October 17 to 23 2008

It’s my party andI’ll cry if I want to

Mosiuoa ‘Terror” Lekota laments the departure of the current ANC leadership from the tenets of the Freedom Charter. This is odd because since 1994 the Freedom Charter has neither been talked about nor implemented. We heard nothing about it, just that the Reconstruction and Development Programme had been scrapped and replaced by Gear, then Asgisa. Where does Lekota come from with this talk about the Freedom Charter? It was abandoned a long time ago.

The lines are being drawn now between those who desire the dominance of capitalism over the working class; those who have become wealthy and those who want the workers to be given a fair share of the wealth of this country. Ordinary workers like me may not be communists but believe firmly that the wealth of this country belongs to all who live in it.

It seems that the common denomi­nator among the leaders mentioned in connection with the new party is wealth, accumulated during their period in office, while millions sank steadily into poverty. Millions of rands destined for the alleviation of the plight of the poor disappeared without a trace and no one has ever appeared in court for this looting.

What is Lekota going to say to the poor when he wants them to join his new organisation? These people have been in power for 14 years and we are still a nation of shackdwellers, unemployed, ravaged by HIV/Aids and hunger. These are people who spent billions on weapons and football stadiums while the people clamoured for jobs and better wages.

In December 2007, at what has come to be known as the Battle of Polokwane to us soldiers, the ordinary members of the ANC took back the organisation. They snatched it from the elite, the wealthy and powerful. Is it really about Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma as individuals? I doubt it. These two men represent economic standpoints that are diametrically at variance. Under Mbeki economic policy emphasised business interests. Zuma represents those who did not enter the Promised Land.

Those who differed from Mbeki were silenced by people like Lekota. Maybe he asked them whether babhadlile na? (were they of sound mind?), as he did with Zuma. If he is going to be the leader of the new organisation, we wish him strength, because he is going to need it. But we wonder whether ubhadlile na uTerror. — Thula Bopela (Wankie veteran)

The ANC is tearing itself apart. In the past the elders of the ANC were the glue that kept the party together. Unfortunately, most of the elders have now passed on. Nelson Mandela is too old and frail to help the party resolve its internal problems. Some have welcomed the idea of a new political party, saying this will strengthen our democracy. South Africa is desperate for an effective opposition. The question is whether, if formed, the new party will be a real alternative, considering that it intends using the Freedom Charter, ANC culture and history as its hallmarks. — Thabile Mange, Johannesburg

Who is actually running the country? I find it hard that the future of myself and my family seems to depend on a bunch of politicians who are more concerned with their power battles than with running the country. — Richard R Hawkins, Pietermaritzburg

I am God’s messenger entrusted with a message for the country and indeed the world. I reiterate what I said in February 2007: messengers from heaven have delivered a message to me that Mr PM Lekota will be the next president of the ANC and South Africa. That hasn’t changed, though it may look so now.

You see, Mr Lekota, The Sovereign Ruler of The Universe has ANOINTED you to lead the ANC and the country. In His own time, He says: I am about to hand over to you the reins of power. He has promised a fresh start for the ANC and the country beginning in February. A series of events will take place in our country and the ruling party that will necessitate fresh elections within the ANC. Some of the top six will be removed, especially the president. There is nothing anyone will do to stop those changes — they will be ordained from above.

You have to put ALL your trust in The Almighty God who has appointed you. If you have any problems, call on Him. If there is anything you don’t understand in this, I am just a phone call away. — The Elijah of the last days, Samuel Mpanza (phone number supplied)

The proposed new party’s fate is sealed even before it can exist. Mosiuoa ‘Terror” Lekota and Mluleki ‘Comical Ali” George failed in their duties in the defence ministry and Lekota failed as premier of the Free State. They used the ANC to serve their egos, which is why it is hard for them to accept that they are no longer heavyweights in the movement. Lekota has a beautiful history that he has destroyed. He is childish; he has taken his personal differences with Zuma to another level. Lekota and George have dug their own political graves. — Joseph Peter Kgomo, Pretoria West

The statements of the proponents of a breakaway party make it clear they don’t want to leave the ANC. They are aware that they are unlikely to win a national election. What they want to do is to split the ANC’s support and weaken it in as many provinces as possible and then use their broking power to blackmail the ANC to accommodate them in leadership positions. This will allow them to return to leadership through the back door.

