When the Cheetahs Slept in Mangaung.

Without spoiling jovialities common to South African festive indulgences with elaborations about an impending global catastrophe or doomsday, I have alas been watching the humdrum at Mangaung with a dispiriting mood of a man hypnotised by ‘an extra-terrestrial invasion or a viral infestation’. Perhaps, the proverbial blazes from the sun that shall consume an earth full of hope were what brewed the pulp that was dished out during the conference while the cheetahs slept inebriated by sponsored alcohol.

For the ruling party, their farewells are duly attended to though, when a populace of uninformed electorate managed to shoot itself in the foot for the fourth time. How is it I am saying this; because a number of realities about an ending are evident. There is the Mayan prophetic conundrum which has everyone in a tail-spin, then global wars seeming to materialise from some shadows of apocryphal scriptures, springing to the foreground every weekend like new teams on football fields. But what could be said about an end to an era which sadly is highlighted by a repetition of sordid decay for the South African population?

First, ‘this is how god had it organised’ - that our deputy president would be custodian to a R19 million buffalo. Second, the plight of the poor will fall on deaf ears who only hear noises of protestation residually like echoes through an empty cathedral. Some might feel that corruption has been inaugurated for another term, which will be Armageddonic to say the least, but when bred in a fatalistic society which believes in a God-Sent cessation of all reality, why not expect a people to pillage and plunder at the final and crucial hour for mankind?

The one interesting discourse that gagged much of the substance out of the Mangaung issue has been the utter lack an overall critique that is not based on individuals and the so-called rift in the organization. The matter is that this centenary marks an end of a party, and the final nails on the coffin of a cherished heritage are hammered under guard of leopards.

From the reconciliatory failures of the Mandela presidency, to the deterred renaissance dreams of Mbeki, our recently suited Mr Delivery has proven to be slower than the postal system when it comes to grassroots materialisation of electioneering promises for which the party is notoriously known.

These mean an organizational failure. With a pitiful record in providing education, leading to shortages of skills; today, a quarter of the population is unemployed, up from 20% since the First Black President was inaugurated.

The ANC is facing a public outcry, and as a party it is caught in a catch 22 where concession that government cannot implement its verbose and ambitious policies without the private sector – means losing the bulk of national assets back to the conglomerates that inherited the country’s wealth through colonial affiliations. This would in turn be viewed by the radical masses as selling-out to a business civilization grounded in values of possessive individualism, competition, greed which characterises corruption.

And claiming that government can implement these policies would send a message to the corporate that you are not needed, and make foreign investors apprehensive. In turn, the corporates would mechanize workspaces and force retrenchments, thus forcing the country to its knees.

Which of the elite members who benefit from the private coffers of private sector connections will be willing to part with those privileges of monopoly capitalism?

The party went to the elective conference with a leprous leadership wrangling for power, with a membership buffeted by infighting and factionalist divisions. And how did a nation poised to ration expect a change of voice from the leaders and the grass roots. Absent from their internal debate has been any consideration of the ideas or temperament of the greatest population of mine-workers, farm-workers and the unemployed youth.

Instead, we are given a deputy who is well alleged to have been not-solely responsible for The Marikana Massacre.

I beg to question the logic behind building colossal hospitals when clinics are in shambles, and later complain about over congestion in health facilities.

On December 16th the ruling African National Congress (ANC) gathered several thousand of its delegates for a five-yearly “elective” conference in Mangaung, where they spent four days reviewing policies, proposing new party leaders as well as charting a new future for the party.

Sadly, I feel the future foreseen hereafter is a short-lived age of the pillage of the land through a web of corruption spun up by bureaucrats who are experts in cultivating "special relations". The brute force of a police force comprised of recruited criminals will make a battlefield of this derelict land of plunder.

An uneducated and unhealthy nation, deprived of health care reform and economic resources for empowerment is sure to implode.

The stranglehold on consumers by banking institutions, fostering legislative authority on issues of citizens’ financial security stands to benefit from endorsements attained from an unscrupulously indebted party leadership deemed infallible. Abject passivity of the people and their continued expression of discontent will become a nuisance for the ruling party, and a counter-revolutionary verdict against the native elite would have been handed out.

A party once reputable for being a symbol of the durability of a collective struggle is now allowed to rot in its short-lived euphoria of momentary wealth, while destitute masses continue to forage among vultures.

The personality cult enjoyed by many has eclipsed the bright examples paved by stalwarts such as John L Dube and Govan Mbeki, and cadres will wistfully enjoy special privileges, extra-legal provisions and kinsman nepotism.

And as Vishwas Satgar recently noted, ‘increasingly what we are witnessing is an ANC state that is completely impervious to social pressures and voice from below. Instead, it privileges managing risk to capital over risk to people and nature. And that is the essence of the neoliberal capitalist order that we face.’

In the meanwhile, a nation is inundated with legislative experiments canonised through vaccination and sterilization programs disguised as precautionary medical interventions, while education is being devalued through slave incubator tutorials at tertiary level to make up for lost textbooks at high school level.

(Picture from the internet)