A leopard does not change its spots

So the disgruntled members of the ANC want to form a new political party? I would certainly encourage them since our Constitution guarantees a multi-party democracy. Pluralism is certainly very important for the checks and balances that a vibrant democracy requires. Smaller, less significant parties have certainly survived in South Africa, so there is hope for any new political party, especially one that has prominent former ANC members.

What concerns and surprises me is that Messrs Lekota, George and Shilowa are trying to promote their still-to-be-born new party as an alternative to the ANC. They seem to think that South Africans are suffering from amnesia and do not remember that they have until recently been senior members of the ANC. The very same party that has sought to enrich itself through the setting up of Chancellor House, and subsidiaries, that have been awarded government contracts. Under their leadership the ANC has also ensured that a few black business people who are either senior members of the ANC or closely associated with it have been enriched through the black economic empowerment programme. More importantly, it is the same ANC that has presided over increasing poverty in our country.

Messrs Lekota, George and Shilowa, as senior members of the ANC, approved and supported the very same policies and decisions of the ANC of which they now complain. Some of these decisions brought an end to the reconstruction and development programme and replaced it with a programme that favoured business and self-enrichment projects. They were there when the party took action against dissident members of the party and supported such actions. They were there when former president Thabo Mbeki launched attacks against civil society organisations which criticised the government and referred to them as lackeys of the west. They supported such pronouncements through their connivance and silence. They were there when the ANC blocked all attempts to get to the bottom of the arms purchase scandal and serious allegations of corruption involving senior members of the party.

Is it at all likely that a new political party under their leadership will be any different from the ANC? During the press conference at which Lekota hinted at the formation of a new party, he referred repeatedly to the Freedom Charter. Is the new party likely to adhere to the principles of the Freedom Charter or merely pay lip service as the ANC did under their leadership? I am certainly not convinced that disgruntled senior members of the ANC are likely to be different from the ANC in which they had their political education.

One has to remain hopeful though that the emergence of a new political party will change the political scene, provide voters with a greater choice and, more importantly, reign in the unfettered powers of the ANC. Despite all the denials from the ANC and others, there is a crisis in South Africa. Like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, many South Africans lack confidence in the democratic process to change their fortune. Hopefully the emergence of a new party will replace some that confidence.

But don’t expect the leopard to change its spots.

See also; Only now they speak up by Andrew Kenny