Tag: ANC

Malema gone…

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Big news this morning as the ANC National Disciplinary Committee effectively kicked ANC Youth League President Julius Malema out of the party by suspending him for five years.

Taxi!

Julius et al have 14 days in which to appeal, but the individuals sitting on the appeals committee – chaired by Cyril Ramaphosa, and consisting of National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, national executive committee member Jessie “Happy Happy” Duarte and former public enterprises minister Brigitte Mabandla – won’t be looking too appealing to him: Comrades all, but no allies in sight. Although, as political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi says:

Members of the committee should set aside their personal feelings about Mr Malema should his case be brought before them. It is not because of individuals that the committee will rule in a particular way.

They will reverse the decision of the disciplinary committee if they think the committee did not apply its mind properly and uphold it if they think the committee applied their minds.

Interesting times ahead in South Africa. As ever.

Blade’s Big Words

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You know how it is. You emerge from the lab, having metaphorically flung all that you possess at the TB growing in there and you need a coffee. And while the kettle is boiling, you glance at Monday’s newspaper, dozing casually on the tea room table and you catch sight of Blade Nzimande’s outburst which was “not directed at anyone in particular”, but actually was.

Blade talks mainly sense, but I had to sit down with an oat crunchie and work my way through these two lines in the middle of his emotional monologue:

We are dealing with an anti-worker, anti-left, pseudo-militant demagogy that betrays all our long-held ANC-alliance traditions of internal organisational democracy, mutual respect for comrades, non-racialism and service to our people.

It has created space for the anti-majoritarian, conservative reactive groundswell that seeks to tarnish the whole movement, portraying us all as anti-constitutionalist and as narrow nationalist chauvinists.

So many ists. That can’t be good.

Blade’s concern is seemingly for the ANC-alliance, but the divisions he speaks of here are being created across the country “not by anyone in particular”. I almost feel sorry for Blade and his chums. He’s correct that the entire Alliance is being tarred with the same brush, through no fault of his own.
At what point those “in charge” of the ANC finally find the guts (or indeed the ability) to prevent “anyone in particular” from causing more hurt and harm, I don’t know.
But like not learning someone’s name at a party, the longer the conversation goes on, the more difficult it becomes to ask.

Day off

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With Mrs 6000 away on conference in warmer climes, visitors from overseas in the lab and a 4 hour long tantrum of utterly spectacular proportions from the smallest child, it seemed entirely reasonable to take a brief time-out. With Local Government Election results coming in, it’s not like anyone would have read anything I had written anyway.

Talking of the elections, Twitter has made it far easier and more interesting to follow what has been going on. But I have noticed many cases of conflicting information and reports.
It’s worth remembering that not everyone out there is necessarily an expert. Or entirely truthful.

Meanwhile, despite the obvious DA successes at the ANCs expense, and with it their promise of a multi-racial party future, it’s still sad to note that one can work out which areas are inhabited by mainly which races by noting the winning party and the ridiculous (often high 80s or higher) percentage of the vote that they secured.

He’s even got the best poster…

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So said ANC Provincial Secretary Songezo Mjongile of his party’s mayoral candidate for Cape Town, Tony Ehrenreich.
Sadly, Mjongile was referring to the ANC poster of dear Tony, in which he has an obviously forced smile and looks rather creepy as a result. But COSATU have also released a poster of the man, which I think is really cool.

The neutral background, the dated red and green blocks of colour, the three-quarter profile, the slightly raised chin, the positive, but firm gaze into the middle distance. It’s all terribly reminiscent of a Soviet propaganda poster. The politics, of course, aren’t all that different either.
And while I’m disinclined to agree with Mjongile’s assessment that Ehrenreich will get the 750,000 votes he needs to become our Mayor until 2016, he actually did get the poster thing right. Albeit accidentally.

Cold fronts and warm klaps

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Ah, the Cape winter. Bringing with it days of endless sunshine and temperatures in the low to mid twenties. Well, not usually, but that seems to be what’s happening at the moment. The first (and possibly second) of the infamous South Atlantic cold fronts that bring wind, rain, wind and rain to the Mother City are but a distant memory and we’re left with pretty days and clear skies forecast for the rest of the week. But we’re not complaining. We’re just enjoying these moments while we can, because we all know that there is trouble ahead, meteorologically speaking.

In an unrelated story, it seems that there’s also trouble ahead, politically speaking, for the ANC. The Daily Maverick’s Stephen Grootes puts their ultra-aggressive campaigning down to a sudden realisation that they are about to be dealt a warm klap by the electorate (a la Liberal Democrats back in the UK) and sheer damage limitation.

Zuma knows that, generally speaking, and with a hugely broad brushstroke, if you’re poor, black and pissed off, you’re just not voting. If you’re white, middle-class and pissed off, you’re going to vote, but not for him. So he’s got to invoke something to get the masses out to vote. And he is almost forced to be heavy-handed. How do you counter the image of black people on TV old enough to remember the days when they couldn’t vote now saying they will not vote? Well, you claim they’ve “been fed propaganda”, and invoke the horror of our past. It’s pretty sharp, but it’s all there is left for Zuma to use.

And political analysts here at 6000 miles… when asked their opinions on what might occur next Wednesday were very clear:

ANC support to *decrease* in CT – no chance for Tony. DA and Cope alliance to take Nelson Mandela Bay. ANC to get big scare in JHB, nearly losing it. Big DA inroads everywhere, and by far our most significant election since 94.

Which goes against the official ANC line that they can win Cape Town, but is very much in keeping with the other official ANC line which says that they can’t win Cape Town.
ANC provincial secretary, Songezo Mjongile is with Zuma in the former camp, talking up their chances of getting 750,000 votes and installing  Tony Ehrenreich as Mayor:

“To win the City of Cape Town, the ANC needs (to win) 56 wards and about 750 000 (proportional) votes based on the expected turn-out. The trends show this is attainable,” said Mjongile.
If the ANC’s supporters flocked to the polls, he said, the DA’s support would fall below 50 percent.

The problem with Mjongile’s statement is firstly that, as mentioned above, the ANC’s supporters are unlikely to flock to the polls and secondly, that no-one can see which trends he is talking about. In the last Local Government elections back in 2006, the ANC received 280 232 proportional votes in the City of Cape Town.  That’s some way short of the 750 000 that he is hoping for this time around.

And our analysts may have a point about Jo’burg as well, as DA MP (and infamously, Daily Maverick Opinionista) Ian Olsen notes:

Rumours spreading of City of Joburg officials told to destroy sensitive documents, “In case ANC doesn’t win” Eish… Rats departing!

Which reminded us of the final days of Cape Town Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo and her “gift” to the people of the city of city manager Wallace Mgoqi, whose contract was extended in the final days of the ANC-led city council in 2006; a decision which was promptly revoked by the incoming Helen Zille. Mgoqi clung like a barnacle before finally being dumped into the middle-management dustbin by a fourth court ruling against him.

It remains to be seen what surprises (or lack of them) the ANC will leave should they lose Johannesburg, but one thing is for sure – it’s looking like the next fortnight is going to bring stormy weather for those in the green, black and yellow camp.