ANC's vision is "becoming blurred or tainted", says ANC heavyweight

POLITICAL analysts have said that ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was spot on when she blasted the ruling party for losing touch with the masses during the May Day rally in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, at the weekend.

She said the ANC's vision was "becoming blurred or tainted".

She said the country-wide protests were consequences of a dream deferred, adding that the protests over ANC candidate lists was a manifestation that the ANC had deviated from the Freedom Charter's declaration that "The People shall Govern".

"The countrywide demonstrations we see are consequences of the dream deferred. They are our people's expression of impatience with socio-economic conditions that visit them on daily basis.

"Instead of a dealing with these realities, we have succumbed to the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. This is a manifestation of the political crisis," she said.

Madikizela-Mandela said people are refusing to remain victims of broken promises and that the shadow of disappointment was written on their faces.

Political analyst Prince Mashele agreed with Madikizela-Mandela, saying the behaviour of ANC leaders, from President Jacob Zuma down to councillors, was out of touch with the masses.

But Mashele, said it was not that Madikizela-Mandela's speech was meant to destroy the ANC, "but a call to society to reflect on the critical role of the party. There is no doubt about her (Madikizela-Mandela) commitment to the ANC, but she does not desist from criticising the party when she thinks it is going wrong".

Director of Unisa's Centre for African Renaissance Studies, Shadrack Gutto, echoed Mashele's sentiments and said Madikizela-Mandela was "spot on" in admitting that the party had failed the masses.

He said part of the problem was the party's "destructive" tendency of cadre deployment.

Gutto said service delivery suffers because people are put in positions based on their loyalty to party leadership and not because of their integrity and capabilities.

"When we have a system that supports cadre deployment and not national interest, then we have a big problem," Gutto said.

He said that it was correct for leaders to accept that they did not do well, "but the question is how we correct it?"

Both analysts believe that Madikizela-Mandela's criticism will not hurt the ruling party at the polls because people do not vote based on what somebody has said but on historic loyalty.