During a discussion co-hosted by this newspaper last week, Northern Cape premier Zamani Saul reiterated that the ANC was an organisation busy with the work of “self-correcting”.
It’s a narrative that many ANC leaders, in particular those who are aligned with the Cyril Ramaphosa faction would have us believe.
It suggests that the party is on a drive to rid itself of the toxicity and chaos that characterises its politics.
It is also on the basis of this claimed restoration drive that the party expects voters to place their faith in it yet again.
Only the evidence on the ground presents a different picture.
Last week its electoral committee, led by its former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, presented a report detailing how its structures, down to branches, operated on the basis of its two dominant factions and for the benefit of each rather than the country, or even the party for that matter.
The report showed how its regional leaders had manipulated the process of selecting councillor candidates to serve their factional political interests.
Perhaps more worrying was the finding that in some cases rogue characters were being used to manipulate what should be transparent processes of nomination and effectively eroding them of any credibility.
“There appear to be criminals, thugs and gangsters who are instigating protests, disputes and violence against the candidate selection by hiring unruly mobs who are bought with food and alcohol to disrupt branch general meetings, commute meetings and votes,” Motlanthe’s report stated.
“At provincial and regional levels there are often sub-factions with different names which are formed on the eve of elective conferences and this conduct should be regarded as ill-discipline which must be dealt with harshly.”
While this remains an organisational matter, its ripple effect on the state cannot be overstated.
The election of people to positions of power while hopelessly unsuitable for the job is precisely what has led to the collapse of our cities and towns across the country.
But the findings of the Motlanthe report are not new.
Many similar reports that shed light on this long-standing organisational culture have been presented before.
Contrary to what the party claims to stand for, many of them continue to gather dust with very little effective intervention.
Therefore the question remains, how will the party deal with these findings this time around?
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