Nkosana Sibuyi

Posted by Nkosana Sibuyi: 8 May 2009

The fourth national democratic elections on 22 April 2009 have come and gone. The people of Mzantsi Afrika/ Afrika Borwa exercised their democratic rights by voting for a political party of their choice. The ANC registered 65.9 percent and emerged victoriously at a national level and in eight provinces. The Western Cape Province will be led by the DA. The ANC’s national executive committee recently announced the premiers’ candidates for the eight provinces. The conundrum that the ANC has had to contend with is that all the provincial chairpersons are males.

Notably, the ANC, on the occasion of the Polokwane Conference in December 2007 affirmed its decision to promote gender representation around the deployment of cadres in all centres of power. Arising from this experience, four women premier candidates were endorsed to lead provinces. In a sense, it may have sounded paradoxical for the ANC to go against the decision of the national conference in this respect. Although it is desirable and consistent with ANC policy, it is now undoubtedly creating the two centres of power in four provinces, something the ANC has been discouraging for some time. In sum, the ANC provincial chairperson will not necessary be the premier of the province.

The central debate on the two centres of power bring with it a number of worldviews and paradigm of thinking in either its avoidance or implementation. First, some may proceed from the premise that the avoidance of the two centres of power assists in the creation of one powerbase for decision making and implementation. Arguably, having one centre of power will militate against the antagonistic contradictions that may arise in terms of strategic political leadership and management. Politics, as the art of the possible has a potential to assist in meeting certain tactical and strategic issues based on the dimensional political circumstances that exist at that time. If not handled appropriately and appreciably, the re-emergence of the two centres of power may (as it has done in the past) create a precarious situation wherein the Provincial Executive Committee takes and adopts decisions that are antithetical to those of the provincial government. The losers arising from these antagonistic contradictions, will by and large, be service delivery and the people it is supposed to benefit. This will have the potential to reverse or work against the defining theme or the rallying call, “working together, we can do more”. Married to this, it is of cardinal importance for the ANC as a ruling party to ensure that the commitments made in the manifesto are implemented in a manner that will broadly benefit all South Africans.

Secondly, others may argue that the two centres of power should be redefined as it may loose meaning if not handled in a matured, tactical and strategic fashion. On the occasion of the National General Council in 2005, the ANC took a decision to the effect that the President of the ANC should preferably be the President of the country. However, this has created an assumption that this decision was only confined to the presidency of the ANC and the country and not provincial ANC chairpersons and premiers of the provinces.

Prior to the national conference of the ANC in 2007, there was a public discourse, debate and reflections on the two centres of power in the ANC. For instance, the ANCYL developed a position paper entitled, "Two Centres of Power Not a Solution to Our Challenges" to guide discussions on the matter. The paper called for a situation wherein the president of the ANC also becomes the president of the country. The ANCYL argued that if former President Thabo Mbeki was elected as party leader during the national conference in 2007, it could create a precarious environment that could cause unnecessary contradictions between the presidencies of the ANC and the person elected as the country's president. This topic was a subject of intense, rigorous and vigorous, sometimes misguided public and political debate. Coincidentally, this debate has had its own casualties and it also shaped the character, nature and approach of the people who attended the Polokwane national conference. One of the casualties of this debate was the former ANCYL deputy president who had written a response sharply opposed to the position paper.

The implications brought by this debate were such that the majority of those who were calling for Mbeki’s third term received treatments that have created political divisions and contradictions in the ANC. It could also be argued that the formation of the Congress of the People (COPE) can be attributed to the immature manner in which this debate was handled and ultimately the recall of former President Thabo Mbeki.

Cass Sunstein, in his book, Why Societies Need Dissent, contends that well functioning societies benefits from a wide range of views. Sunstein also warns that “organisations and nations are far more likely to prosper if they welcome dissent and promote openness. Well-functioning societies benefit from a wide range of views; their citizens do not live in gated communities or echo chambers. Well-functioning societies take steps to discourage conformity and to promote dissent. They do this partly to protect the rights of dissenters, but mostly to protect the interests of their own”

Taken together, although the views above are not conclusive, these words create a semblance of guidance on what is worth engaging on in the political, public and intellectual discourse. One is keenly aware that the meanings of these words are highly contested as it is difficult to build consensus about their contemporary meanings, content and relevance to the discourse at hand.

The conception of the world has played and will continue to play a germane role in the political conceptualisation of society and the political dynamics of the country in defining the needs of leadership in what appears to be a contested terrain. This is complemented by the Chief Justice Pius Langa when he posits that “transformation is a permanent deal, a way of looking at the world that creates space in which dialogue and contestation are truly possible, in which new ways of being are constantly explored and created, accepted and rejected, and in which change is unpredictable but the idea of change is constant.”

Broadly, like ice and fire, the avoidance or existence of the two centres of power, these worldviews cannot coexist for quite some time. For these views not to be allowed to reach their Waterloo, people should be wary of being somnolent when engaging in a public discourse of this nature. In essence, it is advisable that the information used to buttress views on this matter is not partial, tendentious and theoretically incorrect.

Lastly and more fundamentally, one of the possibilities that could be explored to minimise the impact of the two centres of power is to ensure that the provincial chairpersons are deployed as national ministers or in parliament. Since that may not be enough, it is central to ensure that all chairpersons are deployed in positions where they can make a qualitative contribution to the process of social transformation. The experiences that the ANC has had since 1994 and the extent to which the matter of the two centres of power was handled taught the country a welter of lessons. It may as well be possible that the two centres of power is creating a contradiction where none exist. At the same time, it needs to be implemented in a manner that assists in the implementation of the national conference resolutions. The comeuppance brought by the two centres of power is such that it breeds divisions, cabals and cliques, who, once in power will do everything in their power to assert their hegemony. The nature of the debate should not display an impoverished understanding of the complex challenges of governance and the body politic.

In conclusion, as Langa and Susstein argued, diverse views and paradigm of thinking will assist in creating a well balanced approach to issues of national importance. It is in this context that in his book, A Way of Being Free, Ben Okri wrote that “when victims stop seeing themselves as victims and discover the power of transformation, forces are born on this planet. The possibilities of a new history depend on it. What is done with these possibilities depends on how wisely we love”.

It is incumbent upon us to shape the public and political discourse on the relevance and appropriateness of the two centres of power in a manner that will advance the national agenda. This is an opportunity we dare not miss. History will not absolve us as long as long as we are mercurial in dealing with this matter. Such is the complexity of governance and politics. Although some facts may have been provided on the need to address this challenge, it is apposite to engage in a robust debate on the two centres of power, its benefits and limitations in a rapidly evolving society. As a decisive forward step, we need to acknowledge, recognize and appreciate that humanity should “not live in gated communities” but in a society where “dialogue and contestation” is central to a well functioning society.