---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Mayihlome Annual Lecture must be attended! From: "Linda Ndebele" <[email protected]> Date: Wed, May 27, 2009 08:31 To: [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Umhlaba, I respond to cde Congress Mahlangu's contribution of 25 May 2009. PAYCO appreciates the contribution ,especially the suggestions made. We also acknowledge the constructive criticism made. This contribution reflects what should be done by all who seek to enrich and nourish the culture of debate within the party and its structures. Despite all the good things reflected on the contribution allow me to analyse and correct some misconceptions that may be damaging to PAYCO and mislead those who are observing our activities from a distance: Leadership decline and decay As much as I agree with you that there is a leadership decline and decay in the party,but I reject the generalisation that is not founded on scientific and statistical analysis. If your analysis are true, then probably those who are saying the PAC must close shop are correct as the party has no leadership and has no prospects of producing leaders in the near future. In our analysis the party still has leaders in all fronts,but the party has no leadership development programmes. The party lacks ideological cohesion which affects its leadership as well. Party leadership is not properly supported with resources other support systems to be able to deliver. The biggest dilemma of the party is lack of a national Programme of action that would unite party structures and leaders to a common goal. Lastly we lack a national leader with a vision,conviction and ideologically grounded who'll marshall all forces to our ultimate objectives,similar role played by Lembede and Sobukwe in the 40's and 60's respectively. cde Congress it is taxing to be a leader in the PAC. It tax you financially,emotionally,physically,mentally and spiritually,therefore its not a childs play to lead in the PAC structure. This unsavoury state of affairs is not limited to National Leadership, its even worse with lower structures. I have led party structures from branches,regions and party components and understand the difficulty of running a structure without a cent from the party,hence I am sensitive when people criticise without considering these critical factors and spare those who continue to plunge the party into crisis. As PAYCO we acknowledge that we have not perfomed excellently over the years,but comparing PAYCO to PAC is an insult to say the least. PAYCO has tried everything possible to keep the party afloat,especially on ideological standing. When the party was confused on the question of co-operating with the ANC, we boldy came out and rejected the idea and forced those who were holding cladestine meetings with the ruling party to cease their devious actions. We were the first and the last to state openly our support of President Mugabe and his Land Reform Programmes when the party was singing liberal tunes(human rights violations). We have been clear on our support for the creation of the United States of Africa,when some amongst us believed it was too early(a language so alien in our vocabulary where unity of Africa is concerned). PAYCO continued to partake in different levels of youth of politics and general politics. In PAYCO we are pure politicians,therefore we don't want to be channelled to youth politics,when the political arena is so wide. Since I started my political activities in 1991 I have not met youth leaders who are selfless like PAYCO leadership. It is unfortunate that party members judge the perfomance of PAYCO on its perfomance against youth structures than its general perfomance within the party and outside the party. The analysis on PAYCO's perfomance is flopsides as it negates the dephts and challenges PAYCO struggles against within the party before it confronts its real mandate outside the party. Everytime as PAYCO we engage with the world outside PAC we have to explain our legitimacy,of late we are forced to do so when we interact with party structures. As PAYCO we have to make personal sacrifices to keep the movement going. Personally I don"t like to brag as I regard it as an act of stupidity and counter revolutionary,but allow me to reveal that PAYCO leaders run PAYCO from our pockets. All National meetings we attend and visits we make on different areas is funded by us as individuals. We often make sacrifices by utilizing our leave days to attend SAYC meetings and other National youth meetings that are held during week days when we are suppose to be working in our workplaces. We make all these sacrifices 'cause we understand it is our historic duty to do so,but the least we can expect from our comrades is to recognise our little contribution not to insult all our efforts as counting to zero. We also believe our efforts and potential has been undermined and overshadowed by the failures and the crisis in the motherbody,the PAC. Any analysis that does not consider this fact is founded on absurdity.No sane political thinker and analyst can expect PAYCO to perfome miracles when the motherbody is dwingling and facing political uncertainty. PAYCO is intergrated and interwoven to the PAC,it is by no means independent from the PAC or a partner to the PAC(Who can decide to divorce the PAC when relations turn ugly)PAYCO is stucked with the PAC in good or bad moments. It is therefore illogical to think that PAYCO was not to be affected by the goings-on in the party. I personally don't believe that PAYCO lacks leadership as such,but think PAYCO leadership needs to be capacitated to be ready to take leadership at any level of the party. I also believe the party should create support structures for leadership as a whole in all levels. Let the party develop a leadership development programme,that would also help our leaders with ideological understanding. At this juncture almost all PAC leaders are self-made men and women. It is unfortunate that we are blamed for lack of leadership