The ZANU-fication of South Africa

In Mondli Makhanya's regular Sunday column, outspoken editor of the Sunday Times (he who was threatened with arrest for publishing details of Mantomato and African potato and garlic and beetroot Tshabalala-Msimang's habits relating to the fruit of the vine whilst in hospital) echoes the famous words in Virgil's Aeneid - "I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts." Whilst Zuma and his followers proclaim that they are acting in the name of democracy and the struggle, they are in fact acting to destroy all that it set out to achieve. What we have seen these past weeks is the beginning of the ZANU-fication of South Africa.

They were chanting a new slogan at the Nasrec conference centre in Johannesburg last weekend. It was a slogan about killing people: “Shoot to kill! For Zuma! Shoot to kill! For Zuma!”

ANC Youth League conference delegates sweated themselves into a trance as they chanted their deadly words.

Clearly, the seed that had been planted by league president Julius Malema a few weeks before was now a sprouting plant.

ANC president Jacob Zuma, the man on whose behalf the murdering was to be done, stood there grinning that familiar Mr Bean grin of his.

When he was done grinning, Zuma stood up and gave the youngsters a tongue lashing. Not about threatening to kill people. No. He rather enjoyed that, methinks.

Instead, he chastised them about their behaviour at the league’s April conference in Mangaung and told them to keep their buttocks inside their trousers.

He told them “it was not proper or within ANC culture to have comrades carrying coffins bearing the names of other comrades”, and it was “not proper” to howl down opposing speakers, and “not proper to undress in front of a conference”.

Nothing about it being “not proper” to make murderous exhortations.

Zuma had been present at the Youth Day rally where Malema made the original statement. On that day, the man who wants to govern the country also just sat there, unmoved by the killing talk.

One can perhaps understand Zuma being overjoyed that people are prepared to shoot others on his behalf. He is a very flawed individual and appreciates any help he can get.

It is the rest of the ANC leadership that has been a great disappointment. Save for ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, the party’s leaders have waffled excuses for Malema. They have even told us that the televised words, “We are prepared to kill for Zuma”, spoken in English, were lost in translation.

And Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi and the Young Communist League’s Buti Manamela even repeated Malema’s statement.

It seems killing for Zuma is now the leitmotif of militancy and defiance. It is the post-Polokwane “Amandla ngawethu!”

Instead of reining in its leaders and the chanting mobs, the ANC and its allies trained their guns on the Human Rights Commission.

I hate to be depressive about my country, but one has to state clearly that we are rolling down a very rocky slope.

When the ANC’s new leadership took office, there was so much promise that it would freshen South African politics.

It sang a much better tune than the nasty bunch that Thabo Mbeki had gathered around him.

This was a listening ANC, open to other voices in society. This was also a more activist ANC, more in touch with the grass roots and keen to reconnect with the mission of service to the people. There were strong individuals who were prepared to re-examine policies and styles of governance.

Yes, there were some serious problems with this ANC, mainly its tolerance of corrupt individuals within its leadership, and its dogged determination to protect its corruptible president.

It is this almost religious determination to protect Zuma that is going to ruin our country.

As a colleague remarked this week during a discussion on the ANC’s full-frontal assault on the Constitutional Court: “Is Zuma really worth destroying the country for?”
The answer, it seems, is yes. The ruling party WILL destroy the country for Zuma.

There are some in the party who will stop at nothing in their quest to get their man into the Union Buildings. Institutions that were painstakingly built by the people of this country, led in the main by the ANC itself, will be pummelled if they stand in the way.

And if that is what it will take to get Zuma into the presidency, imagine what will be done to make him safe and comfortable in office.

What is most surprising is that the new ANC is behaving exactly like the Mbeki leadership it so detested.

While Mbeki was going about consolidating his power and visiting misery upon South Africans, the ANC supported him all the way. If any other member or sector of society dared differ with him, they were labelled counter-revolutionaries or reactionaries and immediately silenced. There was a cultish reverence and fear of the leader.

We were repeatedly told that there were forces out there feverishly working to undermine Mbeki and thus “derail the revolution” and reverse the transformation agenda. He had to be defended at all costs. Questioning him was tantamount to treason — nay, heresy.

Mbeki’s cultists may not have said it as crudely as Malema, but they too were prepared to kill for Mbeki. He — the individual — was their revolution.

Now Zuma, the individual, is the revolution, and he must be defended at all costs. Never mind the fact that he will sprint to pick up every rusty coin that’s tossed in his direction by dodgy merchants.

Today I am compelled to utter something I never in my wildest imagination thought I would say: I am afraid of the ANC. Afraid of what it could do to our republic.