Jonas hails ‘Oom Ray’, bemoans personality cult in today’s ANC

DEPUTY Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas has invoked the spirit of deceased struggle hero Raymond “Oom Ray” Mhlaba to lash out at the personality cult he says has taken over in the ANC.

Jonas said Mhlaba had worked to unite and build the ANC, and that there was a lack of such leaders in the party and its alliance partners today.

Jonas recently revealed the extent of state capture when he declared he had been offered the finance ministry cabinet post by the controversial Gupta family.

The former Eastern Cape-based politician delivered a rousing speech on Friday night at a gala dinner in East London’s City Hall to commemorate the contribution of Mhlaba to the democratic struggle.

Mhlaba, a former worker-activist who spent many years on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela, became the first premier of the Eastern Cape after the 1994 elections.

A statue of the late stalwart will be unveiled in Fort Beaufort next year.

Jonas used the speech to assail the failures of today’s ANC leaders, saying there were no longer leaders of Mhlaba’s calibre in the party, although he did not refer to specific individuals.

“As a unifier [Mhlaba] will be shocked by factions that are costing us, working against and undermining each other. He will be disappointed over our transition – how strong personality cults are.”

Jonas said Mhlaba would be disappointed by the extent to which communities rallied around a “strong man” leader.

“We need to deal with the cult of personality that undermines the organisation. We don’t debate substantive issues.

“We don’t debate equal access to opportunities, but personalities; how to position ourselves,” he said.

Jonas asked whether jockeying for political office among slate-based factions had destroyed the unity the ANC once prided itself on. “And what role has business played, in terms of the current issues of state capture, the use of political office and state organs at various levels to benefit certain patronage networks?

“More than ever, we need our leaders to become exceptional leaders – to put the country and the movement above their own narrow interests.”

Jonas said Mhlaba belonged to an era when leaders understood that people were everything and that their individual interests were secondary.

“He was a leader of the ANC, SACP and a trade unionist. He combined all of these three. Unity became central.

“Sometimes contradictions arise that may compromise unity. Oom Ray transcended [all that].”

During Mhlaba’s era, the Eastern Cape was central to national politics, but this was no longer the case.

If Oom Ray was alive, he would probably be happy because service delivery was happening despite the challenges, but he would probably also be sad at the extent to which the ANC was divided, Jonas said.