BOOK REVIEW Book: Askari Author: Jacob Dlamini Was Peter Mokaba an apartheid spy and an Askari of sorts? The central character in the book is not Mokaba but Glory Sedibe aka Comrade September. The bombshell that Mokaba was an apartheid spy overshadows the detailed history that the author painstakingly and meticulously investigates. Jacob Dlamini is something of a rare breed – he is an academic who writes popular history. He is from Katlehong and, typical of guys from that East Rand township, he is a proud chap. (And so is my friend Dr Tebogo Phaleng). So he never misses a chance to remind you where hes from. And yet radical, too. (Guys from Tembisa, Thokoza, Duduza, Vosloorus, Daveyton, Kwa-Thema, Tsakane and, of course, Katlehong, will have you believe that they brought freedom to this country). DLAMINI is currently a visiting fellow at Harvard, hes attached to Wits and has a PhD from Yale. This is all important to understand that this is no fly-by-night writer but someone who understands the implication of the gravity of his statements. This book displays precision and attention to detail that one would expect from a scholar and, at the same time and his major achievement, reads like a novel. You will have to read the book yourself to fully understand how rotten exile was. For the first time I fully reconciled myself to the reality that, as a youth growing up in the 80s and 90s I just romanticised Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) as an idealism but the truth is that MK fought no battles, was weak and heavily infiltrated. The major achievement of MK was embedding itself in the minds of the youth from the 60s to the mid-90s. Unfortunately thats the only place where MK was alive. Which was good, too. Solomon Mahlangu, Ashley Kriel, Mbhane Masilela, Tony Yengeni, Mthetheleli Ncube, Ting Ting Masango, Jabu Masina, Neo Potsane, Joseph Makhura, Barney Molokoane, Andrew Zondo, Robert McBride are still my MK heroes. Dlaminis assessment of MKs Comrade September, who was in charge of the Transvaal Command, and the events preceding his abduction from a Swaziland jail skillfully tackles the core of the rot in MK itself. There were people from a certain province, on the southern tip of Africa, who when they reached exile were shepherded towards scholarships and western universities and the rest towards military training and to life in the camps of Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, etc. The apartheid government had spies in the ANC who would pass ANC secrets minutes after decisions were taken within the organisation. Francis Meli, Joe Modise and others are outed as spies. The difference this time is that the author does more than just corridor talk. MK was overwhelmed and overrun by traitors. Granted that life in exile was not easy, it can best be compared walking a tightrope without a net, but the sense of disappointment equally overwhelms. What is more disturbing, however, is that there are high ranking ANC officials currently on top of government, who came from trade unions and now have interests in mines who were never arrested nor detained under apartheid and you dont have to wonder why. The personal history of Comrade September is based on an extensive and careful review of both original and secondary sources. We get rich insights and fresh perspectives on September from his childhood friends, his MK colleagues and his handlers in the apartheid police force. Eugene de Kock, as the direct officer to whom September reported, gives incredible insights on the evils they commited with him. Had he not defected to the side of apartheid, September would probably have been a general in the Defence Force ahead of Sphiwe Nyanda, thats how high a regard he was held even by his apartheid masters. But September did serious damage to the ANC when he defected: 1. Senior ANC members were killed including Cassius Maake aka Job Tabane, an ANC NEC member who was ambushed in Swaziland because September knew of his movements; 2. September had an army of MK cadres that were reporting to him and the man was so evil that he took them out himself without much prompting from his apartheid masters; 3. He would ambush cadres at taxi ranks, follow them, arrest or kill them; 4. Ebrahim Ibrahim, a senior MK operative, now deputy minister of international relations, was abducted from Swaziland to South Africa, tortured, put on trial with September as a star witness. 5. He would lead apartheid police teams into Swaziland and Mozambique to kill MK soldiers. The ANC and MK did not recover from this one defection even post-94. He was so dangerous that he was killed by his own apartheid handlers before the ANC could get its hands on him. Purely on an analytical level, there is a bevy of ANC cadres that died under mysterious circumstances after the ANC came to power. My sense of logic tells me that they were killed by their apartheid handlers who did not want to be exposed. That requires a study and investigation of its own. Peter Mokaba, Francis Meli and Joe Modises deaths exemplifies these deaths from incurable poisonings and diseases. Those that remain us because they are still useful for the economic interests of white people and capital. This book will appeal to the expert and the general reader alike. . The scholarship is out of this world yet the language is kept at a pedestrian level as much as possible. Current events provide a potent reminder that the economic sellout of the soul of South Africa has its roots firmly in the past and cannot be understood in isolation. Our Black captains of industry are not the commanders who were in the trenches. The history of betrayal within the ANC is as fresh as today’s newpaper headlines. This is a lesson worth remembering: the betrayal still resonates even now and will for some time to come. Glory Sedibe, despite being an evil scum, is treated with utmost respect as the protagonist of this book. Through him Dlamini shines the light on the challenges of exile and how ANC leaders responded to them. Sometimes they responded with wisdom, insight, nuance, and strength. Sometimes they did not respond at all. But then MK was not the ANC. We did, generally, more fighting with sticks and stones internally than MK did with guns. That is the reality and this book bears it out with over-precision. You just have to admire how Oliver Tambo managed to steer the ANC ship to dock when it was infested by pestilential rats such as Sedibe and Peter Mokaba.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:52:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015