NEC LEKGOTLA
ANC admits it made ‘mistakes’, bemoans ‘setbacks’ in improving South African lives over past 30 years
This admission comes as the ANC National Executive Committee prepares to grapple over the next few days with how to solve the load shedding crisis, as well as tackle job creation and economic growth, not to mention winning an outright majority in this year’s elections.
While the ANC believes it has made an impact on improving the lives of black people in the country, the party has acknowledged that it has made “mistakes” in the 30 years it has been in power.
This is according to a National Executive Committee (NEC) lekgotla concept note seen by Daily Maverick which seeks to take stock of how effective they have been as well as drawing up a plan for the year.
“In the 30 years of ANC in government we have been able to witness the transformation… in our communities achieved through expanding basic services to millions of people, building robust, democratic and nonracial public institutions, driving economic transformation, and a Constitution that not only frames our nation’s quest for a national democratic society, but also for redress,” the note reads.
“At the same time, we face a number of setbacks and mistakes, in particular with regards the quality of basic services and therefore the social wage, as a result of a fast-growing and urbanising population, compounded by state capture, corruption and poor governance and planning.”
The party’s highest decision-making body, along with leadership from its alliance partners the South African Communist Party, Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African National Civics Organisation, will be part of the lekgotla at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Boksburg over the next few days.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Load shedding solutions
Key discussions will focus on the load shedding crisis, with Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa expected to make a presentation on the progress in resolving the matter.
Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo is responsible for the presentation on the economy and jobs, while the party’s head of political education, David Makhura, will provide feedback on the ANC’s path to renewing itself.
Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa. (Photo: GCIS / Elmond Jiyane)
David Makhura, the ANC’s head of political education. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sharon Seretlo)
The ANC is looking to act with urgency to tackle these key areas as it gears up for the 2024 elections, which are considered as important as the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Elections 2024 Knowledge Base
Read more in Daily Maverick: 2024 elections
“Critics speculate that the demise of the ANC is imminent, that it will not secure an outright majority. This lekgotla bears the responsibility of reinforcing our resolve to be leaders of society and to bring about meaningful and significant change, in rural and urban communities alike,” the concept note reads.
The ANC has admitted that ‘we face a number of setbacks and mistakes, in particular with regards the quality of basic services and therefore the social wage’. (Illustrative image | source: ANC logo / wikimedia)
“Having noted and highlighted the critical juncture that we now stand in, the emphasis should be geared towards developing strategic and pragmatic solutions that will guide the course of the ANC and ANC-led government in the next few months.”
Read more in Daily Maverick: The ANC cannot fix itself; South Africa’s last hope is business
Meanwhile, the party held its NEC meeting over the weekend and is expected to announce the fate of its former president, Jacob Zuma, this week.
It will also provide feedback on the Integrity Committee report which has been presented and the changes which are likely to strengthen the disciplinary body. DM
“Mistakes”. Really!?
“Mistakes” – now that is a euphemism if ever there was one.
Sorry we made some mistakes, but give us 5 more years and we’ll get it right!!! A bit late for anone to believe that……..
Mistakes?? Well, at least includes the term “take”…
What about the lives of people other than blacks, they don’t matter?
Nope, not to the people who make the laws. They despise western nations, with mostly well run services, education, successful economies and clean streets, but can’t do without the luxurious western products.
“mostly well run …” … You mean like the one in the US … where they ‘stole’ the last election .. and millions still believe that BS ? Try some other stunt !
No they dont. But they only tell blacks their lives matter, they dont matter. No ones does
Governance is doing the basic things right, recognise 342 years of dispossession, nurture South African human capital, put our people (yes, our people) at the center of development, ensure there are consequences, build on the value systems that gel South Africans, that sets them apart from others, be loyal to our people and country. the nation state as a unit of management is a most relevant, progressive human governance concept since time immemorial.
ANC had their chance and squandered its opportunities , time for new blood . We have reached the stage where any new blood will do . The ANC has proven it cannot reform .
Madiba in fact foretold of this decline because he really understood human nature .. when he said words to the effect that you must do it (anc) what you did to the apartheid regime, if it does what that old regime did. He was not a sentimental enthusiast of ‘the ANC will govern until Jesus comes’ variety !
Be very concerned about “any” new blood will do mantra … because it could be just as contaminated … or even worse !
Imagine if ‘your people’ had duplicated what ‘the other people’ were building and purely focussed on building the copy for ‘your people’. By shear weight of numbers ‘your people’ would dominate in every aspect of SA society.
In the last 30 years, ‘your people’ have been handed (on a functioning plate) the keys to everything. What has happened, nothing but breaking the plate, losing the keys, blaming the past and putting the near empty hands out again looking for another plate.
