The ANC is killing itself to protect its corrupt leaders

Video clips and pictures of a boisterous group of young men clad in traditional regalia singing for and, sometimes, with former president Jacob Zuma have been doing the rounds on social media.

The passion in their voices and earnest looks on their faces convey the message that is meant to be conveyed to all out there: we are here to protect him against whatever might come.

Add the overenthusiastic uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans (MKMVA) to the mix and there’s a small brigade doing their best to paint the intended picture of defiance at Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.

On Thursday, the group got their chance to shine when they tried to block Police Minister Bheki Cele’s motor brigade from entering the compound.

In the neighbouring province of Free State, a sizeable number of supporters of ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule gathered as he appeared in court over the asbestos scandal. Magashule did not risk breaking Covid-19 regulations by addressing the large – and illegal – gathering.

He opted to protrude through the sunroof of a car with a raised fist as he basked in his supporters’ adulation.

Two seemingly unrelated events in different provinces, so what is their link?

Besides the events being both in support of the former president and the serving general-secretary of the ruling party, the gathered crowds of supporters signify more than a defiance of Covid-19 protocols: they are a necessary show of force for a faction of the ruling party that always wants to send a constant message to the sitting president and his faction that they’re here to stay.

It is no coincidence that there is always a gang of the “usual suspects” of ruling party leaders at any court  appearance of a senior ruling party official: Supra Mahumapelo, Tony Yengeni, Mzwandile Masina.

This time around, even spokesperson Pule Mabe and former minister of social development Bathabile Dlamini came out to join the usual suspects.

Recently paroled Eastern Cape ANC leader Andile Lungisa was in charge of relaying information to the large crowd gathered not far from the court.

The crowd at Nkandla is playing protector to a former president, who is defying the constitutional court.

The crowd and leaders in Bloemfontein came out to show support to a group of suspects who stand accused of looting millions of taxpayers’ money during the asbestos scandal.

They might hide their motives behind phrases like “we always support each other in times of trouble” but their real message is to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s faction: “We will fight you in the internal structures of the ANC as well as outside.”

The death of the ruling party has been predicted and prophesied so many times over the years, even prompting the man being “protected” by the MKMVA in Nkandla to once quip: “We will rule until Jesus comes back.”

Those predictions might have missed the mark time wise but one truth remains: it is the people that claim to love the ruling party the most that use it as their hiding place when caught out doing corrupt activities.

These people have contributed the most to its excruciatingly slow but sure decline in support at the polls and in the courts of public opinion.

There was once a battle for the soul of the ANC when the party was still guided by the values of their respected leaders like Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu.

The current crop of leaders of the ruling party will  one day wake up to find they’re not fighting over the soul of the party any more but its carcass, because they’ve alienated voters by protecting corrupt leaders.

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