skills,whilst in the capitalist world our skills are used to maximise profits,state institutions utilize our skills to deliver services effectively and efficiently and when we want to utilize these skills to build and streghten our struggle for emancipation we are mocked and discouranged. Let me caution all in the party that we should stop driving dedicated and industrious comrades away from the party with our fundamentalism and factional tendencies that has no place in any revolution. We need all kinds of people who want to create an Africanist driven Socialist society in our movement including elites and the rural poor. PAYCO remains committed to the cause of the PAC in words and deeds. We have kept PAYCO and the Party afloat against all odds. We have participated in all efforts aimed at party building. We have interacted with everyone within the party 'cause we believe the party can benefit from each and everyone of us if we work for a united common objective. cde Congress I admit that we may have failed in certain task,but comparing us to PAC leadership is streching the mark too far,and I object to it with contempt. National Presence With correct tools of political analysis you would realise that it was highly impossible for PAYCO to occopy any serious political space in the South African political arena in the last five years,since the national psche of bour people had been conditioned and enticed with the ruling party's internal power struggles. The media was embedded with the Mbeki camp or the Zuma camp. Almost all political parties were relegated to none entities. In youth politics only ANCYL and YCL were given prominence as they were anti-Mbeki. All their campaigns were given prominence and national status as they were anti-Mbeki. During this period even statutory bodies like SAYC,Umsobomvu and NYC did not get any prominence,hence very few young people know anything about the new National Youth Development Agency. Despite these challenges PAYCO has participated and expressed itself on all pressing National issues. I agree that our national presence is not at its best,it needs serious attention. It should be noted as well that our participation on political activities is adhoc,as we spend the better part of our time on our paying jobs and start participating in politics after work or during weekends, in contrast to our rivals who spend all their working days and weekends on politics as they are employed full time to do political work. This factor is so important as it determines our effectiveness to respond timeously on urgent political issues as they happen. PAYCO has no office or a full-time office bearer,this is the handicap. Under normal circumstances the motherbody is suppose to create political space for its structure at a national level as it represent us in all National Platforms,but this is not happening currently. Problems within the party also affect our national standing. The leadership shenannigans in the PAC affect PAYCO's national presence. The existence of the so called PAC youth league has affected PAYCO national standing as well. Lack of financial means have also crippled some of our plans that might have given us national prominence.Remember its programmes not media statements that make a lasting impact on the minds of our people about a party and its activities. On the National Election Strategy,let me admit that we did not develop one as we resolved not to partake on the General Elections 2009. We resolved to abstain so as to prepare the party for the rebuilding and repositioning process. We would partake in the process of developing one for 2011 Local Elections and 2014 General Elections as we believe the party would have been saved from Mphahlele and his verandah boys. Let me hasten to state that we don't regret the decision we have taken in this regard. Mayihlome Annual Lecture I don't share your persimistic view on the upcoming Mayihlome Annual Lecture. The Mayihlome Annual Lecture seeks to serve the following purposes: 1.. To create a platform for Pan Africanist to interact and Network 2.. To trigger debate on how best to rebuild and streghten PAC 3.. To Launch PAYCO IOTA Programme of Action 4.. To celebrate Africa Month 5.. To register PAYCO's attitude on National,Continental and Global developments 6.. To unite all progressive forces The event is not the National Conference or National Consultative Fora but an event to trigger action from different members and structures of the party. I am personally convinced that this platform is critical. We should desist from a dogmatic view,that PAC answers would always be found on Conferences and Congresses. We should explore other creative means to get the party going. At one stage answers to party problems were found in a National Convention,a non-constitutional structure in the PAC. I believe all of us we should attend the Mayihlome Annual Lecture and make it succeed and work. I am sceptical to the idea of having Africanist scholars to make a keynote address,history has taught us that Africanist scholars are good in identifying problems and are not prepared to play their part in identifying solutions and in participating in the actual implementation of the plan of action. The majority of them are fence sitters and pretend that nothing wrong is happening. We prefer people who are fighting these battles with us on day to day basis. Ofcourse let me state that in future they would play a major role in all subsequent Mayihlome Annual Lectures. On the crowd puller,I object to this populist view. We should always strive to make the party bigger than any individual. We should avoid populist highjacking the party and its programme. Lets guard against personality cult, it causes collossal damage to the unity and cohesion of the party. cde Congress in PAYCO we are pleased by your support and contributions in building our revolutionary party. We continue to be inspired and motivated by leaders of your calibre and conviction. We promise to consider your suggestions and to consult you consistently in our march to build a strong PAC ready to govern. Yours in socialist revolution Linda Kwame Ndebele PAYCO Secretary General Cel.0720682881 Tel.0343287688 ------------------------------------------- South Africas premier free email service - www.webmail.co.za ------------------------------------------------------------------ For super low premiums, click here http://home.webmail.co.za/dd.pwm --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Groups "Pan Africanist Youth Congress of Azania" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/payco Visit our website at www.geocities.com/paycoonline //panafricanist.blogspot.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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Umhlaba,
