Although the eruption of sporadic community protests has become a permanent feature of South Africa’s political landscape – listening to the assortment of mumbo jumbo churned out by the ruling party leaders as they hopelessly attempt to find the source, you would swear that they have been throwing bones lately.
Their response clearly suggests that they have abandoned reality for a good bout of fantasy. Amazingly, none of them have pointed internally for the “third force”. There’s two significant issues that have intriguingly been disregarded in the service delivery protests media reports: Firstly, the theme song is Mshini wam, and this includes last year’s xenophobic attacks. Secondly, the chief agent provocateurs are ANC activists.
There may be compelling grounds for struggling ordinary people to take to the streets – 15 years into democracy but millions still live squalor, die from poverty diseases, no access to clean water, no sanitation, no electricity, deteriorating health care system and joblessness, amongst many others.
However, the actual motive behind the current disruptions in the various townships has very little to do with non-delivery.
There are political opportunists who play politics with the plight of our people. The advent of democracy ushered immeasurable challenges for the ruling party. Among these was the emergence of a clumsy scramble for resources and patronage which, in turn, resulted in the formation various factions in the several provinces. There has hardly been any ideological contest at the centre of these rifts. At the heart of almost all of these tussles is the proximity to resources. Regrettably, for very many activists of the ANC - party membership and activism is a conduit to livelihood.
Unfortunately, over the past few years the over simplification of these clashes which portrayed them as mere Mbeki/Zuma contestations gave a somewhat misleading picture. Whilst many of them indeed found sanctuary in the respective camps during the period leading up to Polokwane – historically very many of these groups fell into the relevant cliques by default.
In his quest for power, one leader pulled together all those that considered themselves out of favour. They entrenched themselves in the political structures while the others were busy with the business of government. A new popular slogan was coined: “Dedelabanye” (give way). This immediately gave a picture of a revolving door with a long queue of patronage seeking ANC activists – each impatiently waiting for a turn.
For example, in Gauteng media reports suggests that the current premier will now purge those aligned with the “Alex Mafia”. These reports indicate that an instruction has been issued for the removal of all the companies that had benefited from the "previous regime”. Not a word is said about the delivery record of the said companies and the possible desruption of services.
This, therefore, suggests that – now is the time for others to benefit. Mind you, this all follows the unexpected demotion of their provincial chairman with media which the media attributes to the offensive against the “mafia”.
Furthermore, in the period leading up to Polokwane various leaders of the ruling party condoned and justified these violent actions as political expediency reigned supreme. In places like Khotsong, leaders of the various factions of the ruling party played prominent roles in that area’s mayhem.
Although the government had extensively explained the controversial decision and subsequently won all the legal battles in this regard, the protesters case seemed to heavy on emotions and sentimental attachments to the more prestigious Gauteng. In the end, however, the protesters prevailed without any plausible explanation from the government. The new administration somersaulted after its political opponents were recalled.
The ANC generally did not do well during the elections and therefore its ability to dispense large scale patronage was seriously hampered. Whilst these may be the days of milk and honey for ANC activists in KZN who currently enjoy an unparalleled political harvesting season – the going is tougher for others elsewhere. This is why, perhaps, there’s unlikely to be serious political unrests in KZN.
Despite other political considerations in the dishing of patronage, the unprecedented performance of the ruling party during the elections in KZN has brought more job opportunities for party loyalists and good prospects of success for the imminent local government elections. Elsewhere, however, the ANC seats were seriously reduced resulting in some losing jobs.
The protests are nothing but the spillages of internal strife and groundswell of impatience from local community leaders who couldn’t be accommodated after in the April 22 elections. One ANC leader has asked a valid question: “How come are these protests not detected by the local ANC structures?”
The past elections have proven that, for now, that the ANC is the strongest community based organisation in South Africa. During the April elections the ANC used its local infrastructure, political machinery and unlimited access to finance to violently drive out COPE.
This was mainly in the same townships. Again, there’s no other destructive force that can organise these widespread actions throughout the country than the ANC. In almost all these protests councillors are the biggest casualties . Although they are at coal face of service delivery, they are policy makers – theirs is to make policies and monitor their implementation.
The assumption, therefore, is that these are ANC policies, not the individual councillor’s positions. The councils employ functionaries to implement these policies. However, senior council officials are in many cases always under suspension because there's someone itching for the position.
If so, why are the protest not directed at the floundering ANC policies? For many of these community activists who have risen to prominence following the deployment of others to government – five years is too long a period. It is at this point that political mischief becomes a weapon of choice. The unemployed leaders of the ruling party no longer have patience as demonstrated in September 2008.
However, it will take the ruling party more than just charm, rhythmic dances and songs to get out of this situation. This shameful political culture was allowed to thrive for many years as the present leaders used it as a convenient weapon to smuggle the current leaders into power.
Our challenge as South Africans is to be cautious during this time and concentrate on building alternative structures. Furthermore, we must go back to the communities and expose this contemptuous political opportunism. We must put our people first not the ANC community activists who are scrounging for patronage.
