Dear Mr Malema I hope this brief and candid letter finds you in good health. I have followed your political career with the awe of an avid Orlando Pirates fan and have cherished a wish for a sustained mutual political encounter on the issues that affect the lives of our people. You spoke with a determined voice, raising issues that bedevilled the lives of our people. You raised your hand and threw your fist in the air to be counted as one who fought for the betterment of our people. At an early age you took a labourious trip to bury your struggle icon and hero Chris Hani and were counted among those who paid their last respects and who took up the cudgel and the spear (Umkhonto) to continue where he left off. Hani’s death might have been a turning point in your life. Back in Limpopo, you may have witnessed from the distant margins, given your age, the enchanting devotion of Peter Mokaba and his boundless energy couched in that iconic rhythmic trance wherein he called the young lions to duty and harnessed their cyclonic fury. At most times he was chided by the senior leadership for making calls such as “kill the boer, the farmer” but the youth embraced them like gospel truth. Mokaba was summoned and called to order and urged to retract. Regardless of how he felt about the justice of his chants and their reflection on the true feelings of our people, he relented and submitted to organisational discipline. Being reprimanded in public was humiliating enough but Mokaba understood the essence of organisational discipline and democratic centralism, and submitted and swallowed his pride. This brings me to the main issue I wish to raise with you, dear son of Africa. Political organisations are established on the basis of a set of ideological underpinnings which over time constitute a certain form of culture given the various crucibles of struggles that have been waged and experienced. Arising from this organisational culture are numerous permutations that are added to it by the succeeding layers of leaders and members, given certain historical realities. One of the recurring themes of organisational culture that has eluded many is the principle of submitting to organisational discipline. This fact might, given varying circumstances, be construed as submitting to a discipline of certain leaders. For example, you argue as you always do, that your expulsion is as a result of the hatred that President Zuma has towards you. So, in this case you personalise organisational discipline to rivalry between yourself and the leaders of the movement. Ace Magashule might have felt the same way when under president Thabo Mbeki he was harassed and frustrated over 10 years. But, unlike you, he endured and history rewarded him. You are aggrieved because you have lost property and have suffered public humiliation for what you regard as your beliefs. Are these the ranks that you wish to abandon and curse? Over time and out of anger the people’s movement has lost some of its fine cadres in the crucibles of its struggles. I still lament the loss of cadres such as Mbazima Shilowa, Smuts Ngonyama and Willie Madishe to name a few. Today, to paraphrase the poet Thomas Gray, they have blushed unseen and wasted their sweetness on the desert air. Today some of them cut lonely figures on the opposition benches having erased their struggle legacy. I wish to appeal for your endurance and acceptance of organisational discipline. However you may feel – aggrieved and betrayed and humiliated – you are asked, at least by history, to endure because the crown of victory will come to those who wear the cross. Restrain your anger against your movement, return to its ranks, and work among the people you so dearly love, fight their struggles and bide your time. The move of establishing a new political party is born out of anger and frustration and will, in time, seal your doom. In 1951 a prominent South African, angry against the ANC, set out to establish his own political party. His name was Selope Thema, then the editor of the Bantu World, a seasoned member of the ANC. Fooled by the attention he commanded as editor of a black newspaper, he thought that such a platform would translate into votes. He called his organisation African Minded Block or Bafa begiya. It derived its name from the heroes of Mendi who on the eve of their death embarked on the dance of death. (Bafa begiya means they died dancing). Alas, Thema’s political death came without a dance as the pages of history referred to him in footnotes. Son of Africa, media attention is temporal and transient. Rooting yourself and steeling your resolve in the ranks of an experienced movement proffers abundant possibilities to make a difference in the lives of our people. One writer wrote that we are all tools of history and history will always find new tools to wage its fight and express itself. History has chosen Jacob Zuma, Gwede Mantashe, Cyril Ramaphosa, Jessie Duarte, Lindiwe Sisulu, Thandi Modise and Baleka Mbethe, to name a few, and in time it will find and chose other tools to wage its fight and express itself. When such a time comes, history must find you within the ranks of the people’s movement, the ANC. I recently came across some interesting historical finds based on archival research for a book I am writing. Angry with the ANC and disgusted by the extent to which the communists had infiltrated its ranks, a crop of youth leaguers based in Orlando broke ranks with the ANC in 1958. Before they could finalise their decision they approached AP Mda, one of the founders of the ANC Youth League and a close alter-ego of Anton Lembede, for counsel. Mda advised that the youth should work within the ranks of the ANC and systematically advocate their views. Their leader, Robert Sobukwe, challenged the advice and argued that: “Mda’s ideas are no longer sacrosanct.” I am not that old to be wise, but have in my brief life seen few episodes of history which compel me to share these few lessons with you. In Xhosa there is an adage that goes: Indlela ibuzwa kwaba phambile (Ask for directions from those who have travelled the road). Accept that politics is not religion but is an evolving science akin to a long arduous and demanding journey. Throw not your hands in the air, son of Africa; compose yourself and enter the long race. You have the best available asset at your disposal – the benefits of age and time. My counsel to you, son of Africa, is to stay within the ranks of the glorious movement, lick your wounds, regain your resolve, up your chin and submit to organisational discipline and fate will be the best arbiter. Your views ring true and reverberate throughout a troubled generation, but to fight against the people’s movement hoping to win will be as impossible as presiding over your own cremation. The distant cries of Mokaba and Stompie Seipei beckon you home. The Pedi people of old have advised that: Ditau tsa hloka seboka disiwa ke nare ehlotsa (disunited lions are outrun by a limping buffalo). As we face the forthcoming elections, the unity of our people is paramount. I trust that this advice will allow you time to reflect and take decisions in the best national interest of our people. So long, son of Africa. * Ka Plaatjie is member of the panel of advisors to Lindiwe Sisulu, and writes in own capacity.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:20:40 +0000
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