THOSE who know say a week is a long time in politics. If that is the case, then nine months must be an eternity.
It is about nine months to the day when the ANC will elect its next set of office-bearers and in the process determine, at least for the next five years, the trajectory of the body politic of the country.
The mood in the country the last time the party held a national elective conference was not great. A popular party leader had been put out to pasture and those who didn't like what president Thabo Mbeki had just done were having none of it, sometimes at great cost to the country.
They went all-out to wrestle the reins. The battle within the party was paramount; everything else, including the mundane matter of governing a country, was secondary. Or so it seemed.
Internal battles that would determine the immediate future of Africa's oldest liberation movement and that of a country were playing themselves out.
It wasn't pretty. Comrade turned against comrade. When it was all said and done, Jacob Zuma was master of all that he surveyed on the battleground that was Polokwane.
Fast forward to 2012. The country is once again seeing a similar spectacle playing itself out.
Unfortunately, the casualty of much of the shadow boxing ahead of the real showdown in Mangaung in December is governance.
Stories abound, almost daily, of the government failing the people by failing to provide the basest of services.
Only last week a furious row played itself out on social networking sites over a tweet about people fleeing one area of the country to access better services in another. An unfortunately insensitive word was used to describe those fleeing the mess in one province to give their children quality education in another.
Had those mandated with improving the lot of the poor done their jobs, none of these would have been necessary.
In the wake of accusations and counter-accusations inspired by party-political point scoring, the real issue of non-delivery has been obscured.
The minister of basic education has incredibly remained silent while the saga plays itself out. Could it be that she and her superiors are wary of upsetting the wrong crowd ahead of Mangaung?
We have seen the Zuma government act decisively against maladministration in one corner of the country, and the crisis in Eastern Cape education demands no less of him.
But is Mangaung perhaps of more importance than the future of the African child? We hope not.
Polokwane once again
THOSE who know say a week is a long time in politics. If that is the case, then nine months must be an eternity.
It is about nine months to the day when the ANC will elect its next set of office-bearers and in the process determine, at least for the next five years, the trajectory of the body politic of the country.
The mood in the country the last time the party held a national elective conference was not great. A popular party leader had been put out to pasture and those who didn't like what president Thabo Mbeki had just done were having none of it, sometimes at great cost to the country.
They went all-out to wrestle the reins. The battle within the party was paramount; everything else, including the mundane matter of governing a country, was secondary. Or so it seemed.
Internal battles that would determine the immediate future of Africa's oldest liberation movement and that of a country were playing themselves out.
It wasn't pretty. Comrade turned against comrade. When it was all said and done, Jacob Zuma was master of all that he surveyed on the battleground that was Polokwane.
Fast forward to 2012. The country is once again seeing a similar spectacle playing itself out.
Unfortunately, the casualty of much of the shadow boxing ahead of the real showdown in Mangaung in December is governance.
Stories abound, almost daily, of the government failing the people by failing to provide the basest of services.
Only last week a furious row played itself out on social networking sites over a tweet about people fleeing one area of the country to access better services in another. An unfortunately insensitive word was used to describe those fleeing the mess in one province to give their children quality education in another.
Had those mandated with improving the lot of the poor done their jobs, none of these would have been necessary.
In the wake of accusations and counter-accusations inspired by party-political point scoring, the real issue of non-delivery has been obscured.
The minister of basic education has incredibly remained silent while the saga plays itself out. Could it be that she and her superiors are wary of upsetting the wrong crowd ahead of Mangaung?
We have seen the Zuma government act decisively against maladministration in one corner of the country, and the crisis in Eastern Cape education demands no less of him.
But is Mangaung perhaps of more importance than the future of the African child? We hope not.
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