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Dear readers, 

From a distance, there are small developments within our major parties that seem innocuous, minuscule and unrelated. Yet, the roots of many of the challenges we face are to be found there.

Take the MK Party’s spoilt brat, Duduzile Sambudla-Zuma, who just couldn’t bring herself to apologise for hurling unprintables against embattled party secretary-general Floyd Shivambu. On the surface, this doesn’t seem too big an issue. Many people are badly brought up and their uncouth conduct plays out in the glare of the public. Sambudla-Zuma is simply a member of this rogues' gallery.

Correctly diagnosed though, Sambudla-Zuma’s tantrums and the eggshells Shivambu needed to traverse are indicative of how low the bar for leadership has been set, not just in the MKP, but generally. While many leaders, especially outside politics, suffer from what is termed “impostor syndrome” because they wonder if they’re possessed of sufficient depth and the requisite skills to lead, some, like Sambudla-Zuma, seem incapable of such self-awareness.

To the contrary, she might honestly believe she is the modern-day Winnie Mandela of the MKP even though the idea, to the rest of society, seems absurd. But the idea that her father Jacob Zuma, who is one of the worst leaders we’ve had, could, in spite of his limitations, make it to the Union Buildings, might have ingrained in her mind the thought that one day she, too, could lead not just the MKP but this country. The cognitive dissonance beggars belief.

That it’s her father who decides who is a leader within the party and who is not, without a popular vote, is part of the problem. But the bigger issue is what, in MKP terms, constitutes leadership.

For the rest of us, leadership has to be focused on transforming the lives of people, appraising itself of the machinations of the new world order and helping provide nuggets of wisdom on how to navigate the Donald Trump-sponsored geopolitics of today. Leadership must embrace accountability and seek to earn respect from the majority of South Africans who, in turn, might entrust it with the national till, which holds R2-trillion a year. Is that leadership embodied in Sambudla-Zuma? What a sad joke.

What has also become clear is that the EFF and its leader Julius Malema may have believed Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, who is known to be close to Shivambu, was to become an informant for the MKP. So they threw a scythe at him, cutting short his run for a leadership position at their December conference.

As Ndlozi started speaking about what exactly happened, expressing a profound appreciation for the party and Malema, and eschewing any idea of joining other parties after resigning from the EFF, he made his tormentors seem so petty. Reflecting on the pain he endured from people he still called brothers and sisters, Ndlozi said: “You can never choose where the test of your character will come from. There are people who have had worse experiences from their mothers, brothers or sisters...”

With the benefit of hindsight, Ndlozi would have made a great deputy to Malema and made many EFF members not feel Shivambu’s departure.

True, Shivambu is being told to “f**k off” from Sambudla-Zuma's father’s party, and two apologies later his days still seem numbered. But the point is the EFF would be much enriched with Ndlozi as Malema’s servant in chief. The party sabotaged itself.

Ndlozi’s parting shots were structured thus: “I hold nothing in my heart against the president of the EFF. I think his contribution is of serious importance and I would never join any voice to write him off or to dismiss the EFF. Progressive revolutions are a high calling that stems from a place of love and there is no course that requires love more than the liberation of black people. You can't engage in a revolution to liberate them and humanise them without love and that's all I have for my brothers and sisters in the EFF.”

A failure to elevate him was a failure of leadership. Malema and his cohort of newly elected leaders may not want to acknowledge this now, but they may feel the impact of having shut Ndlozi out in elections to come, just as the DA is going through similar challenges.

The DA’s growth is stunted because the party can’t help but stop inconvenient, mostly black, leaders from ascending to the leadership. Mmusi Maimane and many others are examples. The DA leaders, like their nemesis in the EFF, may put their heads in the sand but voters will keep them at 20% in perpetuity until they learn to lead and create space for black leaders.

The ANC, too, faces an existential crisis today, with many inside wondering how low it will go from its current 40% in electoral support in the next elections. When the ANC’s woes are correctly diagnosed, it will become clear their genesis is leadership. ANC leaders are the most vicious of all parties against internal competitors. And, as Ramaphosa holds together the stitch-up that is the government of national unity, questions will soon emerge on who is appropriately placed to lead the party going forward. Is the current deputy, Paul Mashatile, a shoo-in, or will he, like his predecessor David Mabuza, be edged out? By whom? Fikile Mbalula? Or will Mabuza stage a dramatic comeback?

Those who will make the final determinations within the party will, like their cousins within the EFF and enemies within the DA, only fleetingly consider the leadership qualities of the various candidates. This failure is starkly manifested when complex issues of global trade and bullying must be discussed.

This is why when Ramaphosa says he is concerned at the level of debate on the state of the nation address we must agree with him. The right people to share insights are outside the tent. They are victims of intraparty bullying. The EFF has locked Ndlozi out, the DA is denuded of its black caucus, the MKP is sidetracked by a spoilt brat. Debate in parliament is reduced to a meaningless screaming match.

Ramaphosa told US President Donald Trump “we will not be bullied”, but hoped the debate on his address could embolden him to respond more thoughtfully. Alas, our parliament is no longer a theatre of ideas, a citadel of intellectual contests. The nation's brains trust is outside the tent. And therein lies the genesis of our woes.

Regards, 

Makhudu Sefara