2005-10-26,+Money+is+factor+in+ANC+power+play,+Brown,+BDay

Business Day, Johannesburg, 25 October 2005 = Money is explosive new factor in ANC power play = Karima Brown

THE fingering of Saki Macozoma in the ugly succession war in the African National Congress (ANC) has made clear the hidden hand of business and money in ruling party politics.

It has also highlighted the extent to which state resources will be marshalled to fight the battles of the factions vying for control.

This makes for a bruising fight to the finish — one unlike anything that has gone before.

Succession and bad blood have always gone together in the ANC. Despite modern-day revisionism, the ANC has never had a bloodless succession. History is littered with would-be ANC presidents who never quite made it, usually due to the brutal machinations of their comrades.

Nelson Mandela — universally celebrated for his uplifting legacy of reconciliation, unity, renewal and other such saintly attributes — is a case in point.

The warm adulation of the Mandela years often shrouded Mandela’s character of at best a benign autocrat, if not a downright intolerant Big Man. His ascendancy to the throne was not the product of consensus, as legend has it. His succession by Thabo Mbeki was even more bitter. It involved the calculated elimination of many rivals — real and perceived. It also pitted Mbeki against Madiba himself, something the president has never quite forgotten.

But the subterfuge at play in the current battle involving Mbeki and his former deputy, Jacob Zuma, and the fluid alliances that grouped around the two, surpass previous contests. And what separates this battle from those before are the key twin elements — state power and money.

Macozoma, who despite his pained denials bats for one of the two sides, reportedly provides money to his chosen clique. Slain businessman Brett Kebble provided loot for the other. This, in a nutshell, is what ANC politics has been reduced to.

Attaining leadership in the movement has ceased to be about ability, popularity, track record or even ideology. Political leaders acknowledge that the final word belongs to whichever financial interest group backs a given candidate. This has led to “branded” factions reminiscent of commercial sports teams. One alliance leader characterises the succession race as: “One class project, many factions.”

At a local level, ANC leaders concede the corrosive influence of business on the party. But at national level, there appears to be a mental block about the creeping influence of money on the party’s inner workings.

There is broad consensus within the ANC about the dangers of private funding of political parties — particularly the ruling party. The ANC’s instincts are to guard against the party becoming beholden to financial interests. A proposal floated at the party’s national general council in July suggested more rigorous regulation of party funding. This is because ordinary members and the party leadership ultimately realise the dangers of the movement’s policies, and even its soul, being mortgaged to the highest bidder.

But the proposals related only to the funding of all political parties for the purpose of contesting elections. They did not address the influence of money on individual parties — a problem that is particularly acute for the ANC.

The imperatives imposed on all sides in the ANC by the succession tussle mean that principled objections to the corrosive influence of money are waived in favour of short-term interests. Before politics can be about wielding power, it has to be about attaining power. It is at this stage that strange alliances can result.

There is something wrong when the leftist element of the tripartite alliance finds itself on the same side as Don Mkhwanazi, corrupt businessman Schabir Shaik, and an ANC Youth League suckled on the largesse of the late Kebble. What unites these diverse elements is a devotion to the Zuma presidential bid.

On the other side, some truly questionable characters — Sandi Majali comes to mind — can get away with business practices that on the face of it are unsavoury, simply because they are generously funding the winning side.

How does one account for ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama’s relationship with the Elephant Consortium — a millionaires’ club started by former communications director-general Andile Ngcaba? He secured a still-undisclosed stake in Telkom as a “finder’s fee” for facilitating Elephant’s acquisition of a sizeable chunk of the company. We can excuse those who believe that Ngonyama’s close relationship with Mbeki was the invisible glue that held the consortium together and ensured his own enrichment.

Sadly, the battle is on in the ANC, and more money will be needed, not less. Macozoma, and others like him, are likely to prosper for a long time to come.

‖Brown is political editor.

From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A105711