One prominent figure I deeply respect in South African politics is Songezo Zibi, the leader of Rise Mzansi and the current Chairperson of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
When Zibi identified a void in the political arena, he took action rather than remaining on the sidelines as a commentator or intellectual.
Zibi mobilized his supporters and put himself forward for public office, engaging with integrity instead of merely posturing.
In sharp contrast, Professor Gumede hides behind the mask of academia and commentary.
His article discussing the “ANC [African National Congress] failures that supposedly tarnish its GNU [Government of National Unity] partner,” singular, exemplifies this.
The piece is rife with non-sequiturs and insidious attempts to shield non-ANC members of the GNU from perceived reputational damage.
He argues that the GNU partner will suffer “tarnishment by association” with the ANC’s so-called “failed policies” and what he refers to as the party’s “self-destruct mode… populist, ideological, or captured policies.”
Yet, curiously, not one failed policy is named specifically, aside from a mention of the Value-Added Tax (VAT) increase, which, by any measure, cannot be defined as a failed policy.
In his view, which ANC policies are populist?
If they are both failed and captured, who exactly is responsible for that capture, and what was the intention?
Professor Gumede neglects to explore these critical specifics.
It cannot be both “failed” and “captured” without further clarification.
Which is it?
Who is supposedly commandeering ANC policymaking to the extent that the party is careening toward “self-destruct mode”?
The metaphor falters.
Professor Gumede portrays the ANC as a malignant strain of Covid-19, a virus determined not just to weaken the host but to annihilate it entirely.
This imagery is striking yet utterly absurd.
As a student of history and political science, I understand that political decay usually arises from flawed strategies or external pressures, such as the formation of the uMkhonto weSizwe party, rather than from deliberate self-destruction.
No political party seeks state power solely to obliterate itself.
While I have long criticized the ANC (see my Muck Rack profile), my critiques have been specific: I hold the party accountable for unmet promises.
I have analyzed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Addresses since 2018.
I even authored a three-part series for the Daily Maverick as a modest contribution to public discourse. I avoided resorting to extreme, vitriolic language such as “nonsensical.”
That type of rhetoric suggests a lack of academic rigor and possibly indicates a desire to elevate non-GNU members into government, not via coalition but by consensus, thereby circumventing genuine political negotiation.
It’s puzzling why Gumede feels compelled to advocate for non-ANC GNU members.
Does he lament not engaging deeply with party politics and abandoning the undercompensated and challenging role of commentator and academic?
I’ve always favored slogans over intellectual conflict; no one can accuse me of intellectual pretentiousness.
Here’s my prediction: Professor Gumede is frustrated.
Not because the ANC has suddenly metamorphosed into something unrecognizable; he has held that view for some time, but due to the swift collapse of his cherished Moonshot Pact, which disintegrated faster than a sandcastle in a tempest. The very figures he once characterized as principled alternatives – the Democratic Alliance (DA), ActionSA, and others – have since collaborated with the ANC in the GNU.
This coalition is not born from loyalty or ideological alignment but rather political pragmatism.
That is the reality of multiparty democracy.
His discontent seems less tied to policy and more to political strategy.
Gumede’s suggestion that non-ANC GNU partners should challenge policies in court, rather than within Parliament, where they hold an electoral mandate, indicates a peculiar lack of confidence in democratic competition. Coalitions necessitate compromise, not legal disputes.
Newsflash, Gumede: aside from the DA, GNU partners are content. Their participation in ideological gymnastics is simply part of the political landscape.
They joined this coalition fully aware. They are under no obligation to remain.
I doubt they require a Wits University professor to advocate on their behalf.
South Africans deserve more than rhetorical assaults masquerading as governance analysis.
They merit candid discussions concerning the complexities of coalition-building and the wisdom to recognize that the political landscape is seldom binary, often untidy, and perpetually shaped by political compromises. Gumede opts for ideological purity; I lean towards realism.
However, the most ridiculous assertion from a professor, of all people, is that South African foreign policy is outdated. Is it outdated to criticize Israel for genocide?
Is it outdated to question the United States, the latest nation to coddle Russian President Vladimir Putin?
Wasn’t it Trump who humiliated the Ukrainian leader before the global press, demanding minerals and suggesting Ukraine should cede parts of its territory to Russia?
Is this the forward-thinking approach to diplomacy and navigating the intricacies of geopolitics, Professor Gumede?
Let’s “update” our foreign policy then: restore our embassy in Israel, recall our ambassadors from Iran (notorious figures), from America (where Nelson Mandela’s arrest was facilitated by the CIA), from Russia (an aggressor against a sovereign nation), and from Britain (keeping in mind colonialism and the theft of our arts and gold).
Is that your proposal? Should we disassociate from the Palestinian cause and adopt Trumpism to salvage our interests?
As individuals of a similar generation, albeit with Songezo being younger than me, I believe there is much to learn from him.
If you feel aggrieved by the captured, failed, and self-destructive policies that are allegedly dragging South Africa down, then engage in the political arena (where, admittedly, the standards may be less rigorous) and stop pretending to be a commentator when you are clearly a spokesperson for the DA.
*Bhekisisa Mncube is an author and columnist who received the national 2024 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Award for columns and editorials, as well as the same category at the regional 2020 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards. He contributes a regular column to the Daily Maverick. The views expressed by Bhekisisa Mncube do not necessarily reflect those of The Bulrushes.
