PUDEMO 30th anniversary Oration Bongani Masuku – former President of SWAYOCO, former PUDEMO Secretary for Political and Ideological affairs, former UNISWA SRC Secretary General and founding Secretary for Publicity and Information of SAS Where will you be when the trumpets sound the salute of freedom in Swaziland? The significance of 6th July, 2013 Introduction In the life of every nation there arise men and women who leave an indelible and eternal imprint on the history of their peoples. They are both products and makers of history. When they pass they leave a vision of a new and better society and the means with which to fight, triumph and build that society. Therefore, every journey however long, starts with a step however small. Equally, every step however small, contributes to the whole journey, however long. Maybe that is how we can try to introduce a topic so dear to the hearts and minds of thousands of Swazi people and patriots from all over the world involved in struggle to end a horrendous system of tinkhundla oppression and bring about a new dawn for the people and our country. 30 years on, PUDEMO flag still flies high and sounds of freedom are getting ever louder. The word is out! A new and democratic Swaziland is on the horizon, build it now. Ngugi wa Thiongo is always instructive in his writings, particularly when he says, “there is no night so long it does not end with dawn”. This is about the journey travelled since the birth of this legendary giant in 1983 which became sealed in the history of Swaziland as a permanent feature of our society. It was on the 6th July, 1983 on the banks of the Mbuluzi river a few kilometres outside the capital city of Swaziland, Mbabane, when history was made. A small gathering of the finest sons and daughters of the Swazi people assembled to redefine the course of Swazi history and set a new path for our people’s march forward. They were propelled by the feeling that enough is enough. According to one of the laws of the dialectic, the transformation of quality into quantity and vice versa, that gathering was numerically small then, but represented qualitatively fundamental ideas for the transformation of society. It further illustrates that from that numerically small gathering was generated a momentum that was to qualitatively transform the whole society towards embracing these quality ideas on a larger scale. It is by no means an accident that, today, we have an overwhelming majority of thousands of our people, inside and outside PUDEMO who stand firmly on the side of the ideas for democracy, human dignity and social change in Swaziland. The transformation of the small numbers into big numbers took place simultaneously with the transformation of the quality of ideas and their widening into every part of Swazi society. PUDEMO continues to roll back the evils of tinkhundla royal hegemony by challenging and exposing the falsehoods, myths and warped ideological constructs of a backward and parasitic system of oppression and exploitation. This has led to the rooting of the concept that every act of challenging corruption, abuse of power and any wrong-doing in society became associated with or labelled as PUDEMO-like tendency, yini ngatsi uyi-PUDEMO wena? So the often mild interrogation or posture would go, whenever anyone raised either an objection to something wrong, raised critical issues or clarified confusion caused by abusive and poor leadership by tinkhundla leaders or its agents in every part of Swazi society. The birth of this giant was not an accident of history, but an inevitable outcome of a people fed up with the rot of the royal system and eager for a decisive pursuit of alternatives to the crisis they face and longing for real leadership to their struggle for human dignity. This day changed, not just a chapter in the Swazi history monument, but the whole book itself. A new book came into being and PUDEMO qualitatively transformed every space in Swaziland into a site of struggle destined for a new intellectual development path and ideological trajectory to serve its people and society. In the words of esteemed author of the book, “When the sleeping grass awakens, Richard Levin, the newspapers of Swaziland which were usually pre-occupied with stories about witchcraft and petty crime, suddenly was abuzz with fundamental question of politics and the real issues facing the country. The living memory of our departed leaders, soldiers and freedom fighters must and shall always be honoured! Our struggle against tinkhundla oppression is at the same time a struggle against forgetting or rendering a disservice to those who gave all to the cause of our people. It is a struggle against dishonouring the great memories of those who have departed and have for all these years been our pillar of strength who made massive sacrifices to build PUDEMO into the giant it has become. We take pride in the fact that, these past few days, our movement has been working on a very important historical monument, the Roll of honour to institutionalise and embalm the great and legendary memory of