Politics.za

For an organisation that so much stresses unity, it’s remarkable how many separate centres of power exist in the ANC/SACP/Cosatu tri-partite alliance. Just some of the formally-defined nodes:

• ANC NWC
• NEC
• Nine PECs
• Presidency of the party
• Presidency of the Republic (nobody’s fooling themselves that it’s independent in anything but name)
• Vice-Presidency of the party
• General Secretary of the SACP
• President of Cosatu
• Chairperson of Cosatu
• ANCWL
• ANCYL
• YCL
• Dozens of unions belonging to Cosatu, some, like NEHAWU and SACTWU, extremely independent-minded
• BEE eminences grise
• TAC (when they occasionally feel like being involved in the alliance)
• List goes on and on…

At one time or another, members in each of the above groups have made statements that materially diverge from the supposedly unified ‘line’. But with this diversity It seems more remarkable that unity can be achieved at any price.

A song to match your fears, Farrel:

THE LEADERS OF THE CROWD

THEY must to keep their certainty accuse
All that are different of a base intent;
Pull down established honour; hawk for news
Whatever their loose phantasy invent
And murmur it with bated breath, as though
The abounding gutter had been Helicon
Or calumny a song. How can they know
Truth flourishes where the student's lamp has shone,
And there alone, that have no solitude?
So the crowd come they care not what may come.
They have loud music, hope every day renewed
And heartier loves; that lamp is from the tomb.

W. B. Yeats

Mal: Some peopel actually prefer that because it prevents one group from dominating. There’s a whole class of voters in the US who will vote against whoever is in presidential power in congressional races to ensure that no one party dominates government.

That being said the situation describe in the ANC does look like there’s too many chiefs and too few indians. For instance Thabo Mbeki is President of the ANC, yet Masouia Lekota is the Chairman. What’s the difference between the two?

And Kgalema Motlanthe is the Secretary General… Yes, there does seem to be some blurring of function.

If I can draw loosely from Roberts’s Rules of Order (which is an essential book – get it and read it if you want to understand how and why modern debating forums and constitutional organisations function the way they do), then these offices in the ANC fulfil the following duties:

President – the de jure leader, with overall responsibility for the policy and behaviour of the ANC. By definition inherits the leadership of the state, if the ANC forms a government. In RSA, therefore becomes State President of the Republic.

Chairman – convener of the plenary Congress of the ANC. The Chairman has limited responsibility for the ANC between congresses, though he is responsible for the activities of standing committees of Congress.

Secretary General – the executive organiser and planner of the ANC’s activities. Responsible for membership, discipline, non-elected offices in the party, petty disbursements (but the bulk of financial management will be the Treasurer’s responsibility) and so forth. Motlanthe ensures that Things Get Done. A very powerful and busy job, as Joseph Stalin quickly learned when he was told by Lenin and Trotsky to buzz off and organise the Bolshevik party.

Ok that makes some sense.