Debts, Disarray Hurt ANC’s Rule in S. Africa, Aide Says

Growing debts and organizational disarray have damaged the African National Congress’ ability to govern South Africa, its secretary general said Sunday.

The ANC is too dependent on the personal power of President Nelson Mandela, who remains by far the country’s most popular leader, Cyril Ramaphosa said in a report to the ANC’s first national conference since taking power.

Although speaking with surprising candor about organizational difficulties, Ramaphosa was far from pessimistic.

“This is a very happy conference,” he said.

Opinion polls show Mandela’s support has increased since he was inaugurated in May as South Africa’s first black president. But the ANC has struggled since winning more than 62% of the vote in the first all-race elections in April, Ramaphosa said.

The almost 3,000 delegates applauded Ramaphosa’s stinging description of the ANC as a debt-ridden organization that needs to improve discipline, financial controls and accountability, and to rebuild dying local branches.

“Only through being critical . . . will we be able to ensure that we become an even stronger . . . organization,” he said.

The ANC has to delegate more responsibility outside the circle of Mandela and his advisers, and build up lower layers of leaders, Ramaphosa said.

He rejected talk of grass-roots unhappiness with the ANC and government, saying people supported its attempt to promote reconciliation between blacks and whites after apartheid.

The conference was expected to air complaints that Mandela’s government has failed to meet the needs of the impoverished black majority, but journalists at the meeting detected few signs of real dissatisfaction.

“We’ve been oppressed for 80 years and we’ve been in government for less than one year,” said Churchman Adams, a delegate from Port Elizabeth. “I won’t say even a word of complaint. . . . People still have confidence.”

Mandela defended the government in his opening address Saturday but acknowledged some mistakes and pledged tangible benefits for blacks next year.

Ramaphosa, a former union leader who led ANC negotiators in years of talks with former white leaders on ending apartheid, said the ANC had failed to properly prepare as an organization for the shift from opposition movement to governing party.

Little fiscal discipline exists, with Mandela the party’s only reliable money-raising tool, he said.

Also Sunday, the black nationalist Pan-Africanist Congress reelected Clarence Makwetu as its leader despite its poor showing in the April vote.

The PAC, which calls for taking land from whites, is virtually powerless in the new government but represents a militant ideology attractive to young blacks and could benefit if the ANC fails to deliver on its promises.