Business Day
*‘Donald Trump’ of SA politics doesn’t know he’s been fired* * * *Sam Mkokeli, Business Day, Johannesburg, 20 December 2012*MANGAUNG has come and will be gone by the end of the day. It was an exciting conference to cover for journalists — it lived up to expectations. It was not so exciting if you are part of the "forces of change" camp — the group that promised to deliver a revolution, but was outclassed by the wily Zuma machine.
As some T-shirts worn by delegates said: "Phinda msholozi" (Do it again). There were a few leaders with long faces, but the majority rejoiced in Zuma’s victory.
Mangaung has been packed with the good, the bad, the not so clever and the utterly funny.
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, part of the long-faced crew after the Zuma victory, has once again provided enough humour for the press gallery, and most of the delegates.
The joke was on him in Polokwane, five years ago.As history tends to do, it repeated itself in Mangaung. Sexwale increasingly looks like the Donald Trump of South African politics. He has money, fame, ambition, but jeepers, he just doesn’t get it. It boils down to political acumen. Political acumen is different to counting years in the "struggle". That one was once a freedom fighter does not make for a good politician.
Japan, as they call him, can’t read the mood and the culture of the African National Congress (ANC). The ANC branches are just not into him, that’s the part he doesn’t get.
Sexwale and Mathews Phosa (also a wealthy man) stood for the ANC deputy presidency against Cyril Ramaphosa. Obviously they knew they were going to lose, and as their supporters say, they stood for the principle of it. Ramaphosa got 3,018 votes, while Phosa got 470 and Sexwale 463.
Phosa and Sexwale were backed by the same camp, but the two of them could not agree on who should step down to avoid splitting their votes the way they did. It became a popularity contest between Phosa and Sexwale. It seems Phosa would have been happy knowing that, in the end, he is seven votes stronger than Sexwale.
Sexwale has been on his presidential campaign since 2007, when he launched an American-style campaign. His posters were on street lamps. He went around the country, testing the waters. He picked up a couple of branches, but aligned himself with the Zuma camp when it was clear that he would not make it on his own.
Five years later, in Mangaung, his ambitions were a sideshow.Delegates sniggered on Tuesday when his name was called out just before the "top six" elections. That’s how seriously they take him.
Walking into conference, he told a journalist he was "prepared to die" for those who nominated him. A few minutes later, he turned down nomination for the treasurer post. There was no way he would let Phosa shine in the battle for the deputy presidency. And Phosa was also not going to back down.
The funny thing is the three deputy president candidates — Ramaphosa, Phosa and Sexwale — were the infamous "plotters" from a decade ago. Part of the good out of the "forces of change" losing is that neither Phosa nor Sexwale will be in the top six.
If they could not agree on how to tackle Zuma, would they agree on how to run the ANC and the country? The two of them will have to learn that the ANC branch delegates like doing things the old-fashioned way.
They want hardcore politicians, people who know how to play the power game, instead of egotistical leaders, whose sense of their worth and appeal is based on their financial standing, instead of political prowess. They need to learn to tone down their egos, their ambitions and play the game differently. The "I" has to disappear. No more sentences like: "I am prepared to lead"; "I was on Robben Island" (who wasn’t?); "I worked with Mandela" (who didn’t?); "Chris Hani was my best friend" (pity he is not around to refute that); "I have enough of my money I won’t steal from government" (how about sharing your wealth with the poor, now?); "I was on death row with Solomon Mahlangu" (well, they hanged him, not you).
It’s political acumen these former freedom fighters don’t have. In the absence of that, they will sulk, long faced, and sing along to Zuma’s "long road to freedom" song.
Japan may have better hair than Trump, but the similarities are glaring. In fact Sexwale emulates him. Remember when he ran his own version of The Apprentice before the Polokwane conference?
There he was on day one, at Constitution Hill, telling a dozen contenders to take tough decisions and live by them "right or wrong". Come the final day, Sexwale could not decide — and settled for two apprentices.
* /Mkokeli is political editor./*From: **http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/politics/2012/12/20/donald-trump-of-sa-politics-doesnt-know-hes-been-fired*
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