Gucci comrades: The ANC's new cadre?

By Zukiswa Mqolomba

It is a worrying sign indeed when the leadership of the African National Congress can use its weight in strong and uncritical defence of the ANCYL president, a symptom of the burgeoning trend among its ranks of greed, avarice and an insatiable appetite to amass personal wealth, while millions of South Africans continue to live in misery.

It cannot be the position of the ANC to sanction comprador bourgeoisie tendencies within its ranks as demonstrated by the parasitic non-patriotic nature of its cadres in relation to the state, particularly its provincial arms and local municipalities.

It cannot be deemed characteristic of the ANC’s conceptualisation of the “new cadre” to show disregard for the struggles of ordinary South Africans, as demonstrated by the arrogant display of wealth (in the form of houses worth R4,6m, cars of R1,2m plus, R250k Breitling watches, lavish house-warming parties just-because-I-can, and monopoly tenders and contracts to the value of R140-million), so unashamedly and unsympathetically, while claiming solidarity with the suffering of the ordinary poor.

It cannot be that our ANC could possibly stand in strong defence of an inherited and well-entrenched value system that places individual acquisition of wealth at the very centre of the value system of cadreship, that it would dare not disown the “get rich! get rich! get rich” sentiments that continue to bring the congress movement to definite paralysis.

It cannot be that our ANC could possibly rise up in strong defence of a bourgeoning disease of greed, crass materialism, and conspicuous consumption that continues to broaden the social distance between politicians and their followers, that alienate both ANC members and communities and encourage the formation of alternative groups, both within and outside its ranks.

This is in great defiance of the great revolutionaries of our times. Great leaders like OR Tambo, Amilcar Cabral, Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, et al, have all written extensively on the subject of building a new [hu]man.

This act of the African National Congress is an act of arrogant defiance. Calls for reconstruction of the soul of the congress movement and broader society, is in essence about building a new cadre, a cadre who is “selflessly devoted to revolution, demonstrates humility to the people, volunteers himself in pursuit of an equal society, and possesses revolutionary honesty, telling no lies, neither claiming easy victories”. (ANC, national general council 2000).

The ANC’s strategy and tactics (2007) states categorically that “there is an existent value system within our society, owing to our past and the current social relations of capitalism, that encourages greed, crass materialism, and conspicuous consumption. Among the offsprings of this value system is included corruption in state institutions and society as well as corporate greed reflected in outrageous executive packages, short-termism in the conduct of business and private sector corruption”.

The party clearly understands the root of the problem of corruption resides largely in thought, preoccupation and motive. Alas, corruption is an act and crime of greed and crass materialism, coupled with a disregard for moral ethos. An act that sanctions greed, crass materialism and conspicuous consumption, and defends an unashamed self-centred preoccupation to getting rich, can only be a damned recipe for internal paralysis. It watches blindfolded as comprador capitalism, counter-revolution and reaction breeds from within.

The ANC has long agitated for cadres of “high quality with a high level of revolutionary consciousness, organisational discipline, and moral and political integrity”. President Jacob Zuma has also been heard making reference to developing a new public-sector cadre: A new public servant, a servant of the people. Politicians should not be immune from similar demands, due to the public nature of the offices they occupy, and the level of influence they exert on the thinking and life of general society.

Could it be that this ANC is offering a new value proposition of the “new cadre?”. Has the ANC reconceptualised the movement’s prototype, and embraced it as an accurate reflection of the aspirations of our beloved movement?

I couldn’t agree more with Natho Mthethwa when he says in Umrabulo, 2000: “the new dispensation has seen cadres of the movement being exposed to massive resources under their control. In most cases this situation has tested the commitment of such cadres to the cause of transformation. We have witnessed a string of un-ANC practices and tendencies of patronage, self-enrichment and cliques, to mention but a few. Clearly the new epoch is fraught with traps, which have eroded the fundamental ethics of the movement”.

It is indeed true that “the ability to differentiate between a wrong and a right by cadres in good standing is a clear indication that the ANC represents humanity’s best qualities”.

The ANC must take a difference stance, and wage a strong offensive among its ranks against inconspicuous, unashamed consumption and materialism. It must guard its soul jealously, alas we traverse the dangerous path of most revolutionary movements, and suffer the same fate as Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Zaire, Zimbabwe and Ghana, all in the name of the working class and the poor.

The ANC must salvage the progressive and democratic project against the hegemony of triumphant comprador capitalism within its ranks. At best, it must breed a patriotic beourgeousie, though theoretically incorrect and inconceivable. And no, I’m not a communist. The new cadre must guard against the temptation to become a parasite from the state in acquiring wealth, lest he be accused of using political power to pursue narrow selfish interests, in the name of the working class and poor. Let us build the new cadre.

Zukiswa Mqolomba is completing her Master’s degree in Social Sciences at the University of Cape Town. This article reflects her personal opinions and she writes as a concerned citizen.