LETTER | ANC should heed Oliver Tambo’s words in path to renewal

Almost 35 years ago, in Decem­ber 1990, then ANC pres­id­ent Oliver Tambo, when hand­ing over the lead­er­ship of the ANC after lead­ing its external mis­sion for 30 years, said: “I devotedly watched over the organ­isa­tion all these years. I now hand it over to you big­ger, stronger and intact.

“Guard your pre­cious move­ment. As in the past, our com­rades should be the first to rally to the defence of the people and the last to seek rewards.”

Tambo’s words are worth reflect­ing on today to raise import­ant ques­tions about the chal­lenges facing the ANC.

Have ANC lead­ers and mem­bers devotedly watched over and guarded their pre­cious organ­isa­tion?

Have ANC lead­ers and mem­bers ral­lied to the defence of the people and lastly sought rewards?

The ANC of today is riven with destruct­ive fac­tion­al­ism, region­al­ism, cli­en­tel­ism, elit­ism, dem­agoguery, arrog­ance, char­ac­ter assas­sin­a­tions, cor­rup­tion, pur­ging, isol­a­tion of thinkers, obses­sion of divi­sions as a staple diet, and hatred among each other.

These tend­en­cies con­tinue to erode the ANC’s val­ues and prin­ciples.

They cripple the ANC’s abil­ity to carry out its his­tor­ical mis­sion of cre­at­ing a bet­ter life for all.

These are the reas­ons that led to a loss of trust by the people and mostly the elect­or­ate, the latest being the 2024 elec­tions.

As the local gov­ern­ment elec­tions loom, the ANC is still look­ing for answers.

The ANC can only regain its lost pos­i­tion if it defends and main­tains the cul­ture of fear­less dis­cus­sions within the move­ment and soci­ety.

Unity is not con­form­ity and uni­form­ity. Unity is also about guar­an­tee­ing demo­cratic dis­sent and cre­at­ing pos­sib­il­it­ies for minor­ity voices to become new major­it­ies.

Major­ity views are not main­tained through ter­ror­ising into silence those who hold minor­ity views.

As we march towards the LGE 2026, the ANC needs to focus on dis­mant­ling the fac­tion­al­ism and mostly the polit­ics of hatred among mem­bers who are on the same cam­paign path for vic­tory.

Under the influ­ence of fac­tion­al­ism, we isol­ate the best and limit ourselves to choos­ing between the bad and very bad choices to lead.

If the ANC is ser­i­ous about the renewal project, it needs to heed former pres­id­ent Thabo Mbeki’s call for improved mem­ber­ship.

The ANC, to recon­nect with the masses, needs self­less, caring and high-qual­ity mem­bers and lead­ers, not the stooges of self-interest and not the queens and kings of fac­tions.

• Viwe Sid­ali, ANC Mzwanele Faz­zie branch, Dr WB Rubusana region.

The Herald