ANC members breaking ranks with Mbeki – DA

Lately, however, there have been signs of a change:  a series of prominent party leaders have spoken out publicly on issues of conscience. In a political climate marked by intolerance and enforced conformity within the ANC, this is a positive development. In fact, the belated upsurge in dissenting voices from within the governing party highlights how abnormal our political culture has been for far too long. The lack of open debate has affected the quality of our democracy, replacing a diversity of opinion with the sham silence of assent imposed from the top.

 

Now, disagreements between key government office-bearers on topics as various and urgent as Zimbabwe, HIV/AIDS and the arms deal point to growing impatience with the iron grip the Presidency has placed on the governing party.

 

Examples of divergence with the official line include senior members of cabinet. Last week, for example, Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan condemned the friction between competing ANC presidential candidates, fearing that his party is being Yankeefied by a fixation on personalities rather than policies. He contrasted former President Mandela’s smooth handover to Thabo Mbeki in the late 90s with the current noise and hubbub.

 

More critically, Jordan suggested that his party’s upcoming conference at Polokwane should consider a stable transition…to a younger generation and that his peers (by implication, this includes Jacob Zuma and Mbeki) should hand over to those better adapted to conditions of democracy.

 

This implied disapproval by a cabinet member of the two avowed ANC presidential candidates was echoed last month by ANC heavyweight Tokyo Sexwale, who observed that freedom of expression is a right South Africans should not have to ask for. “It is important to remind the ruling party that they are not ruling anybody … you [the ANC] are a servant of the people and not the other way around.”

Last week, Sexwale went further, taking issue with Mr Mbeki’s well-known views on National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi (by inference, Asmal called him a rotten policeman) and HIV/AIDS:  HIV causes Aids. So, what’s difficult — which tyrant will stop me from saying that?

Sexwale added that the ANC should revise its succession rules so that named candidates could be interrogated about their policies. It was important, he said, to protect the space for democracy that had been created by the current leadership contest.

 

Last month, ex-Education Minister Kader Asmal MP made the most dramatic break with official policy. He declared that Zimbabwe had been turned into a nightmare by the Mugabe regime and apologised for not speaking out sooner as a proud citizen of a free South Africa. His rejection of the President’s persistent support for Zimbabwe’s rulers could not have been more obvious – and unprecedented.

 

Last week, Asmal praised the humility, openness and non-racialism of late ANC President Oliver Tambo, in terms which by implication criticised the Mbeki government. It often saddens me to see how far from this we have moved in our current struggle for posts which we elevate to so-called succession seem to be fair game on the altar of personal ambition.

 

The former Minister also defended the separation of powers – long under threat by the current government – by declaring that such usurpation of power by one sphere of government…would be the surest road to tyranny.

 

The new mood of public dissent comes, of course, in the context of the continuing bitter succession battle in the governing party. It has now permeated cabinet, as well as highlighted a clash of policy between the ANC in government and in Parliament. Such public disagreements would have been unimaginable a year ago.

 

This week, for example, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa rejected Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s calls for more aggressive trade reforms and export growth, while Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile rebutted Sports Committee Chairman Butana Komphela’s views on quotas in national sports teams.

 

Given this context, there can be no doubt that the right to dissent is being asserted both inside and out of the ANC. In the run-up to Polokwane, the enforced façade of unity is being jettisoned in favour of some kind of debate: and this presents a small window of opportunity for all of us outside the governing party who care about the open society which should define democracy.

 

Why did this not happen before? The fact is that the ANC, like the National Party of old, have insisted on a political culture based on fear and conformity to party bosses. With potentially independent voices constrained, President Mbeki has been able to insist that it is not ANC tradition to express personal ambition.

 

The worse aspect of the succession battle currently raging within the ANC has been the abuse of state institutions to further partisan political agendas. Now, if the uncertainty and fear that surrounds the succession race have had at least one positive spin-off, it is that dissenting opinions are being publicly heard.

 

This is a positive healthy development.  But the divergent views emerging may also be incompatible within a single party for much longer.  There are those within the ANC who still cherish the vision of an open society, where political divergence is reflected through real debate and dialogue (rather than smear campaigns).  The growing evidence of the ANC’s internal debate is the first indication of a gathering momentum towards a realignment of South African politics.  May this momentum accelerate.  It is already long overdue.