Last dance in Colesberg, Part 2

By Phakamisa Mayaba

If the commentariat had seen the turnout at the Northern Cape celebrations of the ANC’s 114th anniversary this past Saturday, they might’ve toned down their obituaries. Packed to the rafters – with some putting the figure at around 12 500 – the Toto Mayaba Stadium in Colesberg presented a different picture to the empty stands and measly clumps of supporters who had attended the national celebrations in Limpopo on 8 January.

The event met or exceeded all expectations, providing litle or no ammunition for social media trolls. No images of officials addressing a sparse audience. None of the memes that came in the wake of the disaster in Limpopo. Nothing warranting a cackling emoji, and some notable news houses even dispatched a reporter or two. In a nutshell, the entire affair was a resounding success, despite the unkind speculation.

Never pass up a good t shirt. Youngsters clad in ANC regalia. (Eparkeni)

The ANC fell back on its tried and trusted instruments of promises, populist rhetoric and freebies. Lots of freebies.. R100 000 for the Colesberg Primary School choir who serenaded the audience. A stipend and after-party for the hundreds of volunteers who’d been doing the heavy organisational lifting throughout the week. A t-shirt and a meal for everyone who wanted one.

The provincial premier and ANC chair, Dr Zamani Saul, also served as a versatile MC. With the local government elections around the corner, the theme — The Year of Decisive Action to fix Local Government and Transform the Economy — couldn’t have been more fitting. Flowing from this, he did call for change in the party. One of his proposals for improving the ANC’s flagging performance in the upcoming ballot was to nominate the ‘correct candidates’.

The keynote speaker, the NEC member Dakota Legoete, also adopted a back-to-the-grass-roots approach, condemning corruption, and praising the party as never having been a criminal enterprise but the ‘midwife of all formations in the continent against apartheid colonialism’.

He called on the ANC to reain the people’s trust and faith by improving service delivery. Re-industrialising the province, providing free WiFi at schools, speeding up transformation, and ensuring an inclusive economy were essential for achieving a prosperous South Africa, he declared. Persistent blackouts, gender-based violence, lack of ownership in black communities and corruption, however, were not.

Then there was the announcement that Andrew Louw, former DA and ActionSA leader in the Northern Cape, had joined the ANC, as had Daniel Kelem, EFF chairperson in the Pixley kaSeme Region. They and about 100 other new members were received with loud applause.

These new recruits also included members of the Umsobomvu Residents Association (URA), which had drained away ANC support in the previous local government election.

For the ANC in Colesberg, this is a pivotal issue. For years now, the URA has been a thorn in the ANC’s flesh – a cabal of the gatvol whose disapproval of the way the ANC-led council was doing things struck a chord with the disillusioned. In the last elections, its vigorous anti-corruption, anti-nepotism ticket and offers of an immediate alternative to the ruling party bagged it a surprising four seats, trumping the more established DA.

However, it seems to have lost momentum, it does seem as if some of its local vote may swing back to the ANC. Not surprisingly, the URA defectors were treated like the return of the prodigal son.

While things were going swimmingly under the massive gazebo, one guy wasn’t particularly happy. A volunteer, having toiled for ‘a f***ing two weeks, broer,’ approaches us, drunk and and angry, to complain that he and several of his colleagues were seen off with a weeping R150 for their nearly two-week-long slog. When they protested, they allege they were allegedly reminder that they’d been fed at least two meals a day during their volunteering, and were, to be frank, just volunteers.

As for their colleagues, they seemed generally happy as they indulged in the libations provided by the organisation at the local community hall the following day.

The people who often cause trouble or heckle or cause other forms of trouble at similar gatherings were nowhere to be seen. No outbursts, no one calling the local council a bunch of nepotists and thieves. Instead, the audience applauded when Colesberg was declared a home of the ANC, and sang along to songs of ANC fortitude. And when the celebrity singer Nkosazana Daughter came on stage, the entire place went into a frenzy.

Maybe it was the food, or the music. Or maybe – just maybe – this means that, in Colesberg, the ANC might rule until Jesus comes back.

FEATURED IMAGE: Part of the capacity crowd in the marquee at the Toto MAyab Stadium. (Eparkeni)

This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on Phakamisa Mayaba’s website, Eparkeni. Used with permission.