Opinion & Analysis

Current developments in the ANC and the Alliance regarding the deputy president of the ANC call for collective and decisive leadership by the National Executive Committee. Urgent steps are required to ensure that the democratic movement as a whole continues to focus on our strategic responsibility to social transformation.

It is understandable that there should be pain within the movement regarding the difficulties faced by our deputy president. There will also be anger among cadres who hold the perception that the deputy president is being victimised, as there will be among those who have silently watched events unfold, awaiting the movement’s collective wisdom so that they can make disciplined interventions among our members and society at large.

Precisely because of this pain and anger, it is critical that the leadership should rise above the fray and find mature ways of dealing with the challenges. The danger is that, incorrectly handled, the situation can worsen, further dividing and weakening the movement and the forces of fundamental change.

It is on the basis of the aforementioned that as president and deputy president, we as authorised by the National Working Committee, have started a process of intensive interactions between ourselves.

We proceed from the premise that the current events present a real danger of steadily but surely eroding public confidence in the ANC. Without decisive leadership, the current situation lends itself to exploitation by opportunist elements and even counter-revolution. It demoralises all cadres of the movement, and confuses the masses.

Building on improvements in the economy, it is critical that we mobilise for higher rates of investment, economic growth and job-creation, and for a decisive assault on poverty.

It is in the profound interest of revolutionary democrats, the motive forces of the revolution and the Left in general to respect the rule of law. This includes respect for institutions of the state mandated to carry out law enforcement and judicial functions. The ANC and its allies should mobilise society to respect this principle.

We should prevent the abuse of state institutions for personal material gain or personal agendas. This implies that these institutions should themselves respect the rule of law. The ANC and its allies should be at the forefront of the struggle against corruption.

It is critical that we assert the principle of freedom of speech within the ranks of the movement: for members to feel free in constitutional structures to raise issues that concern them and contribute to the evolution of ideas.

This applies also to how leaders relate to members from branch to national level, and how members themselves avoid self-censorship particularly in the context that some may abuse governmental office to dispense patronage.

The ANC should continue its battle against careerism: conduct that has as its starting point the “rewards” of political office, deployment that brings material gain and unhealthy competition for positions. At the same time, our deployment policy should take into account and encourage acquisition of skills as well as drive and initiative among cadres.

Collective leadership is a central pillar of our organisational principles. This requires a culture of openness and, among leaders, solidarity and comradeship towards one another, as well as respect for and acceptance of decisions of the collective, while each individual member of the collective retains the right to raise and re-raise any matter, within constitutional structures, which she or he believes requires review.

In carrying out their tasks, individuals should be guided by the mandate of the movement’s constitutional structures. These structures should themselves in turn appreciate the prerogatives they allocate to individuals they deploy, arising out of the confidence they have in such individuals.

Noting the difficulties that the current situation has imposed on the deputy president, it is a matter of fundamental principle that the ANC should support him in his work as a leader of the ANC, and as a person and comrade facing challenging circumstances. His dignity must at all times be protected. In this, we are informed by the basic principle that the deputy president is innocent until proven otherwise.

We appreciate the genuine sense of solidarity among cadres within the movement with the deputy president. However, we need to be vigilant against unhealthy forces who seek to attach themselves to this campaign.

We call on all members and supporters of the ANC to respect the process that the movement has put in place comprehensively to deal with this matter. We therefore urge, in the strongest terms possible, that no one should use the name of the president or deputy president to mobilise for or against either, and for or against any other leader of the movement.

In addressing the challenges that confront us, we should also keep in mind other critical decisions that the NEC has already adopted to deal with the broader environment. These include: general guidelines on how the ANC views the involvement in business of those in office (in government and full-time in the ANC), a broader analysis of the global tendency among some elements of business to compromise political organisations, and organisational mechanisms to deal with serious allegations of corruption against senior leaders of the movement.

This is an edited version of a joint statement issued yesterday by ANC president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma, on the way forward for the fractured ruling party

With acknowledgement to the Sunday Times.