ANC found wanting

JACOB Zuma, in a moment of hubris, once said the ANC would rule until the second coming of Jesus Christ.

This assertion of arrogance was roundly criticised. But even those who were upset by it knew that the party enjoyed widespread support among the majority of South Africans. It was generally assumed that it would be in power for decades.

That assumption was shattered by the ANC’s bad performance in the recent local government elections, and there is now a real possibility it could lose power in 2019 general elections. The loss of three metros dealt a fatal blow to the ANC’s aura of invincibility.

You might have thought that this major setback would galvanise the party into doing some serious introspection into what has gone wrong. But recent events, during which different factions of the party have battled for control of the state, and more specifically the Treasury, suggest that the ANC has lost the capacity to govern in the national interest.

Many political observers have assumed that Zuma was allpowerful and was directing events behind the scenes. It was also assumed that the hounding of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, for example, was happening at his behest, to pave the way for his cronies to finally take control of the public purse.

But the rapid unravelling of the party and the emergence of factions in the cabinet may suggest that Zuma is no longer in full control of affairs. It’s now every man for himself.

The situation is so fluid, so chaotic that it would seem, to paraphrase Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe, things are falling apart.

A stark case is the unseemly spectacle of the underwhelming Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen attacking his cabinet colleague, Gordhan, at a press conference.

Then the Minister of Mineral Resources, the hapless Mosebenzi Zwane, told the country that cabinet had made a recommendation to Zuma that a judicial commission be established to investigate our banks for refusing to do business with the Guptas.

In both cases, the ministers’ statements seemed designed to advance powerful private interests and not those of the country and its people.

The face-off between members of the ANC outside its head office this week was just another example of a party at war with itself. What is to be done? It is now apparent that South Africans can no longer look to the ANC to govern for the common good. Only a vigilant civil society and patriotic citizens, regardless of party, can save our country from being taken over by selfish, corrupt individuals whose only interest is to help themselves and their associates to the riches of our land.

Our fate now depends on whether the forces of good stand fast to push back against attempts to loot our country with impunity. SAYS: