South Africa is in crisis. Teachers organised under the banner of the SA Democratic Teachers' Union have been out in the streets for weeks demanding higher pay. Now they are likely to go on strike again demanding they be paid for the weeks they weren't at their desks.
Meanwhile, pupils who should be working day and night to make up the loss of teaching time are marching in the streets under the leadership of the Congress of SA Students. They are likely to give us extremely poor pass rates again - meaning that South Africa will languish at the bottom of maths, science and literacy tables for even longer.
Do not expect these issues to dominate the national general council of the ANC this week. Instead, the ANC will likely deliberate on issues that concern the pockets and continued incumbency of its current leaders.
Decisions at this week's meeting will define where the party's future lies. Will the ANC choose the light, or the dark?
It is now clear that ANC members are adamant that a media tribunal to try to bring our robust print media "into line" must happen. Taken with the frightening Protection of Information Bill currently before Parliament, the media tribunal stands to take its place as the first signal of the beginning of the end of our democracy.
Why does the ANC want a media tribunal? It has nothing to do with a better democracy or protecting the poor, as alleged by President Jacob Zuma. It is because Zuma has been exposed as a hypocrite by the print media, hence his words in Parliament two weeks ago: "The manner in which the media has been reporting over the years - it seemed to be overstepping the boundaries that should guide it in terms of the freedom of the media. There seems to be no distinction between the respect for the dignity of other people and the manner in which it was reporting."
In essence, Zuma does not want it to be known or reported that his financial adviser has spent time in jail for bribing him; that he has impregnated the daughter of his friend; and that his children are now beneficiaries of dodgy black economic empowerment deals. All these hypocrisies have been condemned by Zuma's allies, Julius Malema and Zwelinzima Vavi.
But in the party's rush to defend an individual, it is prepared to trample on the institutions that have been a central part of its defeat of apartheid. The ANC will regret this backward move.
The media tribunal issue has already caused consternation among ANC allies across the world. Those who are made happy by these moves are the scoundrels among Zuma's friends, such as Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
The second issue at the centre of the agenda at this national general council is the nationalisation of mines as advocated by Malema and his supporters in the ANC Youth League. It seems clear now that some form of pressure for the acceleration of transfer of economic power from white hands to black hands will be issued by the meeting.
But will nationalisation of the mines as envisaged by the youth league fly? Many of the ANC provinces seem to want to fall somewhere in the middle: not outright nationalisation, but careful consideration of the way the economy is not creating jobs and is not growing quickly enough.
These are the sober heads. There are, however, many in the ANC who reflect Malema's crude views, as he explained in Zimbabwe earlier this year: "In South Africa we are just starting. Here in Zimbabwe you are already very far. The land question has been addressed. We are very happy that today you can account for more than 300000 new farmers against the 4000 who used to dominate agriculture. We hear you are now going straight to the mines. That's what we are going to be doing in South Africa."
That statement, and some of his other loony utterances, are what will lead to capital flight from South Africa.
There are other issues that should dominate the debate at the NGC, but probably will not get the attention they deserve. For example, the corruption and greed displayed by many ANC leaders should be at the heart of any discussion on the future of our country. But this cancer, which Cosatu has rightly said is turning us into a "predator state", will be largely ignored.
Meanwhile, we continue to be walloped in competitiveness rankings, our education system is in tatters and our children and teachers show no will to learn or teach. But forget all that.
Let's shut down the media.
