ANC’s renewal will remain a fantasy until it purges parasites

LAST week, Dr Naledi Pandor shook the ANC leadership and its rank and file when she said, unapologetically and fearlessly, that the ANC has lost its glory and that many South Africans view it with disdain, horror and shame - three heart-piercing operational words indeed.

- ZAMIKHAYA MASETI

These are words that slice deep into the consciousness of a movement once revered, now stumbling under the weight of its own contradictions.

She further called on the ANC to build a new “cadre of renewal”.

Did she say anything new? Certainly not.

South Africans have been saying this for years, in whispers, in protests, in ballot box rebellions and in the silence of those who no longer even bother to vote.

The ANC's reputation has been tarnished, not by its enemies, but by its own members.

Pandor’s words sting because they come from within, from a seasoned intellectual who has walked the corridors of power and yet dares to hold a mirror before her comrades.

Her statement resonates because the ANC today is no longer viewed as the moral custodian and vanguard of the national liberation Struggle.

It is seen, instead, as a party at war with itself, consumed by factional battles and incapable of inspiring the nation with a clear programme of transformation.

The cadres who once carried themselves with dignity in the face of oppression have been replaced by careerists, deal-makers and opportunists who loot the state and then march to conferences draped in Struggle songs.

To be fair to the ANC, in February this year, it unveiled its Renewal Framework.

This document ought to be rigorously interrogated and subjected to both intellectual and political scrutiny within the movement's basic units, the ANC branches.

The framework is clear on how the ANC should recruit members, approach those community leaders who are respected in their localities and draw in people who are making a difference on the ground. According to this framework, anyone seeking to join the ANC will be subject to a rigorous admission process.