The renewal of the ANC
is more about resolving tensions within the organisation than institutional
renewal. A getting to do the right things right approach assumes a membership
that knows the right things. Since the Polokwane putsch, the ANC’s internal
order began to be defined in factional terms. From that conference, it came
back with a lot that divided the organisation rather than uniting it. The
‘hush-toned’ Zuma-Mbeki divide, a reference to the power struggle between
former ANC presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki, which assumed new
characteristics along the way, defines the rivalry between the in-ANC factions.
In the wake of the launch of the MK Party, the modicum of unity that held the
ANC centre, including the stability of the tripartite alliance, has burst into
a battle to control ANC hegemony. 

The
control of the ANC’s more than century-old social and political capital is now at stake. The ANC’s historical significance, deeply attached to the
normative legitimacy of the RSA Constitution, has become the new and most
valuable prize of politics. Its acquisition or destruction will meet the
hegemonic intents of all contestants, underscoring the reverence we hold for
the ANC’s history. 

Often
overlooked is how the liberation movement character of the ANC and the ongoing
character of the process of struggle to transfer power remains an omnipresent
hegemonic threat to geopolitical and political interests at play in South
Africa and the region. The growing divisions of race, class, and ethnonationalism
for political reasons have become fundable currencies to weaken the national
liberation promise in the RSA Constitution. The social polarisation impact
emanating from these divisions is institutionalising a condition of government
by a majority made up of minorities. The risks of such a condition to the
national liberation promise are the erosion of the stability of the democratic
order and, more acutely, the capability of the Constitutional order to heal the
divisions of the past. 

 

The
fissures in the ‘revolutionary’ alliance, the ongoing realignments of in-ANC
factions, the low-key GNU-Patriotic alliance binaries, a reference to the
subtle power dynamics between the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the
Patriotic Alliance within the liberation movement, the aggressive ascendance of
the liberal centre and right within the ANC, the declining fortunes of ‘sister’
national liberation movements in the SADC region, and the declared trust
deficit between RSA business and the liberation movement are rewriting a new
liberation narrative that seems to be about changing the old guard and its
hegemony narrative. 

The
May 2024 elections in South Africa, the Botswana outcome, the disputed
Mozambique results, and the pending Namibian election all point to a new wave
of change, a reference to the shifting political landscape in the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) region, whose common characteristic is the
questioning of a post-liberation past outside the context of the colonial
narrative. The social and political divisions internal to SADC countries are
creating new hierarchies as liberation struggle establishments disintegrate
into survivalist components of the global liberal order establishments. The
ANC, arguably the foundational think tank of African National Liberation
politics in the region, might be entering or is already constrained to
aggressively punt the totality of its hegemony because of the new hierarchies
around it. The elections that birthed the GNU, notwithstanding what we might be
told to believe, have profoundly impacted the distribution of political
power. 

The
social hierarchies that came with no absolute power to govern context are so
deep-rooted, ubiquitous, insidious, and enduring that the democratic order can
recalibrate anywhere before the current state. To revive the post-liberation
political order and reset the country to believe in the necessity of
transferring the outstanding aspects of power to ‘we the people, ‘ the
liberation movement complex should address foregrounded cleavages of
transformation. 

 

The
questions are,

 

1.  
If renewal, what in particular is essential?

2.  
If political education, what politics should the education be
about? The need for political education is crucial, as the knowledge we impart will shape the future of our political landscape.

3.  
If economic transformation occurs, what aspects of economics
should the transformation be about?

4.  
If social control power is transferred, which sectors of societal
development require change to start the social control journey?

5.  
If non-racialism, what aspects of social integration and cohesion
must be targeted

 

These
are the types of questions the liberation movement should be used to asking
every time it engages its members. 

 

As
the space between consequential developments related to the loss of absolute
power to govern becomes smaller, the amount of time allowed for careful
assessment of what the renewal should be about has also shrunk.