The view that Phanyaza Lesufi should have raised the issue of a Patriotic Front of the Left – which he fashioned around a review on Julius Malema and others who are subscribers to the Freedom Charter but are no longer in the ANC-fold - within the structures - is not practical and is not living up to the dynamics facing the ANC or any organization today. Back in the day, comrades would pen a discussion paper that would be disseminated through the various structures. These structures (streamlined, flat and exiled) would interrogate this paper and if it is enterprising enough, it would be debated on by another with a contending view until it (or both or more) – is placed under further scrutiny at the NEC level. If the value proposition of the paper/s warranted a rethink on the status quo, the NEC would entertain such and the necessary suggestions would ring as resolutions/recommendations of the NEC or a task team will be appointed to deal with the ideas emanating from the discussion paper/s. If the idea/s failed to raise excitement - it became the end of the discussion and the author/s would be sent back to the writing desk. Today, there are some among us who expect the use of the same rudimentary method yet there is a multiple of strata and if the idea is buried by numbers (and not necessarily merit) in the structure that one serves - it will not see the light of day. I am not sure if they are alive to the reality that the ANC will be run over if it insists on remaining pedestrian in the information highway that continues to roll for heads of state and leaders of their political parties in developing and developed countries - using the media that gives them - from a 150 characters (Twitter), Facebook pages to like - to an op-ed of more than a thousand words. I have read Phanyaza’s letter and listened to the subsequent SAfm interview and regard it as a great pity that his concerns have been misattributed to a call for a rethink on the fate of the personality of Julius Sello Malema. I am convinced that the issues he has raised are guided by a genuine attempt at arresting the downward slippery slope slide of the Congress Movement. Tomorrow marks the 5th anniversary of what many of us recognized as the first sign of this decline and were dismissed as sore losers when we did not appreciate the misguided and imprudent removal of a sitting president and the immediate resignation of his deputy. The most regrettable aspect about this tragedy of our history is that not only has it been registered in the minds of many South Africans and ANC supporters as such, but that it was taken by a constitutional structure! This course of action was taken without due diligence and consultation with the membership and it bestowed on us - a constitutional crisis and a precedence for an unstable Presidency for our country and the ANC. It has taken the likes of Malema to fall on their own swords to realize that they were indeed, within the unfettered provisions of the constitutional structure powers, misguided and imprudent! Many of us have made peace with similar hounding after the Polokwane Conference and have however, realized the historical importance of the ANC and primarily - its unity and cohesion in leading the Congress Movement. We have witnessed the onslaught by the powerful on weak and divided nations and the fair game that our continent is - after the havoc visited on Libya and Egypt. All that it will take for a country like ours, is a polarized African majority fermented by the rising food and fuel prices, high unemployment and ravaging poverty – voila, a recipe for vulnerability to such. It might sound far-fetched or dramatic – Libya and Egypt also wallowed in this delusion– but it always starts with these triplets and the response becomes - the shifting and placing of the woes squarely on the shoulders of those who are from other countries in their midst – exclusively from this continent - and the rest follows. The attacks on other Africans worries some of us to no end – not because we would not if they were not Africans – but realize that we know the drill. The African National Congress is a century old movement that commands respect across the continent and South Africans should not take this prestige for granted. This is not because it is a South African party - but because it has been the beacon of African unity and a mainstay of democratic values. If another party would win elections and rule this country tomorrow – it would not command the same respect as the ANC in our continent. In my world and that of many cadres of the ANC, her unity and cohesion is paramount and far exceeds the plum job, the tender, the bedroom perks and the powerful lunches that go with serving in the structures of our movement. For once, we need to deal with what has been placed on the table as food for thought and taste it, season it and warm it up - if need be - but this tendency of saying we are not even going to look at it because it is on an enamel plate and not on fine china – is self-deprivation. My opinion is that most of us have done so to Lesufi’s representations and closed our minds to options yet politics is not a game of absolutes. When President Putin realised that President Obama was avoiding him at the G20 - he wrote to the New York Times and I still have to hear of anyone lambasting him by saying that Putin should have raised the matter through diplomatic channels. It has been widely accepted on the surface that the opinion piece by Putin had averted a grave situation in Syria and led to Obama engaging him diplomatically – as should be. Perhaps, this is what Lesufi also wanted to achieve! I have been encouraged by the call in the wild by Phanyaza to have a rethink on the scorched earth policy and the zero-sum game that has been played by some in the political leadership of the ANC. What has enthused me profoundly more, is the invoke by many ANC comrades - regarding the channeling and content of what Phanyaza has written and said - of what the biographer of Voltaire said, “I disapprove of what you say and will defend to death - your right to say it!”
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 15:36:22 +0000
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