Lekota says the ANC has abandoned the Freedom Charter. If that was true, it must have done so over the years in which Lekota and his cohorts were in charge of the ANC. He also objects to the continued use of ‘songs that are no longer relevant”, an apparent reference to Umshini Wami. That would be historic — we have never heard of political parties that split because of a song. — Mandla Mathebula, North West

Pallo Jordan (and others) claim history shows that breakaway parties have never made a popular impact. Well, hello! That was the revolution. It’s over. Our once-proud liberation movement is now a masked costume ball, with populist, hung-over, hangers-on dancing about, screaming, shouting, mooning and calling the tune — Zuma’s right wing masked as leftists — and the motor-mouth, brain-dead lost generation of Brett Kebble’s ANCYL. Go for it, Terror! — SDM, Durban

Goodbye, Terror. You are a joke. — Herman Lategan, Sea Point

Not Vavi-able

Cosatu, writing under the pen-name of ‘Zwelinzima Vavi”, has put forward some ideas for economic policy (September 5 and 19). These ideas do not constitute a coherent plan and many are either contradictory or unworkable. Nevertheless, there are valid points.

Unfortunately, there are no specifics. Many economic ideas can be good or bad depending on where and how money is spent, so without details there is no real policy. Furthermore, there are no political elements to the policy. The basic ideas are the same as those of the Thabo Mbeki government; where the Mbeki government failed to implement policies, there were probably political problems.

Failure to prepare for such problems is a chronic disease of the left in South Africa. Political timidity is indicated by the fact that popular-sounding suggestions are foregrounded while unpopular ones are either camouflaged (like increased taxation) or absent (like restraining the wages of state employees).

Plutocrats are already gearing up against the Cosatu proposals (which are not policy and may not reflect the desires of the corporate fat cats running the ANC’s national executive committee). Draper, Disenyana and Freytag, writing for the right-wing Institute of International Affairs (September 26), falsely accuse Cosatu of ‘mercantilism”, call regulation ‘Orwellian”, praise short-term ‘portfolio” investment and call for more privatisation and laissez-faire. They are hymning the policies that recently caused the biggest banking collapses in history.

Yet they endorse Cosatu’s unwise proposal to let the rand collapse — no doubt because finance capitalists can make a killing out of currency speculation — and praise Cosatu’s commitment to democracy (suggesting that they don’t know what democracy is). If they succeed, our economy will perish to the twittering sound of ruling-class flattery.

What is needed, in addition to a proper plan, is determination not to be co-opted or sidelined by the ruling class. This was lacking under Mbeki, but appears considerably worse under Jacob Zuma. Since Polokwane, Zuma and his allies have pandered to big business. The ‘caretaker” government has no ideas beyond propping up the counter until the arrival of ZuMorena. Pledges to maintain Mbeki’s economic policy, like pledges to maintain Mbeki’s policies in the ANC after Polokwane, raise the question of why, exactly, he and his ministers were purged.

The policies outlined in the ‘Zwelinzima Vavi” documents are probably propaganda. Trade unions were the power behind the Peronist governments in Argentina in the 1980s and 1990s, which led first to neoliberalism and then to economic collapse. It is likely that South Africa under Zuma will follow a similar trajectory. — Mathew Blatchford, University of Fort Hare

Drew conclusions

I was very disappointed at the suggestion in Drew Forrest’s October 3 review of Bob Woolmer’s Art and Science of Cricket that my husband did not write much of his own book.

