price’.
This is after a number of senior officials within the party expressed their disapproval over the president in recent weeks. Many in the party believe the president should step down after the Constitutional Court ruling which found that he failed to uphold his constitutional obligations as the first citizen of this country.
When I watched the parliamentary debate on the Con Court ruling, I could not believe some ANC MPs even resorted to quote Bible verses – all done in defence of the president who seems to have forgotten the oath he took when became the president of the Republic.
When he read out his apology, I could not believe that I was listening to a president justify illegal actions, putting the blame on the poor advice he had been given. One would expect that a president would have a full understanding of the Constitution.
Especially someone with access to all the legal advice he needs as well as advisers.
With just a few months left before the local government elections, one would be forgiven for thinking perhaps the elections were cancelled or postponed, because the way the ANC is conducting its affairs does not seem like the best way a political party should conduct itself if their mission is to do well in those elections. But maybe Congolose has so much confidence in itself that they could not care about all those who are making noise about removing the president. Or maybe they have lost touch with reality and have no idea of how their conduct has affected the way people perceive the party on the ground.
‘People vote for the party not an individual’ – this is the ANC’s favourite line and maybe it has worked for them in the past, but can it still work in the current situation? I guess one will have to wait until August 3 to see just how loyal people are to the organisation.
It is no secret that some in the ANC feel that those in the National Executive Committee (NEC) have done everything in their power to shield the president through all the scandals he has faced in the past few months.
I truly feel sorry for those who will be campaigning for people to vote for the ANC in the upcoming local government elections.
It can’t be easy to convince people to vote for a party which you feel has lost its moral compass.
Maybe the party does not care about winning the big Metros in the local government elections this time around. Generally, people in the urban areas are more unforgiving than those in the rural areas.
