Groundhog Day Politics: Why the ANC’s Renewal Mantra No Longer Works

ANC Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula did not wipe his brow once while addressing media this week.

But he did - several times, after media questions following his address. Mbalula is not easily flustered, so it could just be genuine sweat. He is confident, combative and - his favourite word - 'revolutionary'.

But he is starting to look like an outdated Cuban cigar. Nostalgic but lacks the oomph.

The recycled mantra of ANC renewal, ANC dialogue, ANC intervention programmes is as exciting as watching paint dry. Nobody believes it. Not even the ANC, it seems, despite their public song and dance. But their survival depends on beating this drum.

The question is for how long? How long will ailing ANC leaders - stuck in a time warp, continue to act like comrades in trenches waging a war?

How long will they sing the same revolutionary tunes, talk of implementing change to lead the organisation as outlined in their 2001 working document - 'Eye of the needle?' which Mbalula referred to.

Watching Mbalula speak was like watching the movie Groundhog Day where a self centred weatherman wakes up each day to find he is reliving the same day all over again. I wonder if Mbalula feels the same way? Another day, same mantra.

Same talk of organisational renewal. Another attempt at political CPR, trying to resuscitate the ANC in media. It must be exhausting. No wonder Mbalula had to mop his brow more frequently.

Asked if ANC veteran, former International Relations Minister, Naledi Pandor, would be disciplined for her scathing criticism of the ANC this week, Mbalula sweated some more as he responded. "Disciplined for what? Because she spoke the truth? She was saying what the party agrees with.

She was not critical of the ANC. She was correct in what she was saying," Mbalula shot back.

But, comrade, she was critical. In the words of Zuma, you must listen carefully. Pandor this week decried the ANC's public reputation during a tribute to former ANC Women's League president, Gertrude Shope who died earlier this year.

"We have lost our glory. Let us not pretend about it. The people are looking at us with disdain, with horror, with shame," said Pandor. She went on to reflect on the ANC's failures at local government level, at its inability to serve the people, its inability to stay true to its role as a leader of society, the corruption within which has dragged the 'revolutinary morality' of its leaders. And for senior ANC leaders to make way for young lions to take over the reigns.

That has long been a raging battle between the old guard and the new, younger generation in the ANC Youth League frustrated at not being that opportunity to lead.

The old guard has resisted - a critical failure which only adds to the ANC's demise. Is this what the ANC agrees with? According to Mbalula it is. And Pandor deserves no sanction for her comments, he said. "She's right!" Mbalula responded.

The question being asked is if the ANC agrees with Pandor, why didn't it self correct when it could have, should have but didn't? The ANC has been in its own Groundhog movie for 30 years.

With local elections months away, the ANC is desperate. And who can blame them? They're still licking their wounds from the bruising defeat at the 2024 general elections - the wounds still fresh, scars still deep, pain still tender.

And, in a few months, they will be thrown back into the battlefield, barely recovered, but battle they must. Only this time its the lion's den. Local government, seen by the electorate as a hallmark of ANC failure.

Failed service delivery, corruption, community anger and voter maturity. And other parties ready to take over. A pack of wolves encircling the ANC.

The years of revelling in Madiba loyalty, in the triumph of ANC as a liberation movement is long gone. That ship has sailed and will never see Ramaphosa's new dawn again. Ever. Its seen the sunset and is heading to the Bermuda triangle.

The electorate which once vowed to never betray Mandela is tired, old and no longer tied to the past legacy of the ANC as a liberation movement.Their rejection is not the making of the DA boogeyman. Or the EFF. Not even MK, the straw that finally broke the ANC's back. Its the ANC itself. The rot within and their insatiable appetite for power, wealth and the dolce vita - the sweet life is the downfall of the ANC.

The tragedy is the ANC has so much to its credit, but the scale eventually tipped to their failures. There are gems within the ANC, those who work tirelessly to maintain the values on which the ANC was founded. Those who remain because of Mandela and his sacrifices.

But they are nuggets of gold within an organisation tainted with fools gold.

Amongst the ANC's credit is the Black Empowerment policy aimed at levelling the economic playing field after the fall of apartheid. But, it was exploited and abused to benefit mostly those connected with the ANC.

Their policy of housing and grants aimed at addressing social inequalities is today often used as a scaremongering tactic during elections - yet was never the party's intention. Corrupt councillors have come to weaponise this as a political tool. A tragic reflection of a well intentioned policy.

The ANC must also be credited for refusing to capitulate to the bullying threats by US president Donald Trump. Kudos to them. The ANC refused to betray their friends who were seen as enemies of Trump. It was an ANC led country representation which became the first in the world to march Israel to the International Court of Justice. A brave move which won it praise globally.

The ANC has much to its credit. But more to its shame - and thats the tragedy. Its legacy is no longer a Madiba memory. Its a liberation movement turned rogue.

The years of forgiveness and loyalty are over. The ANC is now looking at an electorate that's older and wiser. And no longer forgiving, encouraged by a younger, more literate generation with no memory of or loyalty to Madiba and the struggle days. All they see is a failed state, continued lack of job opportunities and little economic progress.

It's no longer a contest of Madiba's ANC vs a white DA. That narrative is over. The DA may still be fighting that perception but the ANC? The Madiba magic is gone. Instead there's Zuma. And nobody saw that coming. The ANC, with all its talk of renewal, can see the end is near.

A lion in its final years. Relegated to the wilderness by a new pride, staking their claim to the territory the dying lion once dominated, roaming the land, proud and confident. Once king of the jungle, now, a shadow of itself. It must succumb to its wounds. But it won't. Like old lions, the ANC can no longer hunt or defend itself, as much as it tries. And so, like an old lion, it will continue to roam and roar until its death.

** Zohra Teke is an independent writer and journalist.

*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL

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