OPINIONISTA: A strong mandate for Ramaphosa is the only hope of cleaning up the ANC By Oscar Van Heerden Oscarknysna
It’s 1989 in Cuba and the South African Communist Party is holding its seventh party conference, chaired by “Comrade Zukov” aka Thabo Mbeki. Oh, I’m sorry, you didn’t know he was a communist? He had been a member of the central committee of the SACP since June 1970.
Kotane and the party leadership argued that in order to prepare for the eventual banning, the party had to prepare itself to operate and function as a banned organisation — therefore the drastic step had been taken. They recruited their membership from scratch and this time they made it secret. A vetting process had to be undergone and another communist of repute had to vouch for you before you could join the party.
I mention this bit of history to illustrate that organisations must at times adapt to their circumstances and at times must take rather radical decisions if they are to withstand the influx of compromised people. People who don’t really support the ideals of the organisation, but who come in from the cold to feather their own beds.One of the key arguments at the Cuba conference was whether the SACP should become a mass-based membership organisation or whether its members must remain secret.
One example of how the ANC ensured its hegemony is with the convening of the Conference for a Democratic South Africa . Here it insisted that Cosatu could not attend the conference because, I suspect, it was the largest organised formation with a membership at that time, tallying almost one million members. And we can’t have that now, can we, because they might just think they have a bigger say in matters.
Quality was immediately diluted because voices of reason and intellect could be drowned out by the majority. Ambition replaced commitment. Vanity instead of revolution. Money instead of volunteerism. Political education replaced with popular jargon. The ANC was, of course, not oblivious to this reality and so requested that a few cadres should research this phenomenon and then write a discussion paper. They aptly titled it “Politics as a vocation”. In other words, careerism within the political realm. What to make of it?
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
OPINIONISTA: The ANC today: Messy, complex and drawn out – an ending that can’t be predictedOPINIONISTA: The ANC today: Messy, complex and drawn out – an ending that can't be predicted By Judith February judith_february
Read more »
Ramaphosa allies, opponents on ANC lists receive objections | News | Politics | M&G
Read more »
South Africans are not xenophobic, says RamaphosaANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured scared foreigners that South Africans are not xenophobic | Neo_Gee
Read more »
Irvin Jim, Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party fire first election salvo at Ramaphosa, ANCRamaphosa is 'leading a group of right-wing ministers who want to privatise SOEs and energy at Eskom, after having failed in the past two decades.'
Read more »
ANC government has shown clear intent to root out corruption, says RamaphosaANC government has shown clear intent to root out corruption, Cyril Ramaphosa tells voters in Sandton
Read more »
The ANC list could hold real danger for Ramaphosa post electionsAs the ANC list stands at the moment, Ramaphosa will face a hostile caucus when Parliament returns after the elections with about 53% of the top 120 being former Zuma-ites, writes Melanie Verwoerd.
Read more »
ANC government has shown clear intent to root out corruption, says Ramaphosa‘We will fight corruption no matter who is implicated’
Read more »
Ramaphosa: ANC committed to doing the right thingPresident Cyril Ramaphosa has described the debacle over the African National Congress (ANC) lists of candidates for Parliament and provincial legislatures as difficult.
Read more »
Those waging a ‘fight-back’ in the ANC will fail – RamaphosaHe says the ongoing commissions of inquiry are 'throwing everything out in the open' and some people can go to jail.
Read more »
Those waging a fight-back in the ANC will fail, warns Ramaphosa | IOL NewsPresident Cyril Ramaphosa has lambasted his detractors in the ANC, saying those who are fighting back against him will never succeed.
Read more »