There+is+one+ANC+and+it+belongs+to+all,+Fikile+Mbalula,+The+Star



=There is one ANC, and it belongs to all=


 * Fikile Mbalula, The Star, 18 January 2008**

Since the conclusion of the ANC's 52nd national conference there has been widespread commentary on the perceived purging of people in the ANC, allegedly on the basis of their being perceived as supporting former ANC president Thabo Mbeki.

Moshoeshoe Monare, deputy group political editor of Independent Newspapers, in an article titled "Zuma's ANC purge continues" (January 16), makes the absurd assertion that there exists two ANCs, one aligned to its president, the other aligned to its former president.

We reiterate that there is only one ANC, which belongs to all its members.

This characterisation is being peddled to justify the baseless theory that people who belong to "the other ANC" are being purged from leadership structures, and to deliberately distort the composition of the party's national executive committee.

The NEC comprises a healthy balance of cadres from all walks of life, and, true to the character of the ANC as a broad church, consists of a fair representation of activists representing a good generational and gender mix, with diverse backgrounds drawn from various components of the mass democratic movement.

The ANC reserves the right to deploy its leaders to any role where the organisation believes their skills and capability will best serve the organisation. This is a duty the ANC has executed with diligence over its 96 years of existence.

Like any other organisation, each national conference ushers in a new generation of leadership with a mandate to address particular challenges and execute defined tasks relevant to the prevailing conditions. The change of guard through a democratic process is the bedrock of democracy, and any claim to entitlement to a leadership position is nothing short of tyranny.

Those who decry the absence of their favourite individuals from key roles in the leadership structures of our movement neither have the interests of the ANC, nor of the country, at heart. They quietly wish for the ANC to implode and self-destruct as a consequence of its imaginary divisions.

We are being hoodwinked into believing that the election of a new leadership in the ANC is a new phenomenon never seen before Polokwane. There can be nothing further from the truth. At its first national conference after its unbanning in 1991, the ANC elected into its NEC a significant number of cadres who had not been part of the NEC collective.

A number of the seasoned cadres who had carried the ANC through its most difficult years were not returned to office. This was not a purge, but a natural process of leadership renewal, which is the lifeblood of democracy.

The deployment of ANC cadres - whether as ministers, premiers, mayors or councillors - can never give rise to entitlement to leadership roles in the structures of the movement, as tacitly suggested by Monare. The fact that 12 of the elected members of the NEC are cadres deployed in national government, including the state president (who is an ex-officio member) puts paid to the notion of a purge.

Advocating the notion that ministers of the cabinet constitute an umbilical cord between the party and the state is not only grossly irresponsible, but dangerous. These men and women are elected into the leadership collective of the ANC in their own right as dedicated members of the ANC, not on the basis of their deployment. The ANC has structures and defined processes that govern the interface between the party and its deployed cadres in government.

The Democratic Alliance had the audacity to suggest that the deployment of the ANC's national chairperson, Baleka Mbete, will undermine her role as the speaker of parliament. It appears that in their desperation to position themselves as spokespersons of the ANC, they have conveniently forgotten that all members of parliament are deployed from party lists and are therefore subject to party demands and deployment. The speaker of parliament is not immune from such demands and deployment.

Similarly, the United Democratic Movement couldn't resist the temptation to prescribe to the ANC how to conduct its internal business. These armchair critics suffer from illusions of grandeur which are unfortunately based on populist politics and opportunism.

The strength of the individual leaders deployed into various roles is defined by their ability to pool their skills and capabilities into a leadership collective, driven by its collective wisdom and cohesion.

The ANC continues to champion the creation of a nation-state that fully embraces an emancipated society with gender parity, non-racism and youth empowerment as cornerstones of its foundation. The election of the first-ever woman into the role of national chairperson of the ANC should be celebrated and applauded.

The ANC's decision to ensure equal representation of women and men in all its structures must serve as a beacon for the rest of society.

The ANC has an abundance of leadership capable of rising to the occasion when called upon to do so. We are under no illusion about the capability and capacity of the current leadership collective to jealously defend the unity and cohesion of the movement while providing decisive leadership to its members and the country.

The calibre of the leadership elected into the ANC's NEC gives us the confidence that the ANC will remain true to its founding. The traditions that have moulded this glorious movement over the last nine decades will continue to guide the march to its centenary in 2012 and beyond.


 * Mbalula is president of the ANC Youth League


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4210804**

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