No, Mr Malema, the ANC wants you to live for democracy

Although the ANC was founded in 1912, what many of us may have forgotten is that it has only been the ruling party since it formed the government of South Africa in 1994. In real terms, it is still in its infancy in respect of running a country and conducting itself accordingly.

As a result we are often encountering statements made by influential members of the ANC in order to promote issues relating to party politics, but which are not appropriate to a ruling party; a good example being ANC Youth League chairperson Julius Malema’s “We are prepared to die for Zuma”, made at a youth rally in Thaba Nchu.

Firstly, it tells South Africans that the youth league of the ruling party considers the ANC president more important than the country; that given a choice between upholding the laws of the country which your party is governing and your party president, you would choose the latter. Worse, given the choice between the president of your country and the ANC president, you would choose the latter. This is not the kind of precedent that the ANC president needs or even wants right now. He is, after all, next up as the country’s president and would, I imagine, expect all South Africans to support him.

Secondly, this flies in the face of what the ANC is trying to achieve right now. The party has just released a joint statement of Thabo Mbeki and Zuma in order to avoid ongoing factionalism when along comes Malema’s statement, which flies directly in the face of that. If Malema is a supporter of JZ, then surely the last thing he would want is a divided ANC after next year’s election? In any event, why would the ANCYL at this point in time be supporting anyone other than the ANC?

Thirdly, Kgalema Motlanthe has just stepped in to hammer any question of Mbeki going short of term. This statement will, following those sentiments expressed, clearly be unhelpful.

Fourthly, Zuma himself has just come out in favour of strong party discipline with no one to consider him- or herself above the ANC. Where does it leave him when his own youth league puts him above the party?

Fifthly, Mbeki is still the president of South Africa and unless I am misreading this, it is the government, organs of state and his authority that are being challenged here.

Of course the opposition parties will be delighted to see confirmation that the government and the ANC are still carrying two centres of power, and that the ANCYL chairperson is making statements that closely resemble those being made by Zanu-PF and Robert Mugabe up in Zimbabwe.

Proof positive that members of the ANC can’t even be trusted to show loyalty to a government formed by their own party.

Let’s take a step back.

While I do not for a moment propose that this condones Malema’s conduct, we must also factor in that he has just been appointed chairperson of the ANCYL, and that he has come to office at a time when every ANC office — from president and provincial officers to the youth league, women’s league and everywhere else — appears to be a war zone.

In the face of all the in-fighting and bickering, his exuberance might well have got the better of him; on Youth Day in front of a packed rally, raw emotion prevailed.

The fact that the ANC, for the bulk of its history, was a party in hiding with leadership and grassroots often kept apart for security reasons may also be lingering, with secrecy and smaller units rather than the collective taking precedence. This must obviously be overcome urgently.

What is crucial to the ANC and the country is that the party must start to demonstrate control over its members at all levels. While we applauded the democratic process at Polokwane, a collective approach to policies and the running of the party is long overdue.

The government has a number of crucial issues to deal with: power, land expropriation, Zimbabwe and on and on. These are going to require strength of character to take tough decisions.

If JZ is of a mind to crack down hard on party discipline, then I believe he would be doing everyone from the president to the party and the country a big favour in doing it now.

Malema in turn must do the right thing — apologise and carry on.

The country expects its ruling party to govern, and not to declare war on itself.