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Extract taken from The Fall of the ANC and published with permission from Pan Macmillan South Africa.
For more information about the book, scroll to the bottom.
Where did all this begin?
Much of the ANC’s history in exile is couched in mythology. The party’s propagandists would be very happy for posterity to believe the myth of a righteous party, populated by human angels, harmoniously drinking milk and honey in exile.
As we have already observed, this image is a lie the cadres feed on.
The ANC is simply perpetuating what Eric Hobsbawm calls the politico-ideological abuse of history.
This abuse finds expression in the reconstruction of history to perpetuate the myth that the liberation movement possessed messianic properties, and fought a heroic battle, unsullied by acts of corruption.
There is a view that in the ANC’s liberation struggle there were no abuses, apart from negligible aberrations in some camps in exile.
If we believe this piece of historical revisionism, the contemporary character of the ANC as, in our opinion, a corrupt organisation, or as an Alleged National Criminal organisation, would not make sense.
Nobody must fall into this trap.
In his most recent work, External Mission, a study of the ANC’s existence in exile from the early 1960s to the early 1990s,
Stephen Ellis recounts incidents of ill-discipline, factionalism and corruption in the top command of various ANC MK camps. This was a period when the ANC existed largely outside of the country after it was banned in 1960.
It was a period of turmoil, a chapter in human history that sane people wouldn’t like to see reopened.
The only known facts about the ANC in exile were through propaganda channels designed to fit the preferred script of the party’s leadership, to portray the party as being in good health. Very few people would know about the compromising activities of the ANC in exile.
Many deliberately don’t want to know the truth because it would hurt too much or call into question their own identity, an identity constructed out of an image of the party, an image embellished with ideological dogma and propaganda that might be false.
Because ordinary black South Africans were yearning for heroes, they were prone to believe the ANC’s version of truth – truth according to the party.
At the time, it was blasphemous to take a critical stand against the ANC because it was regarded widely as a legitimate vehicle to carry the aspirations of the black majority.
Tactically, this was good for the ANC.
It did not matter that people were far from the ANC’s real experience in exile, and that they did not really know its leaders.
Sentiment alone was sufficient to create the connection.
They felt a part of the ANC’s world. Its rhetoric appealed to them. The organisation’s existence in exile was in their name.
Living under apartheid, ruled by the most vicious government, examining the ANC’s deficiencies under a microscope would have been inconceivable and extremely difficult to do anyway.
Much of this history is superbly summarised by the works of Vladimir Shubin, who offers a sympathetic account, and Stephen Ellis, who offers a dispassionate reflection.
Corruption and factionalism have a much deeper lineage in the ANC than is sometimes acknowledged.
In External Mission, Ellis details deeply entrenched factional tensions in the ANC’s exile missions, promotion of cadres on grounds of loyalty rather than on merit, existence of corruption, and the tenuous leadership of Oliver Tambo, who preferred to avoid conflict by establishing special committees of inquiry to tackle problems in MK camp life.
These would yield no satisfactory outcome, but would magnify the image of Tambo as a reconciler and consummate diplomat.
Yet the problems would continue to fester beneath the surface, and Tambo would be long gone, hoisting his proverbial trophy as a reconciler of note.
The reality was that the ANC in exile was a disparate organisation, engaged in internecine factional battles. It had an uneasy relationship with the SACP, and it was bedevilled by ill-discipline amongst its cadres.
According to Ellis, tensions between groups would sometimes take on a ‘worrying ethnic dimension’, at times escalating to confrontations amongst the rank-and-file within MK. Factional manoeuvres and the building of close-knit circles of loyalists were some of the ANC’s hallmarks in exile.
As Ellis further observes, this virus included financial corruption, illicit car trade, and drug smuggling and illicit diamond dealings becoming commonplace in some camps. This was not just amongst the ordinary members of MK; it was a practice in which some in the leadership participated.
This state of affairs prompted the ANC’s national working committee to establish a sub-committee in September 1980 specifically to look into corruption. Inertia was the best survival mechanism.
After all, there was a much bigger enemy to battle with than to raise controversy about the conduct of the leadership in exile.
The ANC being steeped in African nationalism as an embodiment of the struggle of the oppressed African masses made it difficult for blacks to be critical of it without coming across as betraying a grand struggle and working to promote the counter-revolutionary objectives of the enemy.
Those who had raised their voice against the leadership in exile were either thrown into jail, as was the case with Chris Hani and his group when they criticised poor leadership in the wake of the failed Wankie Campaign in 1968, or the ‘Gang of Eight’ which was expelled in the 1970s for being critical and exhibiting ideological discordance.
In some instances, the very same tactics used by the National Party security forces against freedom fighters would be deployed by the ANC against its own operatives if it suspected them of misdeeds.
As it ascended to power, the ANC never took time to reflect on the likely impact of its dirty past on the character of the party going forward. It never had a moment of reflection on its time in exile, the excesses that were committed during this period, and the corrupt practices that became a part of its lifeblood.
The failure to do so and the predisposition to defend the leadership at all costs has become the bane of the ANC today.
Without understanding the ANC’s rot in exile, it would be impossible to trace the seeds of its degeneracy in our time.
About the book:
Political governance in South Africa has collapsed. Scandals of corruption, evidence of nepotism, rampant maladministration in provinces, incompetence in public offices and a general decline in the quality of leadership are there for all to see.
In the authors’ view, this state of affairs has its origins in the messiness and collapse of the African National Congress. As helplessness deepens in our society, concerned citizens ask: What will happen to South Africa?
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Visit Kalahari.com to purchase a copy of The Fall of the ANC.
Read this book yet? Tell us what you thought of the book in the comment box below.
Sign up for Women24 book club newsletter and stand a chance to win our top ten books from kalahari.com.
