WeeklySA_AdminSCENARIO: The Black majority face the harsh reality of diminishing prospects of the voices that articulate their aspirations in the future…
By Sekola Sello
The African National Congress, uMkhonto weSizwe and the Economic Freedom Fighters are faced with an existential crisis – and it is one which could have devastating consequences for millions of Black people (Africans) in this country.
The decimation of the ANC in the May 29 polls and the departure of senior members of the EFF indicate the serious challenges both parties are faced with. The 11-months-old MKP is led by an 82-year-old geriatric, who is the only glue holding the party together. Meanwhile the electoral decline of the ANC became apparent when it lost direct control of Gauteng’s three major metros. The May 29 polls saw the party drop from 57 percent to 40 percent, and being forced to negotiate a Government of National Unity with several smaller parties, which included the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus, whose primary objective is to protect the interests of Whites.
It must be a bitter pill to swallow for the ANC, sadly. The shrinking support for the ANC among voters – a majority of whom being Africans and, to a lesser degree, the Coloured People, can be put down to its failure to address issues of poverty and unemployment, in the main. Other issues concern lack of service delivery in the townships.
The EFF had – to quote party leader Julius Malema – been “cruising nicely” since its formation 11 years ago. While almost all the existing parties were showing discernible decline, the EFF was the only party which showed growth. Then came May 29 and, contrary to expectations, they shed support by two percent compared to their 2019 performance.
But what sent shock waves about the state of the EFF is the departure of former chairman Advocate Dali Mpofu and Deputy President Floyd Shivambu to join MKP. These two were joined by former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Fana Mokoena and Ringo Madlingozi, both former Members of Parliament and well-known personalities in the entertainment industry, have left. Many more people are expected to leave.
There is brewing resentment in MKP about Zuma elevating new arrivals from the EFF to senior positions. Shivambu was at first appointed national organiser, which is an influential position and is now secretary-general. As SG, this makes him the chief executive officer of the organisation, arguably the most powerful person after Zuma. The apparent influential role of Zuma’s daughter Duduzile in party affairs is equally resented by some founding members of the party who privately ask whether MKP is a Zuma family entity.
While the electoral decline of the ANC, the haemorrhaging of the EFF senior leadership and the authoritarian nature of Zuma in MKP are all matters of serious concern to the supporters of these three majority Black parties, to me the biggest concern are the consequences that will bear upon the myriad of challenges facing Black People.
Thirty years of ANC rule has failed to make a dent on the crushing poverty among Black people, which is a direct legacy of landlessness and unemployment. Notwithstanding, the failures of the ANC on several fronts as well as their incompetence and industrial corruption, they are still preferable to the GNU. The party continues to make feeble and at times phoney attempts at addressing the legacy of colonialism and apartheid.
Since its entry into the political arena, the EFF has shaken the ANC from its slumber and ineptitude that I referred to above. In the municipalities where the EFF co- governs with other parties, it has helped ameliorate the lot of Black communities. The MKP could play a similar role if they can live up to their May 29 manifesto, their constitution and rhetoric.
If, on the other hand, all three parties weaken and lose electoral support, they will reduce their influence in the three spheres of government. Put differently, the voices of those articulating the aspirations of the Black majority will diminish. This is the harsh reality faced by our people. If Zuma’s party is to grow beyond KwaZulu-Natal, it must shed off the image that it is largely a Zulu party. This perception is there and is very strong. Zuma is also perceived to be a tribalist. It is only through his deeds which can prove his critics wrong.
The country is in the dark about why Shivambu, Mpofu and other luminaries have left a party which they founded. For 11 years, the party held so much promise as a government-in-waiting. Is the Malema style of leadership responsible for these departures?
Hopefully the party’s December elective conference will shed light on whether the defections can be halted, make a proper diagnosis of the May 29 poor performance and provide a realistic roadmap about the future.
On other hand, the ANC may require a less discredited leadership. Talk of renewal will continue to ring hollow under some of the leaders implicated in State Capture, the Phala Phala scandal, allegations of the so-called Alexandra Mafia among senior members and questionable ownership of very expensive properties by one of these alleged crooks.
Finally, the multitude of crises faced by these three parties will determine whether our people can hope for a better future or 1994 will continue to be a mirage.
Comment
PROBE FAKE FOOD FACTORIES
The crackdown on illegal foreigners owning not only spaza shops but food-manufacturing companies in this country must be intensified following the latest arrest of seven illegal foreigners who were caught re-packaging and altering dates on large quantities of expired tins of Lucky Star Pilchards at a factory in Sasolburg.
The arrests could shed some light on some of the origins of the deadly products that were being sold at certain spaza shops owned by illegal foreigners which had resulted in the deaths of many Black children in almost all of the country’s provinces. Many of the victims ended up in hospitals for treatment after eating contaminated foodstuff.
This led to protests from angry community members who called for the immediate closure of these shops and for these foreigners to be immediately deported to their respective countries of birth. Enraged by the recent deaths of six young children in Naledi, Soweto – all aged 10 – who passed on after eating chips from a local spaza shop which was mixed with a chemical found in pesticides, residents went on the rampage and shut down all the foreign-owned shops in the area.
Since that tragedy, there had been cases of children being rushed to hospitals throughout the country after eating food bought allegedly from foreign-owned spaza shops. Community councillors and leaders, politicians as well as religious leaders joined the fray calling on the government to take action and to impose tighter food safety controls to avoid further fatalities.
Most South Africans, especially those in the townships, however were very vocal about their demand that all foreign-owned shops must be shut down and locals must be allowed their right to operate their own tuckshops without any interference from outsiders. The people had spoken. Enough was enough. Amid suspicions that these illegal foreigners were deliberately selling fake foodstuffs to harm our youths, members of the Crime Intelligence Unit from Zamdela in Sasolburg and those of the South African Police Services in Kliprivier, this week pounced on a factory which was re-packaging and altering dates on a large quantity of expired tins of Lucky Star Pilchards in Daleside. Seven undocumented migrants were arrested. The owner managed to evade arrest and was being sought by the police.
Thanks to the law enforcement agencies because we do not know how many people were going to survive after eating those tins of fish. We also do not know how long this operation had been going on. Police also discovered a printing equipment used to alter the expired dates.
Law enforcement agencies and health inspectors are urged to intensify their crackdown not only on spaza shops but also factories that supplied these shops with the products they were selling to determine if the products were fit for consumption. Police must also intensify their efforts to trace and arrest the owner of this factory so that he may face the music in a court of law. Selling expired food to communities is a very serious offence and is tantamount to attempted murder.
The country cannot afford to lose any more children – Black children – because of greedy illegal foreigners who are bent on destroying and eliminating our future leaders.
