On the 10th of November, the day Parliament was debating the Motion of No confidence in President Zuma I tweeted that "ANC people like to believe too much in this 'self-correction' mantra. It won't happen #ZumaOrSA #NoConfidence ". I tweeted this after the speech of Minister Nomvula Mokonyane in which she stated several times that the ANC will Self-Correct . ANC people on twitter responded by saying that it will happen, thus insinuating that am speaking too soon. The term has been used a lot since the August-3rd drubbing the ANC received at the local elections poll where it lost the key metros of Johannesburg, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay and in most parts of the country.
The term entered the national discourse after the post August elections' ANC NEC meeting where the party came out to take collective responsibility for the poor performance at the polls. It was at this post NEC meeting that ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe introduced the notion that the ANC has the ability to "Self-Correct". By this he was basically saying that the problems of the ANC are temporary, and they will be resolved. I doubt he actually believed or believes it.
Of interest when the statement is uttered by ANC leaders from Zuma to Mantashe to an ordinary member they mostly use two examples to show that during its history the ANC was able to "self-correct". The most loved example is the 1969 Morogoro conference in Tanzania followed by the 1985 Kabwe conference in Zambia. On both occasions the ANC was led by OR Tambo and it was the period of the Cold-war. Tambo was a leader of stature. Just look at the Zuma led and Gupta controlled ANC and ask yourself if they could in any way be compared to the Tambo era.
None of the ANC leaders are able to quote an example of the ANC's ability to self-correct post the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990. One just have to look at the state of the party in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and North West.
None of the ANC leaders are able to quote an example of the ANC's ability to self-correct post the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990. One just have to look at the state of the party in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and North West. Post 1994 the ANC has been given ample opportunities to show that it knows how to self-correct, and every-time it has failed with distinction. The ANC is just a party that is battling to transition from being a liberation movement to a modern political party, hence it will keep yearning for the pre democracy leadership and interventions. It is a party failing to adapt to the changing nature of our politics.
So why does the ANC leadership likes going on and on about their ability to self-correct when they haven't done so in the last 26 years, two possible reasons, 1) To try to give hope to the voters that deserted them that the ANC can be salvaged. 2) To try to convince those that are gatvol with the leadership of Zuma that these setbacks are temporary and can be fixed.
The ANC is a party in denial, it lives in the past and is failing to comprehend the changing nature of society. I am in no way pronouncing the death of the ANC, the ANC is not dead yet, but it's on its way there. For those who still believe in this so called self-correction phenomenon of the ANC, you might need to wake up soon. It just will not happen, the ANC doesn't know how to. Even those who dream of a renewed ANC post 2017 national conference needs to wake up from their dreams. The ANC is not and cannot be the party of the future, even its leaders resembles the past. There's a serious realignment of our politics, and the ANC is nowhere to be seen. The DA has emerged as the leader of the realignment of SA politics and it's showing that it is the party of the future.