For more information about the book, scroll to the bottom.
Where did all this begin?
Much of the ANC’s history in exile is couched in mythology. The party’s propagandists would be very happy for posterity to believe the myth of a righteous party, populated by human angels, harmoniously drinking milk and honey in exile.
As we have already observed, this image is a lie the cadres feed on.
The ANC is simply perpetuating what Eric Hobsbawm calls the politico-ideological abuse of history.
This abuse finds expression in the reconstruction of history to perpetuate the myth that the liberation movement possessed messianic properties, and fought a heroic battle, unsullied by acts of corruption.
There is a view that in the ANC’s liberation struggle there were no abuses, apart from negligible aberrations in some camps in exile.
If we believe this piece of historical revisionism, the contemporary character of the ANC as, in our opinion, a corrupt organisation, or as an Alleged National Criminal organisation, would not make sense.
Nobody must fall into this trap.
In his most recent work, External Mission, a study of the ANC’s existence in exile from the early 1960s to the early 1990s,
Stephen Ellis recounts incidents of ill-discipline, factionalism and corruption in the top command of various ANC MK camps. This was a period when the ANC existed largely outside of the country after it was banned in 1960.
It was a period of turmoil, a chapter in human history that sane people wouldn’t like to see reopened.
The only known facts about the ANC in exile were through propaganda channels designed to fit the preferred script of the party’s leadership, to portray the party as being in good health. Very few people would know about the compromising activities of the ANC in exile.
Many deliberately don’t want to know the truth because it would hurt too much or call into question their own identity, an identity constructed out of an image of the party, an image embellished with ideological dogma and propaganda that might be false.
Because ordinary black South Africans were yearning for heroes, they were prone to believe the ANC’s version of truth – truth according to the party.
At the time, it was blasphemous to take a critical stand against the ANC because it was regarded widely as a legitimate vehicle to carry the aspirations of the black majority.
Tactically, this was good for the ANC.
It did not matter that people were far from the ANC’s real experience in exile, and that they did not really know its leaders.
Sentiment alone was sufficient to create the connection.
They felt a part of the ANC’s world. Its rhetoric appealed to them. The organisation’s existence in exile was in their name.
Living under apartheid, ruled by the most vicious government, examining the ANC’s deficiencies under a microscope would have been inconceivable and extremely difficult to do anyway.
Much of this history is superbly summarised by the works of Vladimir Shubin, who offers a sympathetic account, and Stephen Ellis, who offers a dispassionate reflection.
Corruption and factionalism have a much deeper lineage in the ANC than is sometimes acknowledged.
In External Mission, Ellis details deeply entrenched factional tensions in the ANC’s exile missions, promotion of cadres on grounds of loyalty rather than on merit, existence of corruption, and the tenuous leadership of Oliver Tambo, who preferred to avoid conflict by establishing special committees of inquiry to tackle problems in MK camp life.
These would yield no satisfactory outcome, but would magnify the image of Tambo as a reconciler and consummate diplomat.
Yet the problems would continue to fester beneath the surface, and Tambo would be long gone, hoisting his proverbial trophy as a reconciler of note.
The reality was that the ANC in exile was a disparate organisation, engaged in internecine factional battles. It had an uneasy relationship with the SACP, and it was bedevilled by ill-discipline amongst its cadres.
According to Ellis, tensions between groups would sometimes take on a ‘worrying ethnic dimension’, at times escalating to confrontations amongst the rank-and-file within MK. Factional manoeuvres and the building of close-knit circles of loyalists were some of the ANC’s hallmarks in exile.
As Ellis further observes, this virus included financial corruption, illicit car trade, and drug smuggling and illicit diamond dealings becoming commonplace in some camps. This was not just amongst the ordinary members of MK; it was a practice in which some in the leadership participated.
This state of affairs prompted the ANC’s national working committee to establish a sub-committee in September 1980 specifically to look into corruption. Inertia was the best survival mechanism.
After all, there was a much bigger enemy to battle with than to raise controversy about the conduct of the leadership in exile.
The ANC being steeped in African nationalism as an embodiment of the struggle of the oppressed African masses made it difficult for blacks to be critical of it without coming across as betraying a grand struggle and working to promote the counter-revolutionary objectives of the enemy.
Those who had raised their voice against the leadership in exile were either thrown into jail, as was the case with Chris Hani and his group when they criticised poor leadership in the wake of the failed Wankie Campaign in 1968, or the ‘Gang of Eight’ which was expelled in the 1970s for being critical and exhibiting ideological discordance.
In some instances, the very same tactics used by the National Party security forces against freedom fighters would be deployed by the ANC against its own operatives if it suspected them of misdeeds.
As it ascended to power, the ANC never took time to reflect on the likely impact of its dirty past on the character of the party going forward. It never had a moment of reflection on its time in exile, the excesses that were committed during this period, and the corrupt practices that became a part of its lifeblood.
The failure to do so and the predisposition to defend the leadership at all costs has become the bane of the ANC today.
Without understanding the ANC’s rot in exile, it would be impossible to trace the seeds of its degeneracy in our time.
About the book:
Political governance in South Africa has collapsed. Scandals of corruption, evidence of nepotism, rampant maladministration in provinces, incompetence in public offices and a general decline in the quality of leadership are there for all to see.
In the authors’ view, this state of affairs has its origins in the messiness and collapse of the African National Congress. As helplessness deepens in our society, concerned citizens ask: What will happen to South Africa?
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Visit Kalahari.com to purchase a copy of The Fall of the ANC.
Read this book yet? Tell us what you thought of the book in the comment box below.
Sign up for Women24 book club newsletter and stand a chance to win our top ten books from kalahari.com.
