PamPam

Molo Fikile, this is the right speech. It is 15 years too late. The decline did not start with the MK Party or the GNU. It started at the ANC's peak. These are the moments when this speech should have been given: 2007–2008, Polokwane and the recall of Mbeki. Factionalism became the main business of the movement, and COPE was the first split. That is the "internal divisions" you mention today. 2008, the start of load shedding. It was the first big sign that the state was failing at basic infrastructure. 2009–2011, the rise of service delivery protests. Communities were saying then exactly what you're saying now: no water, no refuse removal, no roads, councillors who don't show up. This was the moment for this speech. 2012–2015: Marikana, the Gupta landing at Waterkloof, the Nkandla findings, and Nenegate. Each one was a chance to choose accountability over loyalty. Each time the ANC defended the individual instead of the people. 2016, the loss of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay. That was the last clear warning before things became irreversible. 2018, VBS. Limpopo municipalities lost money that should have gone to water and roads. We still feel it here. If this speech had been given in 2011 and acted on, with consequences for failing councillors, cadres deployed on merit, and corruption prosecuted instead of protected, the ANC would not be at 31% today and many of our towns would not be in the state they're in. And to be honest, the words are not new. "Renewal" and "self-correction" have been in ANC conference documents for over a decade. The problem has never been diagnosis. It has been implementation and consequences. So the humility is welcome. But people will judge you on one thing: which councillors, mayors and officials face consequences in the next 12 months. Show us that, and the trust might follow.