all our fallen cadres and comrades. Without their immeasurable contribution, selflessness and dedication, we would not be where we are today as a movement, as a country and a people. We however wish to single out that amongst all the almost 73 cadres on the Roll of honour, there are leaders whose role and posture requires special attention and naming, amongst these are; Dominic Mngomezulu, Dr Gabriel Mkhumane, Benedict Tsabedze who represent the most advanced ideals of all our departed comrades. This Roll of honour does not claim to have enlisted all our fallen cadres as some fell in conditions which are still to be properly accounted for, some have not yet been properly recognised or their role recollected, but it marks the beginning of a new era in our struggle against forgetting. We shall institutionalise these great contributions for future generations and the full acknowledgment of all those to whom we are indebted for the efforts being made to change our country for the better. How else can we honour them properly than acknowledging that we who have walked with giants know that these great human beings belonged in that company too. We who have filed among the ranks know that they were proud to count themselves as foot soldiers and activists on the ground. We regard those who were outstanding amongst us as a colossus because they were supremely human and extraordinary, but they have departed from our midst. These great beings ceased to be as they bestowed upon us a supreme task, the task of doing all what it takes to liquidate and end tinkhundla oppression without further delay. Tinkhundla system has become a crime against humanity and a permanent scar on the conscience of the human race. It is rarely given to a people that they should produce a single person or group of people who epitomise their hopes and aspirations, as well as express their common resolve as these legends we have so fittingly recognised and whose memory we honour. In plain Siswati Language, they could convey the genuine and deep-seated feelings and aspirations of all our people in their variety, they could explain the fears and concerns of the unorganised, and could sense the feelings of even the most humble among our people. These comrades whose memory we honour could do all this because they lived among the people. In actual fact, they were of the people, they were products of the purifying university of mass struggle, products of the life experience of the exploited and suffering workers and rural masses. It was that university, that education, that experience which inspired these great beings to form and join PUDEMO, SWAYOCO, the fighting and militant working class movement, the glorious women’s movement of our country and the various fighting and organising units of the broad people’s movement. In this regard, we salute all these patriots and commit to their families, communities and the people as a whole that their contribution shall never be in vain and that PUDEMO shall do all it takes to keep their spirit and memories alive at all times. Though time and space does not allow us to accurately chronicle all the contributions these comrades made. But we can safely say that we have been honoured with comrades who symbolise all-round revolutionaries whose passion for liberation is combined with a scientific grasp of the true nature of the tinkhundla regime and the social forces we have to mobilise in order to decisively destroy it and build a new society in its ashes. We can safely say that these comrades have set a high standard for all freedom fighters. We who remain pledge, in the name of our mighty organisation, PUDEMO and its trusted allies and the people, that we will never forget their contribution and that we shall endeavour to live up to their examples, that we shall never waver in our determination to complete the task to which they unflinchingly devoted their lives to – the total elimination of the scourge of tinkhundla rot and royal oppression. Wherever their graves are, they remain places of pilgrimage to all those who love freedom and democracy as they did, a beacon to the future for all those who value liberty more than their own lives. In the powerful words of a revolutionary song; “Mhla ebizwa, amagama amachawe Ingabe lami,( ngabe lam’) ngiyolithola likhona? Kuyoba njani sesihlezi nawo lamachawe, nalamanceb’ ezandleni They shall be there on that great day, the day when finally, the trumpets sound the salute of freedom in Swaziland! The watershed moments of a giant: The PUDEMO flag still flies high! Every movement, revolution and struggle goes through different periods, experiences and waves of the up and down-swings of the momentum. We are no exception to this golden rule of struggle. PUDEMO has travelled a journey through the valley of jailings, torture, exiling and even murder of its own activists and leaders. We have been exposed to levels of state terror no force on Swazi soil has or can measure up to. Is it by accident that our name and that of our auxiliary structures and allies are mentioned directly in the Suppression