ANC's 5th NGC: A Line in the Sand - Economy vs Mafia

In Part 1, we welcomed delegates to the 5th NGC and drew a clear line in the sand: this is not what we struggled for, and this NGC is not a stage for palace coups and factional whispering it is a decision-point for the Republic.

Part 2 goes to the heart of the debate many comrades including comrade Dr Zamani Saul are raising: Will crime, enquiries and commissions eclipse our economic progress?

My answer is simple:

Crime is not eclipsing the economy. Crime is strangling the economy.

Ending criminal sovereignty is our first economic reform.

If we do not fix that, every ratings upgrade, every G20 handshake, every “green shoot” will be temporary a headline today, erased by a scandal tomorrow.

1.⁠ ⁠The False Choice: Growth vs Enquiries

The official ANC NGC theme is clear: “The Year of Renewal to Make the ANC a More Effective Instrument of the People to Achieve the Vision of the Freedom Charter: The People Shall Govern! The People Shall Share in the Wealth of the Country!”

Recent ANC Today editions, focusing on NGC2025, celebrate real progress:

• an economic recovery trajectory,
• stabilisation of energy supply,
• steps to fight crime and corruption,
• improved global positioning,
• and preparation for the 2026 local government elections.

Dr Saul amplifies this: he warns that if we allow enquiries, commissions and scandals to dominate the narrative, the NGC will be eclipsed and the public will not see the gains.

He is right about one thing: South Africans are emotionally stuck in fear not in policy.

But here is the deeper truth: There is no economic recovery without criminal justice recovery.

There is no investment confidence without sovereign control over cartels. “Growth vs enquiries” is a false choice. The enquiries are the X-ray. The tumour is the mafia.

2.⁠ ⁠Alliance Consensus: Corruption and Mafias Are a Class Question

This is not just my view. Across the Alliance, the message is converging:

• The ANC NGC Base Document frankly notes how corruption, poor service delivery and incompetence have eroded the authority of the democratic state, and warns that without renewal the National Democratic Revolution can be “derailed or defeated”.
• The SACP’s Augmented and Central Committee statements repeatedly identify a “predatory elite”, warn against stealth privatisation and austerity, and call for decisive action against corruption and corporate/state capture as a precondition for any progressive programme.
• The COSATU 8th Central Committee declaration insists we must intensify the fight against corruption in both public and private sectors, link it to workers’ struggles, and defend social spending.
• On Workers’ Day 2025, COSATU’s rallying cry was: “Cut corruption, not clinics. Tax the rich, not the poor.” And when the ANC and COSATU met in October 2025 to renew the alliance and plan for 2026 local elections, they agreed that restoring the integrity of councillors, improving governance, and delivering quality services are non-negotiable conditions for rebuilding trust. So the Alliance message is actually unified: Corruption and organised crime are not side issues.

They are the main enemy of our freedom, democracy workers, communities, and the NDR itself.

That is why I say: Criminal sovereignty is now our primary macroeconomic constraint.

3.⁠ ⁠Criminal Rule: When the Republic Has Competition

Let’s call things by their name.

We are not dealing with “high crime levels” only.

We are dealing with competing centres of power:

• construction mafias that decide which projects proceed, and at what “fee”;
• ⁠extortion networks that tax small businesses and spaza shops more consistently than the state collects revenue;
• kidnapping syndicates that price fear into every entrepreneurial decision;
• ⁠corrupt officials and police who act as the logistical arm of syndicates;
• procurement cartels that effectively control who gets work in key municipalities and SOEs.

That is criminal rule of put fancy gangster / mafia sovereignty: a parallel power that collects “tax”, enforces its own rules, and punishes dissent.

No serious investor local or global looks only at GDP graphs and bond spreads. They ask:

• ⁠Can contracts be enforced?
• ⁠Are communities stable?
• ⁠Will we be shaken down by mafias?
• Are policing and prosecution predictable or for sale?

So when we say: “The NGC must focus on the economy, not enquiries” we are missing the core reality: Enquiries, assassinations and whistle-blower stories are the economic story.

They show us where GDP is leaking, where infrastructure is paralysed, and where jobs are strangled.

Babita Deokaran, Witness D, and the many unnamed public servants and activists killed or threatened for exposing corruption are not “human rights footnotes”.

They are the frontline defenders of the economy.

4.⁠ ⁠The Economy is about (=) Security + Justice , Redress + Growth

If there is one formula I want delegates to memorise, it is this:

Economy = Security + Justice + Growth

Not: Economy vs justice

Growth vs enquiries

Every positive signal the ANC rightly celebrates

• ⁠FATF greylisting exit,
• ⁠ratings upgrades,
• Eskom profitability,
• renewed investor interest is conditional on whether we can restore the rule of law and smash the infrastructure of impunity.

You can’t rebuild rail while construction mafias control sites.

You can’t stabilise municipalities while procurement committees live in fear.

You can’t implement industrial policy while tax and customs are compromised.

So the real strategic turn at this NGC must be: Economic strategy IS anti-mafia strategy.

Anti-corruption is not a moral add-on. It is the first industrial policy.

5.⁠ ⁠Five Decisions the NGC Must Take

To make this real, we don’t need more 80-page documents. We need five clear directions that every commission can plug into.

1.⁠ ⁠Declare Criminal Sovereignty, Mafia rule a Direct Threat to the NDR

In Strategy & Tactics and the Base Document, state clearly: PUT THIS IN: “Criminal networks and predatory elites constitute internal counter-revolutionary forces that threaten democratic sovereignty, economic transformation and the safety of our people.”

This aligns ANC, SACP and COSATU language and removes any ambiguity: confronting mafias is not a favour to capital; it is fidelity to the Freedom Charter and the working class.

2.⁠ ⁠Treat Whistle-Blower Protection as Economic Infrastructure

Peace & Security and Governance commissions should jointly resolve:

• ⁠to support legislation and budget for a National Whistle-Blower Protection and Support Mechanism safe housing, legal support, income replacement, trauma services;
• to make protection of witnesses and whistle-blowers a performance indicator for the NPA, SAPS and relevant departments. Quotable line: “You cannot have a courageous economy without courageous people and courageous people need protection, not obituaries.”

3.⁠ ⁠Build an Integrated Anti-Mafia Capability

Without redesigning the entire state, the NGC can:

• endorse a specialised anti-mafia capability in the state whether as a strengthened IDAC/SIU/NPA cluster or a ring-fenced directorate under the NPA;
• insist on integrated data between SIU, AGSA, SARS, CSD, and bank reports, so that procurement fraud is hunted systematically, not case-by-case. Quotable line: “Our enemy is not just the corrupt individual; it is the system that lets them move from tender to tender untouched.”

4.⁠ ⁠Firewall Municipal Procurement

Link the ANC Local Government List Guidelines, the Branch Functionality Barometer, and Alliance demands into one clear directive:

• Councillors and mayors must meet integrity and community support tests.
• Municipalities must publish all tenders, bids and awards on a single public portal in real time.
• Community-based audit committees and street committees must be recognised and supported to monitor projects. Quotable line: “If tender notices are secret, criminals will always be first in the queue.”

5.⁠ ⁠Give the ANC Integrity System Teeth and Timelines

Organisational Renewal must resolve that:

• Integrity Commission and disciplinary processes operate with fixed timelines (e.g. 60–90 days),
• rulings are enforceable, not advisory,
• and status reports are tabled at every NEC and NGC/Conference on high-profile cases. “An Integrity Commission without consequences is a complaint desk, not a backbone.”

6.⁠ ⁠A Message to ANC and Non-ANC South Africans

To comrades in the movement: This NGC is where we decide whether we still have the courage to govern in the interests of the people or whether we will outsource power to cartels in suits and overalls.

To South Africans who are not ANC members: You are right to demand better. You are right to be sceptical.

But understand this: if the ANC does not defeat criminal sovereignty, no party manifesto will rescue the state. We either rebuild a public, constitutional centre of power or we all live under a shadow state.

If you take one line into commissions, let it be this: “If the ANC does not defeat criminal sovereignty, then democracy, investment and growth will remain hostage to the shadow state.”

That is the line that connects: Babita → Witness D → the NGC → the economic emergency your families feel every day.

Comrades, the choice is not “growth or enquiries”.

The choice is: Rule of law or rule of syndicates. Public sovereignty or criminal sovereignty. Renewal with consequences or slow, polite collapse.

Welcome to NGC Part 2 of the line in the sand.

Take it into your commissions.

Make it a resolution, not just a speech.

* Faiez Jacobs is a former  Member of Parliament, founder of The Transcendence Group, Capetonian, Activist, and Servant of the People.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.