Durban - KwaZulu-Natal ANC Chairperson Sihle Zikalala said on Tuesday that the “perceived or real” ill treatment and eventual jailing of former president Jacob Zuma in July 2021 was one of the factors, outside the control of the ANC, that led to its poor performance in the local government elections.
Zikalala was speaking during the ANC KZN’s Unmediated Forum in which reflections on the ANC’s performance in the local government elections were made.
Zikalala said that among the factors that also affected the ANC was internal contestation, factionalism, membership gatekeeping, arrogance, aloofness and social distance between the ANC and the electorate.
He said that at the centre of this would also be the functionality of structures of the party, particularly at a lower level.
Issues that were out of the control of the ANC, according to Zikalala, had also played a role in the party’s performance at the local government elections in November 2021.
“The very first one is democracy, if the democracy is maturing, it’s not yet matured, and if we are beginning to view government not as a terrain of the struggle but as a carrier ... therefore there will be those who will stand because they see that being a councillor comes with a salary. Not just that, but it’s a struggle to achieve a particular vision.
“The second is that the elections took place against the backdrop of hardship imposed by economic constraints resulting in worsening conditions of poverty and unemployment,” Zikalala said.
He said that the third challenge was the “perceived or real” treatment and eventual jailing of former president Jacob Zuma, which had a serious effect particularly in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Fourth is the whole issue of internal struggles or tensions in the Zulu Royal House where others believed or have a view that the ANC government is not intervening. Whether that view was correct or not and whether you were trying to explain the processes that become secondary.
“You need to double efforts if you are to address perceptions, that also includes the whole judgment on issues of KwaShembe, not to say the judgment was wrong or right, but the matter or timing that it happened leading to a number of activities around KwaShembe Church are issues that are there outside of the control of the movement,” Zikalala said.
He also pinpointed the July unrest and service delivery concerns as some of the factors that had contributed to the party’s performance at the polls in November 2021.
Zikalala also said that the outcome of the 2021 local government elections had been taken by others as the end of the ANC with the party’s obituary having been prepared with the final hope that it will be delivered in 2024.
“We are of the view that the current situation requires all of us as patriots to debate the state of affairs in the country and respond. One of the critical issues raised was by former president (Thabo) Mbeki who said the ANC is too big to fail.
“It is not an arrogant statement that seeks to suggest that the ANC is the only party that leads and that will lead people forever, but it is too big with its whole history, it is too big with its own structures and membership right now and I still contend that there is no party bigger than the ANC,” Zikalala said.
He further went on to say that even those who were struggling to displace the ANC were saying that they would form coalitions post the 2024 national and provincial elections, adding that there was no party that saw itself winning without coalitions.
Political analyst Lukhona Mnguni said that South Africans had grown tired of talk-shops by leaders who they felt were not doing enough to act.
“I wonder what it is that makes it difficult for us to act on the things that we know we should be acting on, for example disciplining members who do not uphold organisational principles, dismissing leaders who do not represent the virtues of the organisation. What is it about us that makes it difficult for us to act?” Mnguni questioned.
However, he also said that there were things that the party had pioneered such as Operation Sukuma Sakhe, the KZN Growth Coalition which were forums in which robust conversations were happening between the KZN government and business.
“But I do think that as a takeaway, one of the things that is happening in South Africa is that citizens are losing hope not just in one political party, but in the political system itself. I think that leaders of political parties need to interrogate their conduct across the board, to ask whether or not it inspires confidence among the population of South Africa.
“Otherwise we run the risk not just of the ANC perhaps losing power, but we run the risk of getting illegitimate governments because they would’ve been elected by 25% or 30% of the registered electorate and that would give us even much more socio-political problems in society,” Mnguni said