A FEW months ago when South Africa’s ruling party, African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe warned that Southern African liberation war movements were facing the threat of regime change, he was evidently oblivious to the fact that danger was already at his country’s doorstep given the outcome of recently held local elections in that country.
That the ANC is reeling from a disturbing electoral loss; its biggest since that country attained independence slightly two decades ago. This speaks volumes about how merchants of the widely discredited but formidable regime change agenda have taken root in Africa.
What’s going on in South Africa and within the ANC?
This is the question that burdens all-progressive minds in Africa and the developing world as a perusal of the results of the local government elections in South Africa shows.
Which way South Africa?
The only way to counter the impending tragedy, not only for South Africa, but the whole of the African continent, is to join hands and pursue the ideals of the struggles that Southern African liberation movements waged in order to free the people from colonial bondage.
Liberation movements must now stand up and negate the horrors that await them as proponents of the ill-fated regime change have proven beyond any reasonable doubt they will stop at nothing in their quest to achieve their horrible objectives.
The battle is far from over.
There is much that needs to be done.
This is what Mantashe observed during his presentation at the liberation movements’ meeting.
During the liberation movements’ meeting in Victoria Falls, Mantashe said: “It’s important for us to assure our comrades by presenting a well-researched document at the next meeting in Angola for a review of what will come out of here.
“We are going through a transition from colonial apartheid to a united democratic state and as ANC we have taken this as a national democratic revolution since 1994 when we gained independence.”
He was right.
The ANC suffered one of its worst electoral defeats since the end of apartheid in 1994, losing control over the capital Pretoria.
What is alarming is that a party of similar making and standing to the one we call the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) here in Zimbabwe is now in control of the political, social and economic affairs of Africa’s second biggest economy.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) now runs the show in SA. The DA is a fiercely pro-white establishment fronted by Mmusi Maimane, a Soweto-born former preacher. It has been described by the predominantly white-owned media in South Africa as a ‘breath of fresh air in politics’.
Tellingly, the constant invoking of Maimane’s preaching background is revealing in that the church is now crucial in regime change agenda politics. Harare needs to take heed! This is sad for the empowerment agenda that we are vigorously pursuing in Zimbabwe and across the continent.
The ANC is no ordinary party to South Africans in particular and Africans in general.
It is the oldest party in Africa, the genesis of the struggle against colonialism and its remnants. Africa has every reason to be worried.
With all of the votes having been counted three days after the poll, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) broke the stunning news that the opposition DA had won 43 percent of the vote to the ANC’s 41 percent in Pretoria.
In Gauteng, ANC got 44,55 percent of the vote, the DA 38,37 and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by ousted ANC youth league leader Julius Malema, coming a distant but hugely significant 11,09 percent.
In times where opposition figures are talking of a possible coalition to dislodge the ruling ZANU PF in the 2018 harmonised elections in Zimbabwe, it is quite revealing that the same is being touted as panacea to outdo the ANC in South Africa.
This is because the ANC failed to breach the 50 percent mark in Johannesburg, Ekurleni, Tshwane and Mogale City, meaning a possible coalition between opposition outfits in SA makes ANC’s job in the next polls even more daunting.
Already the EFF has ruled out the possibility of a coalition with the ANC and this does not bode well with the collective aspirations of the majority of South Africans who suffered immensely during the dark era of apartheid.
Overall, support for ANC fell to below 60 percent for the first time since 1994, a clear sign of the significant inroads proprietors of the regime change programme have made in South Africa.
And as South Africa, especially the ANC emerges from its indifferent showing in the polls, there is need for liberation movements to come together and adopt strategies to counter the impeding danger confronting them. It’s not too late to do that.
Let those with ears listen.