Don't be fooled about President Jacob Zuma's speech. He may have tried to reconnect the ANC with the masses but the reality remains that – factionalism is biggest divisive tool within the ANC.
On January 8, thousands flocked into 40,000 capacity stadium at Orlando, Soweto to celebrate the birth of the oldest 'former' liberation movement in the continent. The hope, for many, was to see the bruised outgoing president of the party deliver a speech that will inspire hope to the nation and unite the party. Indeed, the party's decline in support in last year's local government elections signals a need for swift change in dealing with issues of scourge corruption, low rate of service delivery, high level of crass materialism and swelling gross misconduct from party leaders.
But as we have come to expect, there was a hollow, muffled, rambling and uninspiring speech from President Zuma. He did however tried to invoke the deep-seated feelings that has hounded us since the democratic dispensation – the land redistribution issue.
There are rumours that the Orlando Stadium was chosen to suppress Zuma's detractors from booing the 'broken man'. Unsurprisingly, the four provinces that still rally behind Zuma bussed thousands of supporters in during the early hours of Sunday to fill the stadium before the Gautengers could get up and reach the stadium. It is believed that by the time ANC Gauteng members were in the stadium, they were only accommodated on screen TVs outside the stadium.
The question that remains is why the Zuma caucus moved swiftly to take charge of the organising team for the January 8 statement? The answer is simple, to make sure that Cyril Ramaphosa does not get an upper hand as the 54 National Conference battle looms large.
The celebrations were nothing other than a taunt in the opposing factions' faces, that Zuma's people are ready for December. For instance, at the ANC Gala Dinner on the eve of the celebrations we witnessed a huge verbal tussle between two dominant factions within the party. Different donors and funders of the party were seemingly confused as to sit next to the incumbent president or the deputy president. This in essence was factionalism at play – with business people making sure that they are not seen aligned with the wrong factions.
Various ministers and top government officials were seen mingling with those believed to be in their faction. Ministers such Blade Nzimande, Pravin Gordhan, Derek Henekom and other top ANC provincial leaders such as Paul Mashatile were holding their own corner. While minister of State Security David Mahlobo, Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu, Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane mingle in their corner. What was evident at the Gala Dinner was factionalism and division.
Descending onto the dusty streets of Soweto on Sunday afternoon from an affluent suburb of Sandton, the president spoke aggressively against factionalism. He condemned and castigated the entrenched system of slates while forgetting that he was the one who introduce the slate system to ANC branches. What we witnessed on that drizzling Sunday afternoon was excessive spending as well as lobbying state of play. The sitting arrangements was indicative of the element of factionalism. The now known group of Premiers – the premier league – sat next to each other, adding the short-sighted KZN ANC provincial chairman, Sihle Zikalala to their fold.
Interesting too was the ANC branches members sitting arrangement. Branch members from provinces like KZN, Mpumalanga, North West and Free State sat with one another while branches from other provinces were scatted all over the stadium. As the president was preaching unity, the branches remained divided as to who to back during the December national conference. It is, of course, the rise of factionalism within the party.
Sibusiso Mtungwa writes in his personal capacity - blogs editor.