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Canadian Open Management Journal Vol. 1, No. 1, June 2014, pp. 1- 17 Available online at http://crpub.com/Journals.php Open Access Research article POOR LEADERSHIP AND CONSERVATISM WITHIN SOUTH AFRICA’S BODY POLITIC: ILLUSIONS OF POWER PERPETUATED BY THE RULING PARTY Anis Mahomed Karodia (PhD) [email protected] Professor, Senior Academic and Researcher, Regent Business School, Durban, South Africa Paresh Soni Institutional Researcher, Management College of Southern Africa (MANCOSA), Durban, South Africa. [email protected] Stanton Thomas Research Administrator, Regent Business School, Durban, South Africa [email protected] _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT The paper attempts to focus on the issues identified in the title of the paper. These are complex but important issues for South Africa after twenty years of freedom and democracy, post 1994. The paper argues that leadership in South Africa is in the main disconnected from the realities of securing the so – called developmental state. It is a question of leadership that is not coming to the fore in order to secure this objective and goal. The second issue that the paper highlights and discusses is the all-embracing fact that the African National Congress as the governing party and its rich and historic liberation struggle has become a harbinger of conservatism with a drift of the party. Thirdly, the paper dissects a discerning citizenry in public culture that is required to counter self – deception endemic in the ruling party. Against this background the paper shows that there are cracks that are widening between executives Copyright © crpub.com, all rights reserved. 1 Canadian Open Management Journal Vol. 1, No. 1, June 2014, pp. 1- 17 Available online at http://crpub.com/Journals.php Open Access and workers in respect of remuneration in South Africa that is essentially a “third World‟ developing country and this disparity has reached vulgar levels. The rise in the public sector wage bill is frightening and needs to be controlled, if service delivery is a priority. Given these scenarios, the paper concludes with a discussion on the South African civil service, its importance to the state and the country, but more importantly argues that the economic crisis has forced the South African state to become the biggest employer. It also argues that this bloated civil service is inefficient, primarily due to the government being unable to deal decisively with poverty, inequality but most importantly deal with rampant unemployment in South Africa. Key Words: Leadership, Conservatism, Liberation, Executive Remuneration, Civil Service, Employer ______________________________________________ INTRODUCTION In a paper of this nature, it is important from the South African perspective to introduce and discuss briefly the problems of leadership and the overt disconnection with this leadership. In this regard, as it pertains to the developmental state that the South African government is in pursuit of, it becomes necessary to understand these issues. In order to create a developmental state that is vigorous, one that can meet the imperatives of the state and its people, given the rampant and widening inequality, the increasing poverty, and massive rising unemployment, exacerbated by a 0.2 percent growth rate, which in real terms at the moment, is a 0 percent growth rate, which has forced the Reserve bank to stall the increase in interest rates, in order to lessen the burden on the majority of poor people. All of this has to be couched in human terms, a desire to succeed with a great deal of determination, given the fact that the African National Congress was again voted into power, at the National elections held on May 7, 2014. However, there are few signs at present that the government has the leadership to make things happen, in order to redress the imbalances over the first twenty years of South African democracy. It is against this background that the issues raised in the title of the paper, will be discussed and nuanced. ON LEADERSHIP It is now widely understood throughout the country that failure to boost the economy will lead to more instability, given the failure of government to deal decisively with the economy. Relatively minor reforms only feed the appetite of the masses for more, creating “what sociologists refer to as “relative deprivation and according to Ben Turok (2014: 4), the most likely condition for revolution is not when the economy is at rock bottom, but rather when things begin to improve, and the masses sense that change is possible. That mood stimulates the desire for more, especially with evidence of increasing wealth for the middle strata and those above staring the poor in the face. The memory is still afresh of the social solidarity in the years when making South Africa ungovernable was the cry of the poor and in the townships. If the memory is not given scope for transformation, it could turn destructive.” There is no doubt that in the recent past the African National Congress has been infiltrated by opportunists and corrupt elements, but a substantial number of core and decent cadres remain. On the other hand we see that tried and tested members of the ANC who fought the liberation struggle have been deflected and lured into the lager of vulgar capitalistic attitudes at the expense of the poor and have been involved in corrupt activity and have amassed vulgar wealth. This does not augur well for the organization and, points to the erosion of the values of the ANC and further points to a complete lack of trust in them by the masses and speaks ill of their revolutionary credentials, and exacerbates the crying need for strong and decisive leadership within the organization. An activist and committed core of cadres at ground level depends on sound leadership in every sense of the word. A leadership that resorts to manipulation and deployment of favoured people will not maintain the respect of the ordinary cadres. Equally, manipulation of deployment in the public service leaves the public confused, annoyed and Copyright © crpub.com, all rights reserved. 2 Canadian Open Management Journal Vol. 1, No. 1, June 2014, pp. 1- 17 Available online at http://crpub.com/Journals.php Open Access demotivated. While selflessness and commitment to the public good are so important, manipulation leads to defeat and alienation. Turok (2014) further states that “the booing that greeted President Zuma at Mandela‟s funeral service in Soweto (One of the seats of resistance during the apartheid era) was a telling indicator of dissent from below and the extraordinary measures taken to screen and control when the ANC released its election manifesto in January in Nelspruit may be a measure of how uneasy the leadership feels in the face of popular dissent.” The May 7th election has passed with a victory for the ANC albeit with a slightly reduced majority. The time has come for the ANC in the next five years to heighten discipline, remove cadre deployment, corruption, nepotism and patronage and concentrate in terms of meeting the aspirations of the people, deal decisively with unemployment, poverty and rampant inequality. If it does not, it would sooner or later face the same fate as India‟s Congress Party in the coming two elections as opposition parties gain ground coupled with the rising anger of the masses of poor. In this sense, the ANC has to invoke the principles of sound and decisive leadership, if it wants to survive the toxic political environment in South Africa. ANC CONSERVATISM African National Congress (ANC) ideologues, comrades, protégés and revolutionary stalwarts extol the virtues of their historical past in glowing terms. No South African will deny this for one moment, but the legacy of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sizulu, Govan Mbeki, Yusuf Dadoo and a host of other moral and outstanding leaders within the ANC of the past, has been rapidly eroded in the first 20 years of democracy, irrespective of the party having won the May 7 2014 general elections. Political patronage, overt corruption, nepotism and sleaze reigns supreme under the current leadership of the ruling party. Unemployment, poverty and inequality are the order of the day. This stymies development and has negated democracy and the revolutionary credentials of a revolutionary party. The character, values and moral compass of the ANC has been eroded almost to a point of no return. Does the ANC still remain the most viable vehicle for social transformation in South Africa? More importantly as matters stand today is it possible to raise matters for debate and correction within the ANC or if it is done what will be the outcome to challenge the ANC by ordinary members, society at large and by academics, scholars, and those that disagree with its policies and poor governance track record post 1994? In this regard Barney Pityana (2014:4) points out interestingly that “there was no effort to defend the Nkandla debacle (a debacle in which the President of the country is involved) and to explain the shenanigans in the so – called security upgrades that caused the project to escalate to some R206 million rands of South African tax payers money. The view is expressed that the Nkandla (Home of the President in rural KwaZulu – Natal Province) is not a crisis and that revolutionary strategy and tactics would be enough to guide comrades on how to approach the present crisis.” In other words, it has lost the moral high ground because the ANC speaks to itself and its words bounce back on itself. This is the reality of ANC politics today. All of this happens outside the structures of the ANC because the ANC according to Pityana (2014) “because the ANC has been captured by a cabal that has turned it into an instrument of self – enrichment and for control of the state – not for the common good, but for personal benefit.

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