I respond to cde Congress Mahlangu's contribution
of 25 May 2009. PAYCO appreciates the contribution ,especially the suggestions
made. We also acknowledge the constructive criticism made. This contribution
reflects what should be done by all who seek to enrich and nourish the culture
of debate within the party and its structures. Despite all the good things
reflected on the contribution allow me to analyse and correct some
misconceptions that may be damaging to PAYCO and mislead those who are observing
our activities from a distance:
Leadership decline and
decay
As much as I agree with you that there is a
leadership decline and decay in the party,but I reject the generalisation that
is not founded on scientific and statistical analysis. If your analysis are
true, then probably those who are saying the PAC must close shop are correct as
the party has no leadership and has no prospects of producing leaders in the
near future. In our analysis the party still has leaders in all fronts,but the
party has no leadership development programmes. The party lacks ideological
cohesion which affects its leadership as well. Party leadership is not properly
supported with resources other support systems to be able to deliver. The
biggest dilemma of the party is lack of a national Programme of action that
would unite party structures and leaders to a common goal. Lastly we lack a
national leader with a vision,conviction and ideologically grounded who'll
marshall all forces to our ultimate objectives,similar role played by Lembede
and Sobukwe in the 40's and 60's respectively. cde Congress
it is taxing to be a leader in the PAC. It tax you
financially,emotionally,physically,mentally and spiritually,therefore its not a
childs play to lead in the PAC structure. This unsavoury state of affairs is not
limited to National Leadership, its even worse with lower structures. I have led
party structures from branches,regions and party components and understand the
difficulty of running a structure without a cent from the party,hence I am
sensitive when people criticise without considering these critical factors and
spare those who continue to plunge the party into crisis.
As PAYCO we acknowledge that we have not perfomed
excellently over the years,but comparing PAYCO to PAC is an insult to say the
least. PAYCO has tried everything possible to keep the party afloat,especially
on ideological standing. When the party was confused on the question of
co-operating with the ANC, we boldy came out and rejected the idea and forced
those who were holding cladestine meetings with the ruling party to cease their
devious actions. We were the first and the last to state openly our support of
President Mugabe and his Land Reform Programmes when the party was singing
liberal tunes(human rights violations). We have been clear on our support for
the creation of the United States of Africa,when some amongst us believed
it was too early(a language so alien in our vocabulary where unity of Africa is
concerned). PAYCO continued to partake in different levels of youth of politics
and general politics. In PAYCO we are pure politicians,therefore we don't want
to be channelled to youth politics,when the political arena is so
wide.
Since I started my political activities in 1991 I
have not met youth leaders who are selfless like PAYCO leadership. It is
unfortunate that party members judge the perfomance of PAYCO on its perfomance
against youth structures than its general perfomance within the party and
outside the party. The analysis on PAYCO's perfomance is flopsides as it negates
the dephts and challenges PAYCO struggles against within the party
before it confronts its real mandate outside the party. Everytime as PAYCO we
engage with the world outside PAC we have to explain our legitimacy,of late we
are forced to do so when we interact with party structures.
As PAYCO we have to make personal sacrifices to
keep the movement going. Personally I don"t like to brag as I regard it as an
act of stupidity and counter revolutionary,but allow me to reveal that PAYCO
leaders run PAYCO from our pockets. All National meetings we attend and
visits we make on different areas is funded by us as individuals. We often make
sacrifices by utilizing our leave days to attend SAYC meetings and other
National youth meetings that are held during week days when we are
suppose to be working in our workplaces. We make all these sacrifices 'cause we
understand it is our historic duty to do so,but the least we can expect
from our comrades is to recognise our little contribution not to
insult all our efforts as counting to zero.
We also believe our efforts and potential has been
undermined and overshadowed by the failures and the crisis in
the motherbody,the PAC. Any analysis that does not consider this fact is
founded on absurdity.No sane political thinker and analyst can expect PAYCO
to perfome miracles when the motherbody is dwingling and facing political
uncertainty. PAYCO is intergrated and interwoven to the PAC,it is by no means
independent from the PAC or a partner to the PAC(Who can decide to divorce the
PAC when relations turn ugly)PAYCO is stucked with the PAC in good or bad
moments. It is therefore illogical to think that PAYCO was not to be affected by
the goings-on in the party.