of terrorism Law of 2008 in Swaziland? We salute those who have stood resolutely on the side of democracy and struggle even when they and their families faced the risks of state persecution, particularly cadres of the progressive trade union movement, the students movement, various social movements and NGOs, Academics, business people, sports and cultural activists, churches and other faith-based organisations, some traditional leaders and all men and women of good standing who have demonstrated that Swazis are not cowards or passive objects of royal exploitation or charity and pity cases. They are men and women of honour and integrity, who can and do stand their ground in defence of their dignity and justice. In this long, painful and eventful journey, PUDEMO has accumulated very rich lessons. It has also developed resilience and capacity to withstand persecution, state violence and desperate attacks by both enemy and opportunistic forces of whatever kind. Our youth league, SWAYOCO, has been able to develop tried and tested cadres who have served the movement and the people diligently in various sites of struggle and society as a whole. We are proud to ay that our cadres have served with distinction in the students movement, trade unions, academia, international relations, research spheres, sporting bodies, church leadership, NGOs and even in business itself. Who can doubt that 30 years on, PUDEMO has reached out to all and every sector of society to organise our people and raised the banner of democracy, social justice and human rights so loud and clear and without doubt? The world now knows the real situation in Swaziland, we have no doubt that our cadres, structures and allies, with particular attention and thanks to our comrades in the tripartite alliance in South Africa (ANC, SACP and COSATU together with SANCO) who deserve a special message of thanks for their years of selflessness, dedication and unflinching support. When we buried our Deputy President, Dr Gabriel Mkhumane in South Africa, we used the words of former Mozambican President Samora Machel at the funeral of Moses Mabhida at Maputo’s Lhanguene cemetery on March 29, 1986, who said, “His own country was denied to him while he lived, and now it is denied to him after his death. But he will not be buried on foreign soil, for Mozambique too is his country”. What other way to express our profound salutations to the ANC for supporting us every step of the way in the tragedy that befell us on that fateful day in 2008 when our Deputy President was gunned down in cold blood in Nelspruit. In the same funeral of Moses Mabhida, the Master of ceremonies SACP leader Dan Tloome said, “At this hour of immense sadness we salute the government of Mozambique and its people for their unshaking solidarity with the oppressed people of South Africa in their struggle for independence and freedom”. These words are our words too, we are highly indebted to the South African people, under the leadership of their great movement, the African National Congress that has passed the centenary test and continues to inspire and serve as a model to many of us who still strive to make that period and learn so much from them. We are honoured and truly appreciative to the greatness of the people of South Africa for the solidarity you have afforded us all these years and continue to do so. We know too well that the words of OR Tambo spoke to us too when he said to President Machel, “we are here as your guests and fellow fighters for peace, freedom and social progress. Our common enemies are on all our sides. They think they have surrounded us together. What they do not know is that we are in their rear and on the flanks. It is their cause that is doomed”. PUDEMO has gone through, roughly four defining moments in its history, whose essence changed the entire political structure of Swazi society and propelled the forces for change forward in many ways and these can be summed up as follows; · The birth of a giant – 1983 till 1990, which was the period of underground existence and igniting the revolutionary fires and flames in every part and sector of society, guided by the slogan, “build trade unions where none exist and strengthen them where they exist”, which applied to all sectors of society. It marked the resurgence of political consciousness throughout Swazi society led by the work of PUDEMO in occupying every space as a site of struggle and mass organisation for change. · The political reconstitution of Swazi society that shook tinkhundla foundations – 1990 till 1998, which was the period wherein the young lions, SWAYOCO, the students movement, particularly at UNISWA and the trade union movement took the bull by the horns and rendered the country ungovernable. This period also saw tinkhundla pseudo-reforms and window-dressing changes to fool the world, resulting in the current constitution and flawed electoral system. · The beginning of the end of tinkhundla system – 1998 till 2008, which was a period marked by the unprecedented wave of forced exiling of our young lions and various other