Those with religious convictions, particularly of the Christian faith, may be familiar with the story of St Peter. The story goes that while Peter was fleeing crucifixion in Rome, he met the risen Jesus and, surprised, Peter asked “Quō vādis?” (“Where are you going?”)

Jesus replied, “Rōmam eō iterum crucifīgī”, meaning “I am going to Rome to be crucified again”. Moved by this statement, it is said that Peter gained the courage to return to the city and continue his preaching, and he was subsequently martyred by being crucified upside-down.

One could argue that the African National Congress has met its Quo Vadis moment. On all accounts the liberation movement now more than ever has to internalise the question, where to from here?

There are (should be) many within the organisation’s ranks who now find themselves reflecting on the great Oliver Tambo’s prophetic words: “Comrades, you might think it is very difficult to wage a liberation struggle. Wait until you are in power. I might be dead by then. At that [stage,] you will realise that it is actually more difficult to keep the power than to wage a liberation war. People will be expecting a lot of services from you. You will have to satisfy the various demands of the masses of our people. In the process, be prepared to learn from other people’s revolutions. Learn from the enemy also. The enemy is not necessarily doing everything [wrong]. You may take his right tactics and use them to your advantage. At the same time, avoid repeating the enemy’s mistakes.”

Tambo’s vision has now come to pass, and the ANC is left with the question of how the organisation moves forward within the realms of state power without tearing itself apart. The ANC has long characterised itself as a liberation movement, and not as a political party per se. So it follows that this characterisation should inform the manner in which the liberation movement conducts its internal affairs and its relationship with the State. And those who concern themselves with Tambo’s sage advice may want to use it to rebuild the organisation by learning from other revolutions.

Firstly, the ANC needs to modernise its internal operations, and take the initiative to develop a cadreship which fits its purpose.

In his letter to the 12th Congress titled “How We Should Reorganise the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection,” Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s advice is rather instructive:

“In order that it may attain the desired high level, we must follow the rule: ‘Measure your cloth seven times before you cut.’ For this purpose, we must utilise the very best of what there is in our social system, and utilise it with the greatest caution, thoughtfulness and knowledge, to build up the new People’s Commissariat.

“For this purpose, the best elements that we have in our social system ̶ such as, first, the advanced workers, and, second, the really enlightened elements for whom we can vouch that they will not take the word for the deed, and will not utter a single word that goes against their conscience ̶ should not shrink from admitting any difficulty and should not shrink from any struggle in order to achieve the object they have seriously set themselves.”

Later on, in the seminal letter, Lenin says “[I]t is high time things were changed. We must follow the rule: Better fewer, but better. We must follow the rule: Better get good human material…”

This rule is an important one to follow, as the alternative breeds many of the unscrupulous practices which find expression in the movement today. Among these practices is the manner in which patronage is dispensed within the movement, from a branch level to a national level.

In truth, the massification of the liberation movement need not apply to its membership. Developing a new internal system goes right into the heart of what must be fixed in the ANC. The party must be re-organised, from mobilisation, to recruitment, to deployment. In the current status quo, it is simply too easy to join the ANC. Payment of a mere R20 (for one year of membership) or R100 (five years of membership) qualifies one for membership, subject to six months of “induction”. There is no test to determine whether these inductions actually do take place.

This is not to say that an increase in subscription fees would increase the quality of members within structures of the movement. On the contrary, the suggestion is that the mere payment of subscription fees should not be the basis of membership. The starting point of joining the liberation movement should be a demonstrated track record of activism within the community. ANC branches cannot exist outside communities, because in essence a functional ANC branch should be at the heart of the communities’ aspirations.

The quality of party members not only influences the internal operations and integrity of the party, it is intrinsically linked to the development of society; it has important and profound significance for cultivating qualified constructors and reliable successors for the advancement of a national democratic society.

In light of the above, the ANC should have a system that defines the scope of member selection. In recruiting applicants, the ANC must deliberately attract activists with prominent virtues. That is, people whose values and ideology are consistent with the attainment of a national democratic society and activists who have performed exceptionally in work, study, and life.

The organisation’s relationship with the State

If the ANC is going to truly conform to the liberation movement nomenclature, it needs to ensure that it not only manages the State but transforms it. For this to happen, it must re-organise itself outside of the State. This re-organisation and reconfiguration would have to be based on the understanding that the ANC does not exist to merely win elections and contest State power, but rather as a means to transform society and the character of the State.

To this end, it must be said that in the last 20-odd years, the manner in which the liberation movement’s deployees have used the State as a conduit of service delivery leaves much to be desired. One simply needs to refer to the incessant levels of corruption, high levels of service-delivery protests and our inability to diversify the economy, to suggest that there are still strong remnants of the apartheid state.

This is even more visible in our public-order policing methods – too many people have died on the instructions of and under the watch of an ANC-led government. In many ways it can be said that our public-order policing system mirrors that of the apartheid state.

However, it cannot be disputed that there was tremendous progress in the first phase of the transition: codifying the aspirations of the Freedom Charter into law and building a democratic society is a commendable achievement. Our Constitution being lauded as one of the most enabling documents for building a truly prosperous and non-racial society is some mean feat.

Furthermore, in its reconfiguration and reorganisation, the liberation movement must not let the National Question wither away. We must constantly be preoccupied with the late Comrade Joe Slovo’s question:

“Do we believe that our peoples already constitute one nation? If not, are they (or should they be) moving towards single or separate nationhood? What is the future of the cultural and linguistic diversity and how do we cater for this diversity within the framework of a unitary state?”

The resurgence of tribalism, anti-white chauvinism, and the persistence of hetero-normative and patriarchal politics within the liberation movement, and the country suggests there has been little headway made in the way of the National Question. To date, we have not been able to give expression to the aspiration of being united in our diversity. This can be attributed, to a large extent, to an inability by members of the liberation movement to immerse themselves in the politics of constructing a diverse but equal society.

Equally, in order for the liberation movement to be in a position to fully address the question of economic freedom in post-apartheid South Africa, it must deliberately capacitate itself with expertise which reframes its ability to de-concentrate the economy while developing South African companies within the context of global capitalism. The organisation’s ability to openly assess the effect of policies such as Broad-Based Economic Empowerment and openly confront the consistent decimation of State-owned enterprises is critical for completing our development industrialisation. This must not merely be given rhetorical credence.

In essence, even in deploying cadres to SOEs, the liberation movement should be emphatic that it cannot afford to have entities which drain the fiscus. In reality, this hampers the liberation movement’s goal to transform a nation, especially a nation where the entire population continues to be mostly split into two hostile camps.

As inequality continues to expand at exponential rates, the abyss in the standards of living, cultural and social capital between white and black South Africans widens.

This inevitably provides a platform for numerous social ills, from crime to crude Afrophobia. In order to give life to the society envisioned in the Freedom Charter, live up to its aspirations, and overcome the legacy of apartheid, the liberation movement need not concern itself with the number of people within it, but the quality thereof.

In his final political report, President Mbeki called on the 52^nd National Conference of the ANC “consciously to restore the moral force of [the liberation] movement so that, within the organisation and throughout all levels of the state [the] movement is inoculated from the insidious enticements of corruption, patronage and lust for power”.

To this end, Thuma Mina must also speak to a strategic reconfiguration of the movement, especially its membership. ANC membership on its own should not be indicative of one’s activism. On the contrary ANC members must be drawn from all spheres of the community. DM

Chrispin Phiri is an ANC activist.