We knew the media would have questions about the role played by his co-authors, and how much of the book he had completed before his death. This is why the publishers created a website for the book, which answers all these questions. The book states this clearly, so either Forrest didn’t read it properly, or he couldn’t be bothered to spend five minutes looking it up on the internet.

If he had, he would have learned that Helen Moffett (whom he suspects of writing much of the book after March 2007) had been working with my husband and Tim Noakes for ten years. She came regularly to our home during that time, and Bob trusted her with all his papers, files, books and videos (an entire roomful). He was very pleased with the job she did of piecing it all together, and signed off on the galley proofs shortly before his death (and the few pages added afterwards were all pieces he had asked to be included). So the parts Forrest complains about were all written years ago, not added after Bob’s death.

I am also surprised that he hadn’t heard of Moffett. This suggests that he is not really qualified to review the book — she is well known and respected in writing, editing, intellectual and cricket circles for her expert knowledge.

Finally, I am disgusted that Forrest thinks Bob should have included sleazy stories (like the one he repeats about Glenn McGrath’s wife, who recently died of cancer) in his book. Bob wanted parents to buy this book for their children, and for people of all creeds to feel comfortable reading it. He was deeply respectful of the religions, traditions and feelings of others, and would not have wanted to give offence. — Gill Woolmer, Pinelands

In brief

JA Short has a short memory regarding rugby (Letters, October 10). It is ‘try” (as in attempt) line, not ‘tri” as in three. Originally, dotting down the ball behind the tryline gained you one point and the opportunity to attempt a kick at goal (or a try at goal) for an extra two points. Changes to the rules in 1905 awarded three points for a try, upped to four in 1971 and five in 1992. — TL Keyser

There are so many keen employees in the department of health who have a wealth of information to share but have never had the chance to do so. Until now! We can only hope our new minister of health will do better than Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Those 40 000 vacancies for nurses may yet be filled. — Cilla Webster, Scottburgh

Rams Mabote (October 10) hails Robert Mugabe and Tony Yengeni as being well dressed, unlike Kgalema Motlanthe. Talk about over-aspiration! Mugabe, in the picture shown, looks like an old Carnaby Street queen, and Yengeni is dressed not for Parliament but for a society wedding. Style is about appropriate gear; in this case popinjay Tony is ridiculously overdressed. — Freddie Ayor, Middelburg

What is it about the nature of the movement?

If I were to hold a deciding vote on whether or not a new political party is required in South Africa, I would agree.

I see in the current African National Congress (ANC) a movement mesmerised by the ability to even take on the opposition party, if allowed that privilege, even at the expense of the bigger project — the preservation of our country.

I look forward with eager anticipation to whether Mbeki will come down so low as to support the ANC campaign for power in the 2009 elections, as recently mentioned and suggested by the ANC president.

I don’t think that, with all due respect, the same ANC has carefully asked itself this question: What is it about the movement that has attracted the type of people who all of a sudden passionately support the ANC? What is in it for them?

Where Mandela would resonate in history as having said ”Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”; and Mbeki as having said ”I am an African,” Zuma, Malema and their fellows have said: ”awuleth Umshini Wami” (bring my machine gun). This is not misinterpretation by intellectuals and ordinary citizens to undermine certain individuals, but the image that they voluntarily entrenched in the psyche of the broader public.

Words are not just words; they carry bigger meanings.

According to my recollection, the ANC is not a liberal organisation where people can do as they wish, like the Malemas of this world. With the name-callings and threats targeting those who don’t support the same principles served by the current ANC and its alliance partners, people are hypothetically being told that ”It’s cold out there if you are out of the ANC, very cold”. Does it mean elimination and harassment of those against the ANC principles?

I must warn the ANC and its alliance partners that it will be suicidal to bank on the history of the past decades, should all the people who had been purged decide to break away, and I foresee some disastrous consequences. — Moletsane Malebo