ANC leaders should listen to party’s members, says analyst

Bongani Hans

ANC leaders should ask themselves why their members are airing the party’s dirty laundry on social media instead of addressing their grievances within the party, said political analyst Mpumelelo Zikalala.

Zikalala was reacting to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement during his closing address of the party’s three-day lekgotla in Boksburg, Gauteng, that certain members and leaders were damaging the party through their conduct, including what they posted on social media.

Ramaphosa said the party’s national executive committee would in the coming weeks visit KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Northern Cape, the provinces where the ANC failed to retain a majority of votes.

Zikalala said those who used social media to express grievances about the party were “not a problem, but they were robust”.

“If you feel that you are being ignored you are going to make noise on social media because you want them to listen.

“If your ANC structures are not listening to you, obviously there are some of those things that are going to spill over to the other side (social media),” said Zikalala.

Ramaphosa said the lekgotla had decided to deal with issues that brought the party into disrepute, which might have cost it votes during the May 29 elections.

He said the renewal of the ANC should also include how its members behaved on public platforms, including what they communicated through social media.

“Let us not occupy headlines for wrong reasons, let us be known for excellence and competence,” said Ramaphosa.

He said members, the party’s public representatives, every deployee of the ANC and every cadre should consider themselves as communicators.

“They need to be suitably skilled and capacitated. They need to understand the position and messages of the ANC.

“They need to exercise discipline and responsibility,” he said.

Ramaphosa said members should also watch what they displayed in public as that would be part of communication “through our conduct, actions and the difference that we make in people’s lives.

“If we are divided, if we tolerate acts of corruption and patronage, if we live lavish lifestyles through which we show ourselves to be better than our people and appear to only look after our own, then not even the best communication strategy will be able to improve our standing amongst our people,” said Ramaphosa.

Zikalala said he did not expect the ANC to take action against its members for using social media on party issues.

“Instead of disciplining them for saying things on social media, they (the ANC leaders) should start by asking themselves ‘why we don’t have structures that would listen to grievances of the people (members)’,” he said.

Zikalala said such structures should establish what was happening and what people were complaining about on the ground “which has created such frustration that it makes them express themselves on public platforms”.

“Give members a proper platform to complain if they feel that things are not done properly,” said Zikalala.

He said what members did on public platforms was not the main reason the party lost support. He said the formation of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party was a factor.

The fact that almost every day people are without water and electricity was the reason that people expressed themselves negatively on the ANC.