Now imagine if ‘your people’ and the ‘other people’ (whoever they are) that live in South Africa, who just want to have a successful environment for ALL people to flourish made their political choices based on what is good for one and all, held people and parties to account for the decay of South African infrastructure, the dumbing down of education (30% is not a pass or basis for educational, nor economic improvement), and general deviation from election promises.
Now that would be a great first step in showing that the democracy that was voted for by ‘those people’, the VAST majority of whom wanted the wrongs of apartheid abolished and were one cog in a wheel that saw a better system emerge for all South African’s.
SA’s problem isn’t policy. Many of the main political parties have wonderful policy. Our problem is the lack of adherence to policy, the blatant theft and the complete lack of accountability. And yet, the ‘loyal’ continue to vote the same cronies in, expecting a different outcome.
Stanislav / Glorious One:
I am sure that objective reading of the countless ANC policies and intentions will read like Utopia. The problem we have is that between the printed policy and where rubber meet the road lies the appointment of completely useless and/or corrupt cadres. Same circus, different clowns that rotate the spotlight.
These clowns will NEVER achieve 10% of their beautiful objectives.
Does that mean the ANC will also need 300 years of looting and mismanagement before it could decide to prioritize the interests of South Africans over the destructive self enrichment schemes of its cadres.
WTF is that supposed to mean? And how does it address any of the issues raised in the article??
Oh, cry me a river (of crocodile tears). The moment the elections are done and ducted, they’ll return to what they do best – ‘make mistakes’, i.e. steal.
Compare the economy after 30 years under the NP government. The seventies the economy overheated because too many chased to few goods and services. Remember the change from 5.5 days workweek to 5 days and industries like motor workshops were not allowed to work on Saturday. All the cool down the economy.
Now we have an economy that is ice cold and even during the December holiday, we do not have enough electricity.
So let us use the same language as the ANC – NP made a few mistakes in their first 30 years, forgive both and lets move on.
5 more years = 5 more years of mistakes! The maths is clear!
Exactly the same issues that have been on their agenda before the 2009, 2014 and 2019 elections (load shedding has been with us since 2007). Surely any political organisation that was serious about fixing the electorate’s woes should have been tackle at least some of them by now?
Handing the country over to the Guptas was not a mistake? Stealing tax payers money is not a mistake? Collapsing Eskom, SAA, Denel, SABC, The Post Office, Transnet, our ports and harbours are not mistakes? Now they say give them another 5 years and they’ll sort out the mess they turned South Africa into in the last 20 years. And they expect the same wreckage crew to achieve this miraculous transformation? Not a hope in hell.
What does SANCO actually do….have they any purpose whatsoever.
One thing is certain- all the attendees at this shindig are gonna come out of it fatter than they already are.
Besides, these are the incompetent miscreants who messed up – repeatedly- over 3 decades! They haven’t been able to do the basics right, let alone anything even slightly complicated. They’re unfit- physically and mentally- for the serious job of governing our beloved country. The panic is now setting in: it’s all hands on deck to hold onto the gravy train by hook and by – mainly – crook.
The evidence is there for all to see.
I long ago cancelled all TV stations – and don’t regret it one bit. To see these grossly overfed, excessively overpaid, unfit, underworked, uninformed, lazy free-loaders lying through their teeth to the South African citizens is repulsive beyond description. All of them should bring their own lunch bag ( giant cooler bag?) with LIGHT refreshments to feed themselves. They’re gonna be sitting (sleeping?) through all these meetings. They won’t be expending any energy. So, why stuff your gob?
In fact, this should be an online meeting.
Rather let a team of experts in the various fields, patriots who are highly qualified and whose credentials are beyond question (no fong-kong doctorates please) meet over the weekend to come up with solid, workable plans that can be put in place quickly to save this beautiful country. It will be worth putting them up in a hotel and feeding and watering them.
Catering was my very first thought when I read this.
dellarose
Agree with most but the fault lies therein that those that make fancy plans should also implement their plans. I can easily draw up a list of ten lofty objectives if I will not have to try implement them. That is one of our primary failures : DISCONNECT
Maybe they will over eat and over drink that they will reach expiry date…. heck, half the Cabinet at leave are already grossly over..,…
Usual nonsense from the ANC.
They say they have improved the lives of Blacks which may be so, but the measure is not how much it has been improved but how much it should have been improved over 30 years, if the government had been honest , competent and had business friendly policies.
Look at other countries such as S Korea, Taiwan, Poland, Portugal or pretty much any developing country including even many African countries who are doing better The only exceptions being the Arab and Communist countries who are also stuck in an idiologocal past. .
Look at o
Very well put, thank you!
While some observations by Sidney are pertinent … I have a simple question about “Arab” countries … why is the US so hell bent on getting into bed with Saudi Arabia, UAE etc ? Not only the US state, but the western ‘rich elites’ (sporting bodies in particular) investing in and supporting such states ?
