JUSTICE MALALA

The ANC should clear out of government for a very simple reason: the party has never seen itself as being in power or as deserving of it. It has never seen itself as being capable of driving change.

Instead of an actor with power in its hands, it sees itself as a victim. It characterises itself as a target of nefarious forces on the local and global stage, and blames everyone else for its failures.

The party has taught itself nothing about what power is, what power it possesses, how that power can be used and how quickly that power can be unleashed to bring about the goals of development and prosperity for all South Africans.

Instead, its leaders wake up every morning looking for someone to blame for their failure to use the power South Africans have placed in their hands. In every instance of failure in our country, it is almost inevitable that it is because the ANC sat on its hands and did nothing with this democratically derived power.

It has been fifteen years since electricity blackouts first hit SA. In those 15 years the ANC has made excuses, failed to act, blamed others — and been totally absent. What is power when you sit with it for 15 years and fail to sort out the electricity mess in the country you purport to lead?

When it is called out for its failures, the ANC quickly claims to be a victim. This weekend, as President Cyril Ramaphosa met US President Joe Biden, I was reminded that some members of Ramaphosa’s cabinet will be advising him not to boldly put SA’s programme (do we have one?) forward to the USA, but to whinge and whine at Biden.

Remember when ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe said in 2016 that US diplomats were grooming young people to overthrow the SA government? “We are aware of the meetings taking place regularly at the American embassy. Those meetings in the American embassy are about nothing else other than mobilisation for regime change,” he said.

On a weekend, when demand for electricity is low, the utility cannot provide enough power to run the country. What happens on a Monday?

It was one of the most preposterous and nonsensical things ever uttered by a politician in SA. Patrick Gaspard, the US ambassador at the time, had to tell Mantashe these were students sponsored by, wait for it, the Mandela Washington Scholarship. It’s too embarrassing for words.

I have made the point before, but take the ANC’s enthusiastic embrace of the xenophobic, racist and nonsensical tropes that foreigners are to blame for SA’s problems with health care, unemployment, crime and other troubles. We know the ANC now embraces this stupidity because its spokesperson, Pule Mabe, said: “Illegal foreign nationals have to be taken back home because we can’t afford crimes being committed by undocumented foreign nationals.”

There isn’t a single authoritative study that has found that illegal foreign nationals are responsible for SA’s long-standing crime problem. However, look at the ANC’s governance over 28 years, its failure to come up with policy and the laws to improve the system, and you will find your answer to the question of why crime is rampant.

All these issues came to me while I sat in Johannesburg this weekend and yet another electricity blackout hit. On a weekend, when demand for electricity is low, the utility cannot provide enough power to run the country. What happens on a Monday?

You would think the ANC in Gauteng, the economic engine of the country, would be up in arms about what is going on. Yet, there was not a single solution offered up by the ANC in the province. It issued a statement that said: “The provincial executive committee will engage the national leadership of the ANC on finding lasting solutions to the energy crisis that is crippling the economy.”

Yes, dear reader: they are going to hold a meeting. Wow. The Gauteng ANC is touted as the future of the party. Its leaders are said to be the young guns who will renew this lethargic beast. Pardon me if I laugh. It’s not just electricity. This Gauteng ANC also released a statement saying it discussed “a concerning trend of targeted violence and murder in various townships ... (Soshanguve, Winterveld, Mabopane and Ga-Rankuwa)”.

You would think that a powerful intervention would be announced after this discussion. No. The ANC merely declared: “A peaceful and safe Gauteng is a fundamental necessity.” No plan. No intervention. No solution. Nothing. In power, but devoid of ideas. A useless party. That’s the ANC for you.

It has sat with power for 28 years and has not used it to transform poor people’s lives or solve SA’s many problems. Instead, it analyses ad nauseam, while blaming foreigners, whites, imperialists, “clever blacks” and everyone else available for its failure to perform.

After 28 years in power, there is no chance the ANC will use its power. It fully deserves to lose it.