Opinion
Behind My Pipe Smoke
By Fanzo Skhova
26/08/2016
Good morning African National Congress. Please get out of bed, make the bed and go to work.
When you arrive at work, work so hard to restore this ANC to its rightful place. This past week I read and heard interesting things I wish to share on this platform. These were messages for the ANC from some citizens whose names I will not reveal save to mention I quote them from social media. Let us start by congratulating the ANC for winning a metropolitan municipality.
The mayor is on record saying the ANC lost the LGE 2016 because the media influenced voters against the ANC.
A friend on Facebook wrote: “We have to follow the natural rules of dealing with trauma. Namely, anger, denial, acceptance, sadness and recovery. Looking at various social media posts regarding the outcomes of the LGE 2016, we are hovering between the first two. We are still blaming everything and everyone but ourselves. I am hoping that we should shorten the time to reach acceptance and hopefully it is not beyond 2019. This is the first real test for the ANC and it requires a special type of leadership.”
The author’s last statement returns us to the mayor I paraphrased earlier. If within the ANC we have the calibre of leaders whose analysis of the reasons voters turned against the ANC can be reduced to media influence, the country is going nowhere fast. The same leader further charged at media for reporting about corruption of ANC leaders. “Where were you when the apartheid regime were looting…”? This is a second free-to-air public confession by an ANC NEC member that indeed there are corrupt leaders within the organisation. He is effectively saying two things in his statements. First, he is insulting the voter by saying they cannot see or think for themselves hence they were easily influenced by the media to vote against the ANC. Secondly, he is admitting that ANC leaders are corrupt but media should not report about this because they did not report about corruption of apartheid leaders. Nothing can be more embarrassing.
These nice-to-hear utterances seem to take centre stage at the expense of the natural process of dealing with trauma. This mayor pawned his right to freedom of speech a day later by attempting to edit and censure his own utterances. He is the kind who is hovering between the first two steps in the process of dealing with trauma. He is competently failing to reach the acceptance stage so that he can absorb sadness and proceed to recovery. Obviously, he is not the special type of leader required to take the ANC to the recovery stage. Need I mention that there are scores of other leaders within the organisation who see things the same way. Two words: doom and disaster.
If you do not believe me, do not stop reading until you have not seen the following quote from a media statement allegedly issued by the Tshwane Region of the ANC to comment on the new Tshwane Mayoral Committee composition. I quote parts of the statement:
“The ANC Greater Tshwane Region notes the announcement of Tshwane Metro Mayoral Committee with utter disgust and dismay. Mayor Msimanga proves that while he holds an Executive Mayor position, he is but a puppet of white masters within the Democratic Alliance.
Msimanga appointed five white males out of ten available Mayoral Committee positions, with only two black Africans and three females. This composition undermines and reverses great transformation agenda that is underpinned by racial and gender equity which the ANC-led government had already consolidated……
Our people are intelligent enough to see what has been hidden from them about reasons of removing ANC at all cost. Plans of the masters and puppets to be used are exposed. We remain confident that pour people will respond appropriately to this shameful expose.”
Let me address these comrades. There are two simple rules governing relations of hierarchy. Rule one: the boss makes the rules. You obey them. Rule two: in case you have doubts, read and obey rule one. The sooner you grasp these two rules the easier it will be to advance to stage three of the trauma process. The cherry on top is that progression to the final stages will come naturally. DA are in charge. The ANC is not. It was never the ANC’s place to tell the DA who to select or not select. I should remind comrades that this consistent and prevalent reference to white this and black that is not only limited to an innocent classification by race but borders on racism too. Ours is a nation with a goal to see society as one colour. It is Msimanga’s business to choose to be a puppet. For the ANC it is to choose to get out of bed, make the bed and go out to work hard to restore the ANC to its rightful position. I also find it amusing that the ANC expects DA to meet equity gender targets whereas ANC is failing to meet their own 50-50 policy target of gender equity in leadership. Chief, please do not falsely accuse the ANC of having consolidated racial and gender equity transformation agenda.
The ANC should refocus itself if it wants to save this used-to-be glorious movement. Upon reading the last paragraph of the statement, I remain unsure of what the ANC Tshwane Region led by the former mayor was trying to communicate, but I hope the region is able to explain itself if questioned were to be asked as to what they meant by; “We remain confident that our people will respond appropriately to this shameful exposure.” The statement is still hovering around stages one and two of the process of dealing with trauma. Once again, I observe that the leadership that put together this statement is not the special type of leadership the ANC require to take the organisation forward. ANC needs leaders with the capacity to intelligently and scientifically analyse the factors that determined the loss of votes. There is no room for sweet-for-the-ear rhetoric, populism and political correctness. It is time to wake up, make the bed, follow the natural process of deal with trauma and go out there to work hard to restore ANC in its rightful place.
