JABULANI SIKHAKHANE: ANC’s assumptions about its purpose and environment are faulty

The ANC is facing the same conundrum that all institutions, including businesses, confront. That is the moment when an institution must take a deep look at itself, the reason for its existence, the environment in which it operates, and make a call on whether it is structured and run in a way that still fits its purpose and the environment.

In the private sector, this is referred to as the theory of business. As the late management guru Peter Drucker once pointed out, businesses reach a point where “the assumptions on which the organisation has been built and is being run no longer fit reality”. As the outcome of the general election last week showed, the ANC is at that point, or has been for some time but has been in denial.

“These are the assumptions that shape any organisation’s behaviour, dictate its decisions about what to do and what not to do, and define what the organisation considers meaningful results,” wrote Drucker in a 1994 Harvard Business Review article.

In business, these assumptions are about markets, who the customers and competitors are, and their values and behaviour. They can also be about technology and a company’s strengths and weaknesses.

A company that was once a best performer could find itself stagnating, in trouble “often, in a seemingly unmanageable crisis... And it occurs just as often outside business — in labour unions, government agencies, hospitals, museums, and churches. In fact, it seems even less tractable in those areas,” wrote Drucker.

He identified the following pillars to the theory of business:

• The assumptions the business has about its operating environment, including society and its structure, its customers and technology.
• The business’s mission.
• The core competencies a business needs to achieve its mission.

“The assumptions about environment define what an organisation is paid for. The assumptions about mission define what an organisation considers to be meaningful results ... they point to how it envisions itself making a difference in the economy and in the society at large. Finally, the assumptions about core competencies define where an organisation must excel to maintain leadership.”

The same applies to a political party, which defines what “it is paid for” in terms of votes in elections. Clearly, a political party operates within a particular environment and its understanding of that environment — society and its structure — is key to its success.

The outcome of the elections shows that the ANC needs a deep look at its theory of business. But it runs the risk of looking for scapegoats. The ANC can blame its loss of voter support on Jacob Zuma’s MK party — it’s those Zulu people with tribal tendencies. But the deeper issue, which some ANC people have been speaking about over the years, is whether the organisation is still fit for purpose now and in the future.

The outcome of the elections shows that the ANC needs a deep look at its theory of business. But it runs the risk of looking for scapegoats.

Clinging to the false narratives of being “the leader of society” and “the liberator of SA” doesn’t help. False, in the first instance, because real leaders don’t steal public resources. False, in the second instance, because many other factors caused SA to reach the political settlement that led to the 1994 turning point.

Former president Thabo Mbeki floated the idea of “fewer, but better” in 2007, a point that he returned to last week. Speaking at the party’s 2017 national conference, Mbeki decried the decline in the quality of ANC’s membership. He said they did not have enough political education.

“As a result of this failure [in political education], we must expect that we will have members who, among other things, will have very little familiarity with the history and traditions of the ANC, its policies, its value system and its organisational practices,” said Mbeki.

Though Mbeki’s words, especially about the history and traditions, demonstrate a clinging to a past that may no longer be fit for the present, they do show that even back in 2007 the ANC’s theory of business was already in trouble.

But instead of a deep look at itself, the reason for its existence, the environment in which it operates, and making a call on whether it is structured and run in a manner that fits its purpose and the environment, the ANC has continued as if it has no problems.

Cyril Ramaphosa, who took over as president in 2017, prized the unity of Mandela’s party above all else, including a deep look at whether the changed environment — the new theory of business — justified a split in the party.

• Sikhakhane, a former spokesperson for the finance minister, National Treasury and SA Reserve Bank, is editor of The Conversation Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.