By Howard Feldman, Synthesis
On Sunday, 25 February, an American soldier, Aaron Bushnell, set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington. He was rushed to the hospital where he was treated for his wounds, which were so severe that they were unable to save him.
At the time, US media reported that he had livestreamed himself on Twitch, wearing fatigues and declaring he would “not be complicit in genocide” before dousing himself in liquid. He then lit himself on fire while yelling “free Palestine!” until he fell to the ground.
Although lauded by many as a hero who demanded that we remember his name, I had to search for articles because I had forgotten it.
The African National Congress, much like airman Aaron Bushnell, chose to set itself on fire for cause; and much like Bushnell it will have little to show for it, If South Africans care about Gaza, they care more about the basic needs of security, employment, electricity, water and because they no longer trust the party.
As a result, for the first time since 1994 the ANC dipped below 50% It has been decimated in KZN and will have to form a coalition in Gauteng if it wants to hold on to power.
This should be no surprise.
Consider the focus of the ANC over the last seven months. Where most South Africans would be hard pressed to find a “success story” within the borders of the country, they could not have missed the intense focus of the party on Gaza: so much so that reports of the last ANC rally ahead of the elections described the enormous number of Palestinian flags and paucity of South African ones.
The video footage of President Cyril Ramaphosa proudly chanting “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” a sentence that is arguably a chant for the destruction of Israel (as geographically the river to the sea is the entire region). And if that was not enough, while waiting for South African election results at the IEC headquarters, senior members of the ANC were not wearing South African scarves, but rather Palestinian ones.
Something that the ANC seems to have forgotten to mention, was to tell South Africans that they too matter.
In neglecting South Africa, they in effect doused themselves in fuel, screamed “From the River to the sea!” and they lit the flames of their own demise.
Tony Leon remarked the following on the X platform: “Here is a sidebar of the ANC in Western Cape. Their combis were decked with CR’s face and slogan ‘Free Palestine’ – yet the ANC’s decline of 9% mirrored the 9% rise of the Patriotic Alliance, the most pro-Israel party on the ballot. Interesting how this issue actually played.”
It might be the case that South voters didn’t turn away from the ANC because it disagreed with the party’s stance on Gaza and that it rather turned tits back on the liberation party because of its failure in all areas of South African life. But what is clear, is that it did itself no favours by focussing so intensely on another cause, while neglecting the people they are meant to serve.
It is a further irony how “offended” the ANC acted with Democratic Alliance advert depicting the burning of a virtual flag. And yet all the while the party was in the process of not lighting an AI generated flag but setting itself aflame.
I have no idea if anyone in Gaza remembers Aaron Bushnell and if they would make the ultimate sacrifice on his behalf. What I do know, is that if the ANC wants to emerge from the ashes of its self-created destruction, it needs to put aside the Palestinian scarves and convince South Africans that they matter.