Portraits of powerhouses such as Miriam Makeba, Lilian Ngoyi and Antjie Krog welcome visitors to hall 5 at Nasrec, an exhibition centre as big as a football pitch.
The portraits testify to the role of women in the struggle for liberation in South Africa.
In the exact centre, Gwen Ramokgopa is speaking to business leaders.
Only the previous day, she was elected as the ANC treasurer-general, the first woman to occupy a position previously held by the likes of Thomas Nkobi, Makhenkesi Stofile and Mendi Msimang.
The ANC made history at Nasrec when it elected three women to its highest leadership strata — now the top seven, expanded from the top six with an additional post. Nomvula Mokonyane was named first deputy secretary-general, and Maropene Ramokgopa took the new post of second deputy secretary-general.
But there is a snag.
The top seven has no-one on it who looks like Ruth First, Sonia Bunting, Sue Rabkin, Derek Hanekom, Joe Slovo, Bram Fischer or Yusuf Dadoo.
The ANC was led by men from its inception in 1912. They spoke such languages as Zulu — in the case of founding president John Langalibalele Dube — and Tswana — in the case of secretary-general Sol Plaatje.
The party evolved, and by about 1960 there was nothing unusual in Mac Maharaj being a senior activist, ready to take up military training in Umkhonto we Sizwe and go into exile.
It also seemed a natural fit for Slovo and Nelson Mandela to work side by side in establishing MK.
By 1985, the ANC had adopted nonracialism as its policy, which opened the way for Slovo to become a member of the national executive committee.
And when the ANC took over the government in 1994, its ethic was synonymous with nonracialism. Trevor Manuel and Derek Hanekom were at home alongside Lindiwe Sisulu.
In 2022, it’s a different story. The party belongs to the Ramokgopas, the Ramaphosas and the Mantashes of this world
In 2022, it’s a different story. The party belongs to the Ramokgopas, the Ramaphosas and the Mantashes of this world. They address each other by their clan names: Mqwathi for Gwede Mantashe, Madiba for finance minister Enoch Godongwana and Khabazela for Zweli Mkhize.
What is conspicuously missing from the new top seven are white, Indian and coloured members of society. The failure to present a “rainbow” at the party’s helm will make it difficult for the ANC to claim to be a leader of society, or a microcosm of society.
It gets even trickier: none of the top seven can claim Zulu as their mother tongue. None was born in KwaZulu-Natal, or can claim a heritage linked to the “kingdom of the Zulus”.
The ANC of today is a party in which even the Mapholobas from KZN are hard to find in top positions.
It’s a step change for a party that has had traditional leaders at its helm before, such as chief Albert Luthuli and Dalibhunga Nelson Mandela.
The ANC has also veered away from its proximity to royalty — an association that has helped it to win votes in the past.
Instead, the top seven all live and work in Gauteng. These are the faces of the new black elite. It’s an illustration of how the multiclass character of the ANC has gone the same way as its nonracial credentials.
Floating away from the Left
It’s not just the KZN vacuum that has exposed the ANC’s vulnerabilities; the institutional decline in its alliance partners means it doesn’t have ideological cover from the Left either.
Cosatu, once a labour colossus whose strikes could bring the country to a standstill, is a shadow of its former self. It is now little more than a glorified public sector union, speaking for teachers and other government employees.
Trevor Manuel and Derek Hanekom were at home alongside Lindiwe Sisulu. In 2022, it’s a different story
And things aren’t much better over at the SACP, which appears to be more capitalist than even the Stellenbosch mafia. Its leaders are routinely chauffeured around in R1m cars and own properties in fancy suburbs in eThekwini, the Cape and Gauteng.
This illustrates that the alliance is, ideologically at least, dead. And the ANC is exposed to attack from those still aligned with those principles — because the ANC of today is no longer either definitively Left nor particularly centrist. It is a party turning with the wind, taking any opportunistic position that suits a particular leader at a particular moment.
This ethical unmooring will surely have electoral consequences.
It underscores how the days of a value-led, nonracial organisation are long gone. Next time someone says “long live the spirit of Joe Slovo”, we should recognise that they mean just that.
* Mkokeli is the lead partner at Mkokeli Advisory. He is a former public enterprises spokesperson
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