ANC: 100 years - Living on history itself.

As world leaders and activists gather in Bloemfontein to celebrate the centenary of the African National Congress Party (ANC) it should provide an opportunity for all onlookers and participants to reflect and rejoice. The internal struggles against the Apartheid Government that eventually forced the world to act should be something that we must never forget. White rule saw coloured and black people subjugated, withheld basic economic and human rights. Anyone who tried to undermine the regime was brutally repressed. The ANC openly challenged the Apartheid system, providing legal help for defendants against a bias judiciary and organising strikes and boycotts. Banned by the Government following the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, where 69 protestors were killed after police opened fire, it continued to operate in secret. Working across the border in neighbouring Angola and Mozambique, it planned and launched sabotage attacks against factories, mines and communications with an aim to disrupt the day-to-day working of the country. Many of its activists were incarcerated, most notably Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, whilst others were fleeing abroad to push the intellectual message to an international audience. The ANC had become the world’s moral upright party, it was a cause that touched people’s conscience and believed it was time to act.

The release of Nelson Mandela from prison and his subsequent election as the first black leader of South Africa saw the rebirth of the country and an avenue of hope for millions of ordinary South Africans. Perhaps his greatest legacy was standing down after one term in 1999, allowing democracy to flourish after 50 years of insubordination. So does the party really stop there?

Since the man they call ‘Madiba’ stood down there has been greater scrutiny to how the country operates. His successors Thabo Mbeki and the current President Jacob Zuma have both been criticised as the party’s political practices have been questioned and a new ruling elite have emerged. Instead of the demands and transition to a fairer and more equal society, vast amounts of wealth have exchanged into ANC associated hands. In 1999 instances of widespread corruption were uncovered after the procurement of $4.8 billion of defence contracts with European defence manufacturers. Mbeki played down the HIV/AIDS epidemic across the country and Zuma said that showering after intercourse was a way of prevention. Mbeki was accused by human rights groups for turning a blind eye to atrocities being committed across the border by the Zimbabwean tyrant Robert Mugabe. Zuma’s leadership has been dogged by inter-party conflict led by the former youth league leader Julius Malema and the recent passing of a secrecy bill that forbids whistle blowing and investigative journalism against the national government. Both men played their part in the early struggles, yet both have continued to present the past as their ticket to the future. 17 years of power has not served well a new generation; millions of blacks still live in townships, almost 8.7 million live on less than a $1.25 a day, not to mention the high unemployment and violent crime rates. Both Mbeki and Zuma have made promises that remain unfulfilled.

Electorally the ANC continues to win votes from the Apartheid-era electorate, yet the population with a median age of 25, less aware of the past and uncertain of their future is turning to the electorally viable Democratic Alliance party, led by Helen Zille and significantly, Mamphela Ramphele, a fierce ANC critic and partner of the late Apartheid era hero, Steve Biko. The centenary should be an opportunity to remember the likes of Mandela, Sisulu, Tutu, Tambo and all others in the struggle, but we should remember those who have continued that have been left behind by the malaise of the ANC administration.

So I sing a song of hate, Julius Malema

African political leaders have always had a difficult ride from the foreign press during their time in office. Whether it is their links to corruption, war or ineptitude then many leaders are tarred with the same brush. Last month candidate Michael Sata defeated incumbent Rupiah Banda to become Zambia’s new President, yet much of the foreign attention focussed on the fact that there had been no ethnic violence, electoral fraud or a reluctance to stand down, like we saw in Cote d’Ivoire last November. The beacon for African democracy to flourish through Western eyes is seen through the South African lens. After the years of Apartheid and South Africa’s isolation internationally to the freedom of Nelson Mandela, the rainbow nation, is the litmus paper to whether democracy is working on the continent. Yet, the man who steals all the headlines is not the current President Jacob Zuma, it is the firebrand leader of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) Julius Malema.

Malema a pugnacious and part of South Africa’s black ‘nouveau riche’ has gained attention for his virulent views and standpoints on politics and economics. When Malema first hit the scene, what was noticeable was his poor use of the English language, yet his ability to court controversy has made him infamous. Malema has demanded that private enterprise particularly the mining sector be confiscated and nationalised. He believes that the sizeable white minority of South Africans still control far too much of the land and this should be handed back to the poor black population, by force if necessary. At ANC rallies, he famously sang the Apartheid song ‘Shoot the Boer’, Boer being a reference to the non-indigenous white settlers, something that has seen him reprimanded for by the police and the legal system.

Approaching 100,000 followers on Twitter, he has been able to maximise his exposure to the international press, and again for the wrong reasons. In 2010, he criticised a BBC journalist Jonah Fisher after he had questioned Malema’s wealthy background and was subsequently expelled from the press conference. He has criticised the role of Chinese entrepreneurs in South Africa, and last month has said that the Botswana government should be overthrown (though no one is quite sure why). In 2010 he met Zimbabwe’s ageing tyrant Robert Mugabe and backed the land reforms that Mr Mugabe’s ZANU PF implemented in 2000, which crippled the Zimbabwean economy, he also called the opposition MDC party and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai imperialists.

For a long time, Jacob Zuma did not criticise the activities of Malema and the youth wing of the ANC. In fact, Malema told Zuma that he would ‘kill’ to ensure that he was elected as President, yet since then relations have become frostier. Zuma reprimanded Malema for many of his public comments and in return, Malema has become critical of Zuma in public, for example he did not like him backing the NATO campaign in Libya. Today, it will be decided whether Malema faces expulsion from the ANC as a whole. Many point out that Malema is insignificant and that the biggest issue for South Africa is its flagging economy and chronic corruption. Yet, for South Africa, after decades of struggle, the possibility of race becoming an issue does not bode well. The murder of the far-right leader Eugene Terreblanche in 2010 reopened some wounds that the country hoped had closed in the early 1990s. What is more concerning is that Genocide Watch, a Washington based organisation, has highlighted the dangers of Malema’s speeches and the fact the ANC has failed to remove him as leader of the ANCYL. It says that the country is at Stage 6 – preparation, stage 7 is genocide. It says, ‘Xenophobic riots and murders of foreign refugees as well as continuing hate crimes against Boer farmers and other whites have caused dark clouds to form over the rainbow nation’. Malema has been quoted as ‘Africa’s biggest racist’ and we shall see whether he can be stopped.