The ANC and the Illusion of Liberation

 South Africa has been sold a lie of freedom—a meticulously crafted illusion by the architects of apartheid. The release of Nelson Mandela, once heralded as the dawn of liberation, was a calculated move by a cunning apartheid regime. Mandela was paraded globally, not as a symbol of true emancipation but as a puppet of a more sophisticated system of oppression. The apartheid government knew their crimes. And  brutality was unsustainable in the face of growing international scrutiny. They needed a new strategy—a subtler form of control that would maintain their grip on economic power while pacifying the masses with the illusion of democracy.

This strategy was executed with surgical precision. Mandela, the revered revolutionary, was systematically groomed and manipulated during his post-release world tours. By 1992, he stood at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, delivering a speech that was a far cry from his earlier socialist ideals. Overnight, the African National Congress abandoned its radical economic policies, signaling to the world that South Africa’s new leadership would play by the rules of global capitalism—a system inherently skewed in favor of the West and its historical beneficiaries.

This betrayal was the final nail in the coffin for genuine liberation. Instead of holding the architects of apartheid accountable for their crimes, the ANC extended an olive branch, preaching reconciliation to a nation that had not yet healed. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission became a stage for performative apologies, while the real perpetrators of systemic oppression walked away unscathed. The much-needed economic redress—the redistribution of land and wealth—was shelved in favor of appeasing white monopoly capital (WMC).

Today, the ANC has morphed into an entity that protects the very interests it once vowed to dismantle. It has betrayed the millions of South Africans who placed their faith in the ballot box, believing that change would come through the power of their vote. Instead, the ANC government has perfected the art of deception, selling dreams of a better tomorrow while perpetuating a system that enriches the elite few at the expense of the suffering masses.

The scars of apartheid remain deeply etched into the fabric of this nation. Land, wealth, and opportunities are still concentrated in the hands of the white minority, while the black majority languishes in poverty and unemployment. The ANC’s incompetence and corruption have only deepened these wounds. The leadership has prioritized personal enrichment over national progress, feeding off a system designed to exploit.

Moeletsi Mbeki once said that the ANC entered power in 1994 without a coherent economic strategy. For an organization that had fought for over eight decades, this was a damning indictment. It is evident that the ANC underestimated the complexity and ruthlessness of the system they sought to dismantle. Since assuming power, they have been playing catch-up, learning about governance while the architects of apartheid and global capitalism tightened their stranglehold on the economy.

The South African dream of liberation remains a mirage. The apartheid government, in its final years, masterfully transitioned into a system of neo-colonialism, where the tools of oppression are subtler but just as effective. The ANC, whether through naivety or complicity, became the gatekeepers of this system. It is now up to new movements and alliances, like the EFF and MK Party, to reignite the revolutionary spirit and challenge the status quo.

Disclaimer: Some of the views expressed in this article are personal opinions and reflections gathered from public discourse. As an independent writer, I aim to explore issues that mainstream journalism often shies away from, sparking conversations that push us closer to the truth.

By Noko Mabofa Maleka