OPINION
French poet and novelist Victor Hugo makes the profound assertion that nothing is extra highly effective than an idea whose time has come. While he is extra famend for his novels, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables, and was on the forefront of the Romantic literary motion that originated in Europe in the direction of the tip of the 18th century, it is his political works that stand out to me.
In a lot of his political writings he displays on the significance of concepts, arguing that the peak of enlightenment is to maneuver battle from the battlefield to the ideational house – an enviornment of minds being open to concepts. The works of Hugo are related within the twenty first century, a time during which economies have transitioned from being industry-based to being knowledge-based, and a time during which party-political methods internationally are evolving. But they’re extra vital in South Africa and undoubtedly, inside the African National Congress (ANC), the place new concepts should not solely mandatory, however are the bridge throughout the existential disaster that each the governing occasion and our nation face.
The ANC is getting ready for its fifty fifth nationwide convention that is scheduled for December. The convention will likely be a defining second for the organisation and South Africa at giant. It takes place at a time when the occasion is tethering very dangerously on the sting of a catastrophic lack of energy. Over the previous few years, the ANC has been haemorrhaging electoral assist. The current native authorities elections crystalised the occasion’s decline, with it shedding energy in all metropolitan municipalities within the Gauteng province and hanging onto energy by a really skinny thread in others. All indications are that the upcoming common election scheduled for 2024 will likely be difficult for the occasion, not solely in industrial provinces however in rural areas too, the place, even because the occasion enjoys widespread assist, electoral energy has been on a gradual decline. And whereas it is nonetheless potential for the occasion to alter this trajectory, it is going to require critical work. The most vital dialogue that ought to occupy the minds of anybody who loves the organisation and who is invested in the way forward for South Africa, is how the ANC can arrest this decline and considerably, place the nation on a path of the prosperity that was promised on the daybreak of the brand new dispensation.
While there is nobody resolution that may be deemed a panacea to this disaster, it is undebatable that one of many mandatory interventions that must occur is for the ANC to embrace the wave of change that is occurring globally – that of turning into a youthful organisation. There is a transparent indication that world tendencies are shifting in the direction of youthful leadership in authorities and inside governing events. Just just a few weeks in the past, Mary Elizabeth Truss, a 47-year-old lady, was elected because the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She joins different comparatively younger world leaders, resembling San Marino’s Giacomo Simoncini who, on the age of 27, is the youngest president on the earth. Jacinda Arden, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, is 42 years outdated. The Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, is 36 years outdated, whereas Irakli Garibashvil, her counterpart in Georgia, is solely 39 years outdated. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, is 44 years outdated. There are a number of others.
This phenomenon is not distinctive to the West. Across the worldwide South, there is an emergence of youthful leaders being elected to steer their international locations in the direction of financial and political stability. These embody the 40-year-old president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele; the 39-year outdated president of Mali, Assimi Goita and the 36-year-old president of Chile, Gabriel Boric Font. In Mongolia, 41-year-old OyunErdene Luvsannamsrai is the Prime Minister. Countries resembling Kenya, the place 55-year-old William Ruto was lately elected as its president, and Papua New Guinea, the place 51-year-old James Marape was elected because the Prime Minister, are additionally transferring in the direction of youthful governments.
This is not an arbitrary challenge of age, however a mirrored image of a brand new fascinated with the long run. Countries with youthful leaders are likely to do higher in innovation and human improvement, for the easy motive that youthful leaders are open to new and radical concepts that transfer international locations ahead. This is a lot wanted in Africa the place underdevelopment and restricted innovation are posing an obstacle to progress.
Africa is the youngest continent on the earth, with 40% of its inhabitants aged 15 years and youthful, in distinction to a world common of 26%. The continent accounts for 23% of your entire world’s youth inhabitants – with Asia coming in second. It stands to motive that younger individuals ought to play an integral position within the politics of the continent and definitely, of South Africa.
There are at the moment 9 candidates beneath the age of 55 who’re contesting completely different positions within the prime six as we method the fifty fifth nationwide convention of the ANC. These younger candidates have to be supported, not primarily based solely on their ages, but in addition on the wealth of expertise that they convey with them. All candidates have served at varied spheres of presidency, with some at the moment serving as ministers and deputy ministers. Others have served on the highest degree of native authorities, as govt mayors and members of the mayoral council. But past public service, these people are educated and possess the mandatory talent, and have made vital contributions in academia, the non-public sector and civil society. Having risen by the ranks of the scholar and youth actions inside the ANC and the Congress Alliance, they perceive the strategic aims of the progressive motion. There is no logical motive that such capacitated individuals shouldn’t be entrusted with the duty of main the ANC and South Africa.
The way forward for South Africa relies on the event of recent concepts. A youthful technology of leaders is the provider of many of those concepts. It must be supported by everybody, together with the older generations within the ANC, as a result of the way forward for the ANC and of our nation relies on bringing these concepts to fruition. To fail at this is able to be to fail at securing a affluent future for our youngsters and their youngsters. The ANC can’t afford to disregard the wave of change occurring on the earth. It can’t afford to reject these whose time has come.
Masina is the ANC Ekurhuleni regional chairperson. He writes in his private capability.