The recent failed motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma held in Parliament – which the ANC high command has distorted as a motion of no confidence against the ANC – has exposed the depth of the divisions in the oldest liberation movement in Africa.
Zuma’s ANC presidency will be remembered for its divisions, factions and splinters. The departure of Cope, the emergence of the EFF, the departure of the National Union of Metal Workers of SA from the ranks of trade union federation Cosatu, the demand for Zuma’s resignation by his former party, the SACP – the list is endless. The ANC has never been as divided as it is now, not since the breakaway of the Africanists in 1959.
Security agencies are attempting to sniff out those MPs who voted to remove Zuma as president, as if this is a crime of treason against the state instead of a purely internal parliamentary issue. It reeks of the behaviour of a totalitarian state. This abuse of state security services takes place despite the fact that it is illegal, since the vote was supposed to be secret, according to Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete and the Constitutional Court.
But, of course, the executive under Zuma, the former boss of the ANC in exile’s secret police Mbokodo, is known for breaking laws and undermining the Constitution. Our new Mbokodo will try everything to find those who wanted to remove this apparent Gupta deployee from office. The executive is eating up the legislature. So much for the separation of powers in our once-celebrated Constitution.
Fishing for clues about those who voted against the president will only create more tension, leading to more mistrust, and further undermine the unity of the ANC. The truth is that the ANC is divided between those who are currently looting the state – led by president Zuma, the Gupta family and those running ministries and parastatals – and those fighting to save the ANC and the country’s democracy.
No room for sitting on the fence
This is a conflict of two ANCs. There is no room for sitting on the fence – you are either with the corrupt looters of the state under orders of the Guptas (as shown in the #GuptaLeaks emails) or you are with those fighting against state capture.
Makhosi Khoza, Mondli Gungubele, Derek Hanekom and other patriots know very well that when you stand for the right principle there is no way thieves will like you, but you still stand for the right thing; history will be the judge.
This is the most sacred heritage of the ANC: standing against all odds against its most disgusting betrayers. It was for this reason that Looksmart Solwandle Ngudle, Vuyisile Mini, Ruth First and scores of others gave up their lives.
What do you do when your commander is captured? Do you still carry out orders from a captured commander? Is this patriotism? Or do you defy the captured commander and follow your conscience, in defence of the sacred principle of non-collaboration with the enemies of the African people?
It is never easy to answer such questions. In the life of an organisation or country, there comes a time when you have to choose between following corrupt authority and following your conscience. It is always better to follow your conscience, because you live with your conscience forever, unlike those in authority who change according to the fortunes of public life after being elected into office.
Khoza, with the courage of Queen Manthatisi and the wisdom of Princess Mkabayi kaJama, is facing the Guptas’ stormtroopers forthright, aware of the increasing risks. The Guptas’ stormtroopers, driven by a passionate Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini, are parading former African Union Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as their ideal candidate for the ANC presidency. Dlamini-Zuma has also been paraded by her former husband at every opportunity as a suitable candidate with leadership experience.
Defence and Military Veterans Deputy Minister Kebby Maphatsoe, the head of the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association who is facing a corruption application in the South Gauteng High Court, is now speaking the language of political murder. Maphatsoe speaks of an “enemy” within the ANC, and states: “You cannot live with a poisonous snake in your house because it will kill you. When you have a poisonous snake, you hit it hard on the head, and you burn it to make sure it is dead.”
This is the language of fascism. There are no longer any safe spaces.
The control of the ANC and the state by the Guptas is the source of our divisions.
The divisions are between the beneficiaries of the Guptas and the people of South Africa who have seen millions of rands being used to fund the self-enrichment of a foreign cabal – all in the name of combating so-called white monopoly capital.
Who are they fooling? It is time for a decision.
Makgoale is a rank-and-file member of the ANC