An ANC that says one thing and does another

This morning when I came into the office and looked at the morning papers, it was almost funny to compare this paper’s front-page headline with the one on the front of The Star.

In The Star, the ANC is reportedly taking stern “whip-cracking” action over its rogue MP Dr Makhosi Khoza. The Citizen’s headline would make you think she’ll be free to carry on throwing her rocks at President Jacob Zuma because the ANC doesn’t want to seem like it’s too intolerant of debate.

Obviously, one of the articles must be mistaken. Schrödinger’s political cat can’t be both alive and dead at the same time.

Our story appears to have reported on what the ANC is saying they’re going to do, or not, in this case; The Star is telling us what they’re actually already doing.

Somehow thinking anyone might believe him, party spokesperson Zizi Kodwa declared yesterday they would not be taking any action against Dr Khoza.

He said this despite us knowing that the same person who’s in charge of the police and who’s ironically been asked to assist with keeping Khoza alive in the face of mounting death threats, Fikile Mbalula, threatened there would be severe consequences for anyone (his so-called suicide bombers) in the ANC who votes against Zuma next month.

If the ANC wishes, there are many things Khoza could be charged with, particularly if they resort to the “bringing the party into disrepute” catch-all I’m sure Helen Zille could tell Dr Khoza quite a lot about.

Hilariously, of course, Zuma creates more disrepute for the ANC by lunchtime than Khoza ever could in a lifetime. Even if it emerges she has a collection of seven human hearts wrapped in clingfilm in her fridge, we’d probably still give her the benefit of the doubt (“Maybe she’s doing a correspondence course on heart transplants? She is a doctor, eh.”)

According to The Star, Khoza’s provincial ANC branch in KZN is instituting disciplinary action against her for her “indiscipline”. She will lose her parliamentary seat if found guilty.

Kodwa can say what he likes, but in the world of realpolitik, of course there will be consequences for Khoza as long as the man from Nkandla is in charge. Neither of his two heads ever forgets.

The fact that two such contrasting headlines can appear on the same matter on one day is a perfect illustration of just how confused and ultimately duplicitous not only politics can be, but that we are dealing with an ANC that truly has no centre, and cannot hold.

There’s currently no one really in charge of the “governing party”, and the only kind of running of South Africa Zuma has been doing for a long time has been the kind followed by the words “into the ground”.

If Khoza loses her place in parliament for being part of the growing group of people brave enough to point this out, that would be tragic.

But the history books will not be divided in their opinion of whether she’s acting like a rare hero of our time. Those headlines are likely to be perfectly in agreement on that one.

Charles Cilliers, Citizen.co.za digital editor