The ANC’s failure to secure an outright majority confirms that its much-hyped rebuilding and renewal project was nothing more than a flop.
In fact, the toughest test yet for the renewal project may still come in the form of whether the party will hold its leadership accountable post-elections.
A party renewing itself would have long foreseen the potential harm that the Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party would cause its support.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and two of his deputies, Nomvula Mokonyane and Maropene Ramokgopa, were caught napping when the MK Party quietly registered with the IEC.
Collectively, the ANC NEC failed to deal with the MK Party question by suspending or expelling Zuma the moment he publicly announced on December 16 that he would not be campaigning for the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa, but instead endorsed the MK Party.
Mbalula then de-campaigned the ANC, confirming for the first time that the ANC undermined parliamentary processes to protect Zuma during the Nkandla fire pool saga.
Subsequent attacks on Zuma by ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal were signs of a party in panic with no plan B.
The Zuma issue was but one of many instances that proved the ANC was never ready to renew itself but used this process to mask the short comings of this leadership, particularly those who were in the “right faction”.
Its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, as the face of the party, should be the first to take the heat. His critics may argue his indecisiveness in government has characterised the style of leadership within the party. His Phala Phala saga may have not mattered for the ANC, but certainly did for the electorate.
Whatever the case, the ANC will lick its wounds knowing that its colossal fall from power was engineered by nobody else but itself.
The coming days and weeks may just answer how much the ANC has renewed itself. One thing is for sure, it will not be pretty for a party that has a reduced parliamentary representation.
For South Africans, the prospect of a coalition government ushers in a renewed sense of hope and enthusiasm, since for the first time in history, the country will not be governed by a single party nationally.
What a great opportunity for South Africa’s real rebuilding and renewal.
Cape Times