Politics
South Africa: ANC marks 100th aniversary
Against all odds, the party of Nelson Mandela has transformed a nation where just 20 years ago black South Africans could not vote, and beaches and restaurants were reserved for whites only.
The venerated party once banned for decades under apartheid has won every national election since racist white rule ended in 1994, and President Jacob Zuma vows the party “will rule until Jesus comes.”
Yet as the African National Congress (ANC) marks its 100th anniversary this weekend with fanfare and dozens of visiting presidents, critics say the ANC has failed to unchain an impoverished majority still shackled by a white-dominated economy.
Unemployment hovers around 36 percent and soars to 70 percent among young people. Half the country’s population lives on just 8 percent of the national income, according to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).
South African political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi praises the ANC for developmental achievements “unprecedented anywhere in the world” in its 17 years of governing the country.
But he noted that many at the ANC festivities will have their joy marred by “a tinge of disappointment and even sadness” about weaknesses and failures.
The ANC’s reputation is being tarnished by a never-ending deluge of corruption scandals, some involving politicians who sacrificed during the fight against apartheid and now feel entitled to luxury cars and financial payback.
It’s created disillusionment, especially for those who volunteered to serve as freedom fighters at a time when many of the ANC’s leaders were imprisoned for their activism.
Serame Mogale, who was only 14 when he became a guerrilla fighter for the ANC, recalled that the slogan in one Angolan training camp was “the pace of the slowest.”
