High-stakes ANC conference all about politicians' self-preservation, not you

The scramble for self-preservation among ANC leaders is on ahead of the party's December 16-20 national elective conference.

Whatever comes out of the conference has little to do with most South Africans but more about who survives and whose political career goes into the wilderness, while some may end up in jail.

Such are the high stakes hence the bickering and many candidates gunning for the same position.

Many so-called top six candidates have been campaigning, but little can be heard about solutions they have to offer to take the country forward. This is mainly because most ANC leaders have made peace with the possibility of losing power come the 2024 national and provincial elections. This has exacerbated the culture of individual preservation.

Just this week, the list of nominated NEC candidates for the upcoming conference proves that many, who have almost had it guaranteed that they will make the top structure, may well not see it.

Making it to the ANC NEC has since the democratic dispensation somehow brought about surety that one stands a chance to make it to the cabinet. Once there, one is able to influence tenders for favourable businesspeople, get kickbacks and thus dispense patronage within the party to secure one's NEC position.

But looking at the current cabinet, many ministers are finding it hard to garner nominations to the NEC, which — if it becomes reality, renders them political nonentities. Once one has no political influence, out the window goes financial wealth accumulation and it's lights out.

But beyond personal wealth accumulation, some have personal issues such as avoiding potential jail time.

Take for instance former ANC president Jacob Zuma, who has come out guns blazing, launching his own campaign last weekend and campaigning against the incumbent president.

Zuma is currently facing a corruption trial with potential imprisonment should he be found guilty. For him, the only way to avoid jail is to stop ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa from emerging victorious. If he does not make the top six, his best bet is to have ANC national officials who are sympathetic towards him.

After Zuma's imprisonment for contempt of the state capture commission, the former president has been blaming Ramaphosa for failing to protect him. Zuma has made it clear that he wants Ramaphosa out. While he claims it is about “saving the ANC”, his real interests are about self-preservation.

He publicly endorsed his former wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to challenge Ramaphosa. It has since emerged that Zuma is in fact considering challenging Ramaphosa himself.

Then there is Ace Magashule, the suspended secretary-general of the governing party. Magashule was suspended after refusing to step aside after being charged for corruption as the party administration boss last year and is likely not to play any part in the upcoming conference where his new replacement will be elected.

It is therefore no surprise he is among those plotting clandestinely to sponsor those attending the conference to move a motion to nullify the step-aside rule that put him into the political bush. In doing so, Magashule is effectively attempting to increase his chances of making a comeback into the ANC inner circle should the step-aside rule be defeated. 

But beyond Zuma and Magashule, Ramaphosa’s inner circle — comprising the likes of energy minister Gwede Mantashe, public enterprises counterpart Pravin Gordhan, finance minister Enoch Godongwana and minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele — are also under siege.

These ministers are facing a revolt from a coalition of the wounded who believe they faced difficulties during the 2017-2022 term owing to their proximity to and perceived influence on Ramaphosa.

The ANCYL task team nomination list reveals that this offensive is gaining traction after they all could not make the cut. Many can expect them to fight for their lives to make it back into the NEC for their own survival and livelihoods depend on it.

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On the other hand, the ANCYL national task team, appointed with a mandate to take the young lions to conference which they failed to fulfil dismally, are also now putting themselves up for NEC positions.

After their meeting that nominated candidates for national official positions and additional NEC members for the conference, it has now emerged the meeting was in fact about them getting a piece of the cake for themselves.

The candidates they nominated for the NEC include ANCYL task team convener Nonceba Mhlauli, co-ordinator Joy Maimela and Tlangi Mogale, all of whom were members of the structure.

Having failed to convene a conference where they could have been elected as mandated ANCYL leaders, and with age against them, they have since realised that the shorter route to the top is to run for the mother body’s highest decision-making body between conferences.

While the ANC leaders go for each other’s throats for self-preservation, the broader South African public must contend with all the social problems they face under ANC rule.

As the December conference approaches, very little is said by ANC politicians on how to tackle the devastating rolling power blackouts.

South Africans classified as youth, who suffer an unemployment rate above 60%, the highest in the world, have little to hope for in the upcoming ANC conference to resolve their misery.

The middle class, who are suffocating under the pressure of a rising cost of living, cannot put their hopes on the self-serving ANC leaders running for various positions at the conference.

In simple terms, the broader South African public is on their own, for even if the ANC politicians make compromises at conference “for the survival of the ANC”, it will serve only to serve their electoral interests in 2024, which ensure the sustainability of individual leaders economically and politically if the party somehow manages to keep its outright majority.

It is a mess. Tighten your seat belts, fellow South Africans who are not part of the 4,200 voting delegates at the ANC conference, a bumpy ride ahead awaits us.    

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