cadres that affected our organisational strength, from which we are still recovering · The final stages of tinkhundla system and laying the foundation of a new and democratic society – 2008 to date. This period was marked largely by the long pending economic crisis of the tinkhundla regime, which generated a critical impetus to the struggle to defeat the system. It is also the period involving both the reconstruction of PUDEMO organisational machinery arising from its renewal process set out in the 2002 Imvuselelo Plan and the intensification of the Policy development process resulting in the Integrated Development, Growth and Redistribution (IDGR) Strategy document, popularly known as Umhlahlandlela Wentfutfuko Yemaswati Forward to another 30 years of a vibrant, militant and highly organised PUDEMO As we begin another 30 years, we cannot forget our cadres and militants behind bars in tinkhundla prisons. We shall intensify our campaign for the release of all political prisoners and we take particular note of; Bheki Dlamini, SWAYOCO President and NEC member of PUDEMO, Maxwell Dlamini, SWAYOCO Secretary General and NEC member of PUDEMO, Zonke Dlamini, SWAYOCO and PUDEMO cadre and the 7 other comrades languishing in tinkhundla jails for their commitment to the struggle of our people. The last National General Council (NGC) of PUDEMO held in Johannesburg this last April declared this the decade of liberation and indeed, that is more than just a pronouncement, but a promise, a commitment and a goal to be pursued by all patriots and democrats. We would not have done justice if we were not to mention that gallant fighter Amos Mbhedzi also behind tinkhundla jails. We are delighted to say, only two weeks ago our leadership led by President Mario Masuku at his home village in the Vhembe district in Limpopo, South Africa and were inspired by the warm welcome received from the family, community and more than anything the support and great hospitality of our alliance partners humbled us beyond explanation. We are looking forward to doing same in relation to the family of our fallen internationalist, Jack Govendor in Durban not so long from now. We are indebted to his family, community and comrades for the huge sacrifices he made for our cause. The movement has developed a special programme for all the families who lost members in the line of revolutionary duty, key amongst them being Musa MJ Dlamini, Sipho Jele and various others. We would not have done justice to the Swazi revolution if we were to forget or not mention one name associated with the Swazi struggle from long ago and that is the name of Solly Mapaila, a true friend and internationalist. He built and drove the formation, together with the movement, PUDEMO, of the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN). In that same vein and spirit, we also pay tribute to the several internationalists of note, particularly those who constitute the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC). Together with our Dannish and UK friends, they made a sterling contribution to the cause of internationalising the Swazi struggle, particularly PUDEMO work and for that, we are highly grateful. No struggle is just about accolades and honours for their sake. Every struggle is about tangible results and change in the material conditions of the people. In outlining where we come from as a movement, we do not seek to either gratify ourselves or bask in the glory of a memorable past. We seek to trace where we come from, how far we have come and where should we go. We have travelled and covered so much a distance, but every mile we cover, opens up ten more miles to be covered. The more we travel, the more the distance to be covered ahead. We have done so much, yet we have so much more to do and that is where our focus is now. PUDEMO is not a movement of the past, but a movement of the future basing itself on the present and its accumulated lessons from its past. Institutional memory and history helps us avoid making similar mistakes, but to learn from past experiences and mistakes to do better in future. Therefore, this is the ideal and opportune moment for a stock-taking exercise to reflect on what remains to be done and when should it be done, as well as how should it be done. With these programmes, ideas and goals, PUDEMO should be better placed to be ready for bigger and heavier responsibilities. 30 years of hard work and sacrifice cannot be in vain. We dare not fail. But equally, leading a movement towards liberation is one step, the task of building a new and democratic society seems very daunting indeed to all and every comrade involved. We have realised the amount of work we have ahead of us, with the benefit of both hindsight and close interaction on what it means to run a country. Developing policies is one area, but making them realisable in practical terms is a mountain of a job and requires more than just sacrifices, but clarity about the tasks ahead and decisive will and capacity to do the right things.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 09:00:35 +0000