Can the ANC survive the scandals?

The ANC has been hit by scandal after scandal, almost weekly in recent months, leaving many people wondering whether this underfire party can survive all of the damning allegations, or if it will crumble ahead of elections.

From President Cyril Ramaphosa’s intimidation of voters, claiming that ANC defeat may end Nsfas payments and social grants; the formation of the new uMkhonto weSizwe party; corruption claims against Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande; claims the party lied to parliament by calling a swimming pool a firepool; and public in-fighting.

Nhleko slammed ANC secretary-general Mbalula

Yesterday, former police minister Nathi Nhleko slammed ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula for implicating Ramaphosa and tarnishing the ruling party’s image with his firepool comments.

“I find it amazing that he has the audacity not only to implicate the ANC, but also the president of the ANC because I reported to him [Cyril Ramaphosa] about the security upgrades all the time,” he said.

“Surely there must have been someone who gave me an instruction to lie. Who took that decision in the ANC to instruct me that I needed to lie to parliament and South Africans. He needs to present to us who did that.”

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While opposition parties and many South Africans strongly believe the party is cracking, some experts have noted the ANC has never failed to bounce back. They say the scandals will not even dent the party during the elections as it doesn’t change anything in terms of voter’s preference.

‘ANC is always talking about the renewal project’

Political analyst Dr Levy Ndou said: “Does it have the potential to affect the ANC in the elections? In my view, it should be seen as part and parcel of the renewal project of the party.

“The ANC is always talking about the renewal project. In the process of the renewal project, the agency has to openly acknowledge where they’ve gone wrong.

“And if the party does not acknowledge where they’ve gone wrong, they’ll constantly be reminded by the opposition.

“And the opposition will keep reminding them about wrong things that they’ve done, which they do not want to accept.

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“So, it is up to the ANC to decide whether they come out clean now or wait for other people to remind them where they went wrong.”

Firepool becoming an issue

He said the firepool story was now becoming an issue.

“It’s worrying that most South Africans appear not to have followed up on many other events that happened regarding the Nkandla issue”.

Ndou said this was the reason why people would be aggrieved by old things and think this would end the ANC.

“My view is that Fikile Mbalula was just reminding South Africans about what happened, which is actually recorded. It’s nothing new and we cannot act as if this is the first time we are hearing this and that it will end the party,” he added.

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‘ANC has survived many elections’

Meanwhile, another political analyst, Arthur Shopola, told The Citizen that while it was indisputable that the ANC has been in destruction mode for too long, “it has also survived many elections”.

“You will remember the 2009 elections when they survived despite the Congress of the People thunderstorm. In 2014 again, the EFF factor, Marikana and Nkandla,” he said.

“And you would remember it was during this time that others went as far as writing and declaring the ANC dead. In 2019 also, there was a cloud of horror stories of corruption coming from the Zondo commission, but voters still gave this party another chance to lead.”

He said he was not suggesting that history would repeat itself. “I am basically saying that the challenges this party is faced with are not new and the extent of their destruction is writ large in the 2021 local government election outcomes”.

“Hence, at some point the party was heard contemplating the future of this country under a coalition arrangement,” he added.

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