[De] constructing South Africa's Jacob Zuma led ANC: An Afrocentric perspective

• Author: Tawanda S. Nyawasha,Kgothatso B. Shai,Emeka A. Ndaguba
• Date: 01 November 2018
• Published date: 01 November 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1842

ACADEMIC PAPER

[De] constructing South Africa's Jacob Zuma led ANC: An

Afrocentric perspective

Kgothatso B. Shai

1

|Tawanda S. Nyawasha

1

|Emeka A. Ndaguba

2

1

University of Limpopo, Sovenga, South Africa

2

University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa

Correspondence

Emeka A. Ndaguba, University of Fort Hare,

Alice, South Africa.

Email: emeka@ndaguba.net

Based on the Afrocentric perspective, the central thesis of this paper is that if the

African National Congress (ANC) is to evade the wrath of coalition politics in the near

future (year 2019); it needs more than its traditional support base and appeals for

liberation rhetoric. Like other liberation movements cum ruling political parties in

Southern Africa, indications are that ANC cannot save itself from the brutality of com-

petitive politics and electoral democracy. While the ANC is based in South Africa, it

remains the political heritage of all Africans, and as such, it can only survive further

degeneration through the collective efforts of pan‐Africanists in the country and

across the corners of the continent. The fact that President Jacob Zuma led ANC

did not have a safe liberalised space for counsel by non‐active members has rendered

any possible renewal through the support of all Africans a pipe dream. Although the

renewal of the ANC may be necessary for the sake of preserving liberation heritage

in South Africa and Africa at large, it is concluded that the weakening of dominant

political parties such as the ANC is a necessary ingredient for healthy and functioning

democracies.

1|INTRODUCTION

The year 2017 was a defining moment in the context of the libera-

tion history of Africa in general and the political history of the

African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, in particular. It is

in this year that Africa's oldest liberation movement and South

Africa's ruling political party had celebrated 105 years anniversary

since its establishment in 1912, in Mangaung (Bloemfontein). The

year 2017 also marked 23 years since the ANC came to power in

the year 1994. Related to this, it is in the year 2017 that the ANC

also hosted yet another watershed 54th elective national conference

post‐Nelson Mandela's death in 2013. Since Jacob Zuma did not avail

himself for third term of office as the president of the ANC, the

much anticipated December 2017 national conference ultimately

produced his successor as the party leader and, subsequently, the

first citizen of South Africa. Hence, it is in the tradition of the ANC

that its president should also serve as its candidate for the

Presidency of the country.

The premise that Jacob Zuma's successor in the ANC would

become the country's substantive president is conditional upon a

number of factors. Among them, the ability of the ANC to regenerate

itself before the 2019 general elections retain its dominance of South

Africa's political landscape following shreds of electoral misfortunes

during the 2016 local government polls. For the purpose of this paper,

the incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa is understood as a caretaker state

president for the remainder of the ANC's term of office that officially

ends in the year 2019.

There are some in the ANC and beyond who believe that the

party's recent electoral misfortunes in areas such as the City of

Tshwane, Johannesburg, and Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan

municipalities is largely tied to the roughed moral fibre of its leader-

ship (Mokgosi & Shai, 2016). The Nkandla debacle, corporate capture

of the state, the shenanigans in state owned enterprises such as South

African Airways, South African Broadcasting Corporation, Eskom, and

rampant political corruption is emblematic of the extent of the break-

down in the morality of Jacob‐Zuma led ANC (Isike & Ogunnubi,

2017). The cauldron of ills within the circles of the government

presided by ANC's Jacob Zuma has served as a fertile ground for

widespread calls for him and to particular extent, the erstwhile

National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to step down. The

whipping of the NEC in certain circles should be understood within

the context that, for quite some time, it has consistently demonstrated

Received: 10 May 2018 Accepted: 10 June 2018

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1842

J Public Affairs. 2018;18:e1842.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1842

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of6