*ANC succession; Calm down, there is no fire! * * by Nqobizitha Mlilo* **
In the recent past there have been reports about the succession question in the African National Congress (ANC). Various leaders of the alliance have been quoted by the media, purportedly expressing one view or another on the issue. It must be accepted that the public impression that political parties in general posture on are hardly what they are in real terms. The impression of a cohesive, organizationally sound and grounded party is usually what the leadership tries to build and perceptually capitalize on. However, notwithstanding the above, in the case of the ANC, looked closely, at this point, the succession debate is a false and fictional one. It is the creation of the cyber world. The pronouncements by the ANC which seems to suggest calmness and composure, that is, that the ANC will deal with succession, as it has always done, are a reflection of fact and political reality. The submission is that there is no need for apprehension on the matter in the manner in which the media has, in real or subliminal terms, projected. The difficult relationship which President of the ANC Jacob Zuma and the immediate past President of the ANC, Thabo Mbeki had prior to the Limpopo December 2007 historical congress of the ANC should have taught extremely valuable lessons about the ANC, its political processes and its relationships within the alliance. One of the lessons is that the ANC is an objectively and reasonably cohesive organization, mature and cable of handling succession as and when it becomes, not an issue, but an agenda item. ANC political processes cannot be influenced from the outside. The ANC has an insulating shell that protects, and perhaps vaccinates it from importation of views outside the ANC on how to deal with one issue or another, more so, issues of its leadership. Attempts by the media to vilify Deputy President Jacob Zuma (as he then was) failed to translate into practical political facts in the ANC. The other lesson was that a liberation movement which has state power is tested for its democratic credential when it is faced with internal rebellion. Both in respect of rebellion against Thabo Mbeki’s leadership, and against Jacob Zuma leadership, the ANC passed the test with a good grade. Its response to internal rebellion, indeed its response to the emergence of the Congress of the People (COPE), displayed a high degree of maturity and tolerance. It showed an ANC which has a resilient character and is able to absorb pressure in all its manifestations. Clearly therefore an attempt to trigger or incite succession debate from the outside, and attempt to project an ANC at ‘war’ with itself, with or within the alliance will not succeed. When each and any of the leadership of the ANC and or the alliance make statements on succession, it is important to look at the statements in their political contexts and avoid the temptation of being swept by media frenzy which seem to suggest that there is a crisis and or an issue which has become so critical that attention has to be paid thereto. It is the media that is triggering and creating a debate which has not arisen as yet. The challenge which the ANC has as an organization in politics in general and particularly as a liberation movement is to maintain, continue and grow space within the organization for internal debate, battle of and festive of ideas. This has been the strength of the ANC more than any of the liberation movements which liberated, at least in political terms, African countries from colonial rule. Issues which have the potential of tearing organizations apart, like succession, instead of being corrosive, within an environment of internal debate, will be catalysts for organizational success through seamless organizational renewal. The result will be a South Africa which is a prisoner of success and prosperity. The point therefore is that, that there are serious challenges which arise from assumption of state power and access to resources which create a real risk to the life of the ANC is indisputable, but to suggest that there is a fire on succession, and beating of drums of an impending catastrophe, is to be alarmist. The link between succession and access to resources is clear. The ANC has acknowledged that it is a cancer that it needs to attend to. This unique ability of the ANC to wash its dirty linen in public on issues that pause risk to the organization will purify the organization and thereby correctly place the succession agenda. As to the involvement of the alliance partners in and on the succession agenda as and when it arises, it is simplistic and mechanical to argue that the three members of the alliance are autonomous organizations which must deal with their succession, almost, as the arguments seem to suggest, oblivious of the other components to the alliance. The legendary and immortal OR Tambo famously stated that the alliance was not formed in some exquisite board room, of an exotic hotel, after protracted negotiations and bargaining, but was formed out of the material realities and demands of the struggle against Apartheid. In the final analysis, whatever the autonomy of each organization, the life and character of the other has a direct bearing on the other components of the alliance that each party has a real and objective interest on succession in the other party. How this interest is expressed in practical terms is another issue, but it has to be expressed. It is the worker’s ANC in as much as it is ANC’s COSATU, and indeed it is the Communist Party’s ANC in as much as it is the ANC’s Communist Party, equally it is the worker’s Communist Party in as much as it is the Communist Party’s COSATU. There can be no pretence otherwise. Put specifically to the ANC, to try and confine the succession agenda of the ANC to the ANC is theoretical and practical apostasy. The real issue is that the leadership of the ANC will not be elected at a COSATU and or SACP congress. However, this is the hardware, the software is what defines and determines the hardware, that is, what practically happens at the ANC congress. Put in simple terms, there is no need for panic and apprehension, the succession question in the ANC will be handled with maturity as and when it becomes an agenda item. It will be done without undue funfair and excitement. It will not be influenced and or dictated by outside forces, whoever they maybe. In short, calm down, there is no fire! 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