A VIEW OF THE WEEK: The ANC can’t go forward by not moving

2025 is less than a month old, but your phone’s gallery is probably already full of inspirational quotes and messages to help you stay more motivated than last year.

Here’s one that I saw on a wall a few months ago: “A ship in harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for”.

As the ANC reconfigures its structures in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, it may realise it is a sinking ship that is doing itself no good staying in the harbour.

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Mashatile to the rescue?

Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula this week said the party had “robust” and fervent debates over what to do in the two provinces after their dismal results in last year’s national and provincial elections.

But he said the party’s biggest decision-making body between conferences had decided that doing nothing was not an option.

Looking at the alleged list of high-profile NEC members who voted for and against taking action shows the perforated edges that the ANC is divided along.

Among those who reportedly felt it was best not to disband the structures was Deputy President Paul Mashatile, who is a political bestie with ANC Gauteng election head Lebogang Maile. In choosing not to do anything, Mashatile would have saved Maile from accountability and put his friends and personal alliances above the party.

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No organisation can accept the kind of collapse that the ANC experienced in last year’s national and provincial elections without action being taken.

In Gauteng, the party fell from 53.2% in 2019 to 36.4% in May 2024. The situation was even more dire in KZN, where it went from ruling outright with 55.4% to just 17.6%.

The ANC is right to address the rot. It is a dead man walking, but the least it can do is walk.

It has adopted the vat en sit policy for too long, leading to the “decimation” of its support in the two key provinces.

At a national level, the wait-and-eat approach has seen money stolen or squandered while infrastructure deteriorates.

Every ageing power station, dilapidated building, and leaky water pipe in the country is a visual reminder of the ANC’s inaction for over 30 years.

Lack of maintenance has been one of the biggest reasons for Johannesburg’s descending from a City of Gold to a City of tinfoil and decay. Rampant vandalism and theft, the latest being a report of 1,300 UPS units stolen, have added to the scourge.

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Will anything change?

Perhaps I am not being entirely fair because the ANC does move quickly sometimes, especially when it comes to changing leaders it no longer wants. Whenever the overwhelming mood is one of gatvol resistance to the current leadership, a new faction is parachuted in with efficiency seldom seen by them outside the political arena.

While Mbalula spoke about the need for change, don’t expect radical reforms when a plan is presented to the party’s National Working Committee next week. A change in title (but not power) and a few shuffled chairs around the table will likely be the only freshening up at the politically mouldy Luthuli House.

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The ANC’s Lesufi risk

Mbalula also said the latest reconfiguration would not affect government functions, including Gauteng Provincial Chairperson Panyaza Lesufi’s position as the province’s premier. But you may be excused for not believing him.

Previous experience shows that whenever a shuffle happens in the ANC, it reverberates through the national and provincial governments.

It may also be that Mbalula was simply hinting at no need for change because the chairperson is safe.

Currently, Lesufi holds a lot of importance ahead of the 2027 ANC elective conference and is a magnet for both fervent support and attack.

Removing him as chairperson will either show members that the organisation is bigger than any one person, no matter how popular, or comes back to haunt them. So, to avoid the risk, the party may not act against him.

If the ANC’s reconfiguration is nothing more than a pig in a new lipstick, they may find they are the hogs at the slaughter come the next elections.

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