Money talks
The issue with their mistakes is that they have no insight into just how big the mistakes are and how those mistakes will impact future generations. And without any remorse, sincere remorse, that comes with an abiding resolve to do better, there is no foresight to truthfully see the full extent of how awfully their mistakes truly are, and how they have taken the country’s development backwards.
It’s all just Bullshit PR spin.
They’re saying the words, admitting to mistakes, but there is no ownership and hence no consequences for all the crap they’ve put the country through since they took over.
And even in saying they made mistakes, I missed the part where they sincerely apologized. You can’t apologize for that which you don’t honestly own up to, and this bunch of miscreants never own up to anything because they have no real remorse or shame for what they did.
Don’t be so hard on yourselves, ANC. You are great at stealing, plundering, and wholesale ineptitude. So there’s that…
Its easy, you want to win the elections? Put ALL your criminal cadres in prison for a long time. Not a month or two…for minimum 10 years. And i dont mean the small fry. I mean, zuma, ramaphosa, koko, all of them! Thats the only way we can trust the anc again.
No, these are not “mistakes”, and the “setbacks” that have been encountered for at least the past 15 years, are entirely due to the corruption, maladministration, and incompetence of the ANC government. It is offensive to characterize those as “mistakes” and “setbacks”, when the country has been brought to the brink of collapse. The availability of basic services has expanded, but the entire electricity, water and sanitation, and transportation infrastructures are collapsing. Regarding the status of sorting out the electricity crisis, Minister Ramokgopa can report that absolutely no progress has been made by government, the only positive developments have been businesses and individuals getting off the grid, and what little independent power production has been allowed. Regarding the ability of the Party to renew itself, Mr Makhura can report that there is absolutely no way that the Party is capable of renewal. Deputy Minister Masondo can report the dire state that the economy is in, particularly due to the complete failure to address the electricity crisis and the transportation infrastructure disaster, which is destroying investment. Regarding the statement, “the emphasis should be geared towards developing strategic and pragmatic solutions that will guide the course of the ANC and ANC-led government in the next few months,” populist nonsense will be agreed to trick voters with, especially the NHI, and pie in the sky and bread and circus plans from Premier Lesufi.
Well put, their only mistake is to characterize incompetence and corruption as “mistakes”. That mischaractirisation of their mistake is a recipe for a continuous tsunami of mistakes
Mistakes what a joke they robbed the country dry, they refused to listen to advice, what do they want another 30 years of the same the anc will never change.
Promises, Promises
What odds an excuse is found to delay the 2024 Election?
By calling them ‘Mistakes’, means that the ANC is not serious about its treasonous acts over the last 30 years, and it is irredeemable.
This country cannot survive another 4 years of the deplorable government and corruption of the past 30 years.
This is funny, I think they actually believe themselves when they say how they’ll improve.
In the real world people get fired for this level of “setback”, in the unlikely event the company survives.
We made mistakes,
We got caught.
We’ve gotten better, vote us in again and we’ll try much harder to not get caught next time.. no more mistakes!
Again, may I remind fellow DM subscribers to have a read of Martin Meredith’s “State of Africa” it covers all of post-colonial Africa and how South Africa has joined all the others down the same slippery slope.
Electioneering talk. They are making fools out of South Africans, pretending they have realized their mistakes and they’re willing to fix them. All talk and they havent learned anything. All lies. Not so long ago Ramaphosa spoke about how he is aware of corruption in the State and is willing to clean it up. Well, we all know how that is going as we speak.
It is not the first time, the ANC also “admitted” that “it made mistakes” on the eve of the previous two national elections before. This new practice of the ANC of apologizing for “its mistakes” on the eve of national elections is a hollow as its long practiced habit of promising voters heaven and earth before every elections followed by arrogance and mismanagement once in power. It’s a cycle of empty promises that has now hiven a twist with the addition of disingenuous “apologies” and crocodile tears about “improved service delivery”.
I would love to see the statistics that support their statement that they have “improved the lives of black people in the country”. They give the example of basic services… sure the ANC has elevated electrification from 51% to 92% in its time, but in 2012 the DoE estimated that 47% of South Africans are energy poor (it will be much worse now)… ANC provided electricity connections to people can’t afford to access it… HDI is 12% better now than in 94, but social grants went from 3 million people to 28 million and inequality has gotten no better (and perhaps slightly worse). Not only that, but when we adjust the HDI for inequality we fall from number 109 in the world to number 131 (a bigger drop than any other country). Life expectancy has improved a mere two years from 62 years on average in 94 to 64 last year despite the worlds largest ARV roll-out….Why is it so hard to point to specific areas where peoples lives have improved? This should not be tricky.