Their response clearly suggests that they have abandoned reality for a good bout of fantasy. Amazingly, none of them have pointed internally for the “third force”. There’s two significant issues that have intriguingly been disregarded in the service delivery protests media reports: Firstly, the theme song is Mshini wam, and this includes last year’s xenophobic attacks. Secondly, the chief agent provocateurs are ANC activists.
There may be compelling grounds for struggling ordinary people to take to the streets – 15 years into democracy but millions still live squalor, die from poverty diseases, no access to clean water, no sanitation, no electricity, deteriorating health care system and joblessness, amongst many others.
However, the actual motive behind the current disruptions in the various townships has very little to do with non-delivery.
There are political opportunists who play politics with the plight of our people. The advent of democracy ushered immeasurable challenges for the ruling party. Among these was the emergence of a clumsy scramble for resources and patronage which, in turn, resulted in the formation various factions in the several provinces. There has hardly been any ideological contest at the centre of these rifts. At the heart of almost all of these tussles is the proximity to resources. Regrettably, for very many activists of the ANC - party membership and activism is a conduit to livelihood.
Unfortunately, over the past few years the over simplification of these clashes which portrayed them as mere Mbeki/Zuma contestations gave a somewhat misleading picture. Whilst many of them indeed found sanctuary in the respective camps during the period leading up to Polokwane – historically very many of these groups fell into the relevant cliques by default.
In his quest for power, one leader pulled together all those that considered themselves out of favour. They entrenched themselves in the political structures while the others were busy with the business of government. A new popular slogan was coined: “Dedelabanye” (give way). This immediately gave a picture of a revolving door with a long queue of patronage seeking ANC activists – each impatiently waiting for a turn.
For example, in Gauteng media reports suggests that the current premier will now purge those aligned with the “Alex Mafia”. These reports indicate that an instruction has been issued for the removal of all the companies that had benefited from the "previous regime”. Not a word is said about the delivery record of the said companies and the possible desruption of services.
This, therefore, suggests that – now is the time for others to benefit. Mind you, this all follows the unexpected demotion of their provincial chairman with media which the media attributes to the offensive against the “mafia”.
Furthermore, in the period leading up to Polokwane various leaders of the ruling party condoned and justified these violent actions as political expediency reigned supreme. In places like Khotsong, leaders of the various factions of the ruling party played prominent roles in that area’s mayhem.
Although the government had extensively explained the controversial decision and subsequently won all the legal battles in this regard, the protesters case seemed to heavy on emotions and sentimental attachments to the more prestigious Gauteng. In the end, however, the protesters prevailed without any plausible explanation from the government. The new administration somersaulted after its political opponents were recalled.
The ANC generally did not do well during the elections and therefore its ability to dispense large scale patronage was seriously hampered. Whilst these may be the days of milk and honey for ANC activists in KZN who currently enjoy an unparalleled political harvesting season – the going is tougher for others elsewhere. This is why, perhaps, there’s unlikely to be serious political unrests in KZN.
Despite other political considerations in the dishing of patronage, the unprecedented performance of the ruling party during the elections in KZN has brought more job opportunities for party loyalists and good prospects of success for the imminent local government elections. Elsewhere, however, the ANC seats were seriously reduced resulting in some losing jobs.
The protests are nothing but the spillages of internal strife and groundswell of impatience from local community leaders who couldn’t be accommodated after in the April 22 elections. One ANC leader has asked a valid question: “How come are these protests not detected by the local ANC structures?”
The past elections have proven that, for now, that the ANC is the strongest community based organisation in South Africa. During the April elections the ANC used its local infrastructure, political machinery and unlimited access to finance to violently drive out COPE.
This was mainly in the same townships. Again, there’s no other destructive force that can organise these widespread actions throughout the country than the ANC. In almost all these protests councillors are the biggest casualties . Although they are at coal face of service delivery, they are policy makers – theirs is to make policies and monitor their implementation.
The assumption, therefore, is that these are ANC policies, not the individual councillor’s positions. The councils employ functionaries to implement these policies. However, senior council officials are in many cases always under suspension because there's someone itching for the position.
If so, why are the protest not directed at the floundering ANC policies? For many of these community activists who have risen to prominence following the deployment of others to government – five years is too long a period. It is at this point that political mischief becomes a weapon of choice. The unemployed leaders of the ruling party no longer have patience as demonstrated in September 2008.
However, it will take the ruling party more than just charm, rhythmic dances and songs to get out of this situation. This shameful political culture was allowed to thrive for many years as the present leaders used it as a convenient weapon to smuggle the current leaders into power.
Our challenge as South Africans is to be cautious during this time and concentrate on building alternative structures. Furthermore, we must go back to the communities and expose this contemptuous political opportunism. We must put our people first not the ANC community activists who are scrounging for patronage.
Author: Sipho Mgwema
2 comments:
This article is basically means to try and resasitate dead people like Mbeki's and the rest of those whofailed our government!!!
The SA government is doing a real good job and I doubt that the strikes have something to do with the ANC government.
It could well be that people feel more free to express themselves and state clearly what their concernes are.
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