ANC national conference: ‘Walk the talk, Cyril’

As President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday flagged challenges confronting South Africa – unemployment, poverty, inequality, rising cost of living, soaring crime levels, instability and poor service delivery – in marking the opening of the last two days of the ANC’s 55th national conference, political analysts called for leadership and political will to take centre stage.

Hybrid national conference

Addressing ANC delegates in a hybrid national conference in Mangaung today, he is expected to adopt a wide range of resolutions and a declaration.

“The decisions we take will have far-reaching impact on our movement and on the country – determining whether our movement will overcome the many challenges that confront us and the people of our country,” Ramaphosa said.

“These decisions will also determine whether we are able to reverse the organisational and electoral decline that we identified when we met last December, and whether we will emerge stronger, more united and more effective in meeting the needs of the people of our country.

“They will need to accelerate the pace as well as the direction and also deepen the impact of the fundamental social and economic transformation, that our people are looking forward to,” he said.

Leading political analysts were far from being convinced and they pointed to lack of leadership and political will.

Experts weigh in

University of Pretoria politics lecturer Roland Henwood said: “The organisational dysfunction, lack of action and engagement by government will not suddenly change by itself, it is a matter of leadership and political will.

“A political party in government for 23 years has no excuses for not delivering on its mandate.”

Lack of action and engagement with the myriad of problems facing South Africa, has led to despair.

“While the jury is out for the new ANC leadership to prove itself through creating a sense of urgency in the party and in government, the question remains whose interests come first [for the ANC], the party or the country,” Henwood said.

Professor Dirk Kotzé of the University of South Africa political science faculty said the ANC “has reached a point where it has become difficult to turn things around before next year’s general election”. “The ANC has reached the politics of public opinion.

What happens on the ground will certainly have some effect, which is unlikely to change or save the party.

“Based on the notion of rotation and for checks and balances to work, democratic politics is designed for parties not to be in power for 10 to 15 years and the ANC has been there for 23 years,” Kotzé said. “The same principle applies to opposition politics.

“The longer the party is in power, the less constitutional mechanisms become [effective] – simply because the party becomes too established.

Democracy is uncertain

“Democracy works with an element of uncertainty, that parties should be vigilant and watch the impact of what they are doing,” said Kotzé.

Sanusha Naidu of the Institute for Global Dialogue said what Ramaphosa noted as serious challenges facing SA, were “nothing unfamiliar to us”.

“He made these points in the closing address of the ANC conference in 2022 – still to be continued in 2023.

“He mentioned organisational challenges and how the ANC needed to overcome these and growing the electoral footprint of the party.

“It is difficult to distinguish between the rhetoric and what is really going to happen – what is the road map and the actual strategy?

“The how question is what has been missing for … the over two decades of ANC governance of South Africa.”

University of Johannesburg politics Professor Siphamandla Zondi said the ANC had “no option, either it renewed and rejuvenated itself or it dies – perhaps a slow death”.

“Electoral outcomes and a general societal mood suggest that the ball is in the ANC’s court – whether it survives to lead better or it dies.”

– brians@citizen.co.za