Action Must Back Self-Criticism
When the ruling party in any country meets to review its policies and performance, it is inevitable that society will pause and take notice. After all, the policy decisions of the ruling party affect us all. It is against this background that one took an interest in the ANC's National General Council meeting that took place at the Gallagher Convention Centre last weekend. The resolutions taken points us to where the country is moving under ANC rule. They offer us an opportunity to assess and endorse or assess and reject. Before we look at some of the resolutions, it was interesting to observe how critical the ANC was of itself. In the most brutal self-evaluation, the party conceded it was losing its former glory. Plagued by factionalism, ill-discipline, the influence of money and lack of understanding of its values by some of its members, it is evident that the ANC of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and their contemporaries is fading away. Instead it's an organisation that can be bought by the highest bidder is emerging.
Both President Jacob Zuma and the ANC's secretary-general Gwede Mantashe were frank with the party faithful about the challenges the organisation is facing. I was encouraged by their own reflection on the state of their organisation. The focus on self-reflection, whether individually or organisationally, serves an important psychological function. The ANC is not alone in its focus on the self in the service of self-improvement. Alcoholics Anonymous (and other groups that follow similar traditions) encounrage alcoholics to take a personal moral inventory of their character defects to become better people. On this one, one cannot fault the ruling party. Awarness of the discrepancy between the ANC's current state and its goals is critical for the organisation to spur self-improvement.
But the real test will lie in whether the ANC is prepared to follow its self-criticism with action. For example, will it hold accountable those of its leaders whose conduct is bringing the party into disrepute? Will it discipline leaders and members who use money to determine certain ourcomes within the organisation? Unless this happens, the self-criticism we saw will amount to nothing. I have scanned the party's resolutions and there is nothing in the main that one vehemently disagrees with. On the economic front, the idea of a wealth tax should be welcome but the proceeds should be used prudently and to meaningfully narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. The call for the reprioritisation of the national budget to move away from consumption to investment-led growth.
The pronouncements on local governments are also encouraging. This is one sphere of government that has a direct impact on people's lives. If a municipality cannot collect the garbage, pay Eskom, maintain the roads and supply water that has immediate impact on people's quality of life. But we know that some of our municipalities simply have no capacity or resources to deliver these services. The resolution to shut down poor or dysfunctional municipalities therefore makes sense. But a distinction must be made between mismanaged municipalities and dysfunctional ones. In the case of the former, the ruling party must confront the problem and not misdiagnose. On international relations, the decision to leave the International Criminal Court will no doubt raise eyebrows and attract sharp criticism. But the question cannot be ignored as to why only two of the permanent members of the UN Security Council are signatories of the Rome Statute and yet all have the power to refer-alleged offenders to the court.
The decision to strengthen the African Court of Justice is long overdue. Africa has seen too many violations of human rights and those who find themselves on the wrong side of the law must not wait to be tried in Europe. Africa should have the capacity to prosecute and to punish. With the recently released annual crime statistics showing violent crime in our country is on the increase, one would have expected the ruling party to take firm resolutions on crime. Instead, one has only seen pronouncements about police training and private security industry. The ruling party and its government have an obligation to make us safe and feel safe.