I personally don't believe that PAYCO lacks
leadership as such,but think PAYCO leadership needs to be capacitated to be
ready to take leadership at any level of the party. I also believe the
party should create support structures for leadership as a whole in all levels.
Let the party develop a leadership development programme,that would also help
our leaders with ideological understanding. At this juncture almost all PAC
leaders are self-made men and women. It is unfortunate that we are blamed
for lack of leadership skills,whilst in the capitalist world our skills are used
to maximise profits,state institutions utilize our skills to deliver services
effectively and efficiently and when we want to utilize these skills to
build and streghten our struggle for emancipation we are mocked and
discouranged. Let me caution all in the party that we should stop driving
dedicated and industrious comrades away from the party with our
fundamentalism and factional tendencies that has no place in any
revolution. We need all kinds of people who want to create an Africanist driven
Socialist society in our movement including elites and the rural
poor.
PAYCO remains committed to the cause of the
PAC in words and deeds. We have kept PAYCO and the Party afloat
against all odds. We have participated in all efforts aimed at party
building. We have interacted with everyone within the party 'cause we believe
the party can benefit from each and everyone of us if we work for a united
common objective. cde Congress I admit that we may have failed in certain
task,but comparing us to PAC leadership is streching the mark too far,and I
object to it with contempt.
National
Presence
With correct tools of political analysis
you would realise that it was highly impossible for PAYCO to occopy any
serious political space in the South African political arena in the last five
years,since the national psche of bour people had been conditioned and
enticed with the ruling party's internal power struggles. The media was embedded
with the Mbeki camp or the Zuma camp. Almost all political parties were
relegated to none entities. In youth politics only ANCYL and YCL were given
prominence as they were anti-Mbeki. All their campaigns were given prominence
and national status as they were anti-Mbeki. During this period even statutory
bodies like SAYC,Umsobomvu and NYC did not get any prominence,hence very few
young people know anything about the new National Youth Development Agency.
Despite these challenges PAYCO has participated and expressed itself on all
pressing National issues. I agree that our national presence is not at its
best,it needs serious attention.
It should be noted as well that our participation
on political activities is adhoc,as we spend the better part of our time on our
paying jobs and start participating in politics after work or during
weekends, in contrast to our rivals who spend all their working days and
weekends on politics as they are employed full time to do political work. This
factor is so important as it determines our effectiveness to respond
timeously on urgent political issues as they happen. PAYCO has no office or a
full-time office bearer,this is the handicap.
Under normal circumstances the motherbody is
suppose to create political space for its structure at a national
level as it represent us in all National Platforms,but this is not
happening currently. Problems within the party also affect our national
standing. The leadership shenannigans in the PAC affect PAYCO's national
presence. The existence of the so called PAC youth league has affected PAYCO
national standing as well. Lack of financial means have also crippled some of
our plans that might have given us national prominence.Remember
its programmes not media statements that make a lasting impact on the minds
of our people about a party and its activities.
On the National Election Strategy,let me admit that
we did not develop one as we resolved not to partake on the General
Elections 2009. We resolved to abstain so as to prepare the party for the
rebuilding and repositioning process. We would partake in the process of
developing one for 2011 Local Elections and 2014 General Elections as we believe
the party would have been saved from Mphahlele and his verandah boys.
Let me hasten to state that we don't regret the decision we have
taken in this regard.
Mayihlome Annual
Lecture
I don't share your persimistic view on the upcoming
Mayihlome Annual Lecture. The Mayihlome Annual Lecture seeks to serve the
following purposes:
The event is not the National Conference or
National Consultative Fora but an event to trigger action from different members
and structures of the party. I am personally convinced that this platform is
critical. We should desist from a dogmatic view,that PAC answers would always be
found on Conferences and Congresses. We should explore other creative means to
get the party going. At one stage answers to party problems were found in a
National Convention,a non-constitutional structure in the PAC. I believe all of
us we should attend the Mayihlome Annual Lecture and make it succeed and
work.
I am sceptical to the idea of having Africanist
scholars to make a keynote address,history has taught us that Africanist
scholars are good in identifying problems and are not prepared to play their
part in identifying solutions and in participating in the actual implementation
of the plan of action. The majority of them are fence sitters and pretend that
nothing wrong is happening. We prefer people who are fighting these battles with
us on day to day basis. Ofcourse let me state that in future they would play a
major role in all subsequent Mayihlome Annual Lectures. On the crowd puller,I
object to this populist view. We should always strive to make the party bigger
than any individual. We should avoid populist highjacking the party and its
programme. Lets guard against personality cult, it causes collossal damage to
the unity and cohesion of the party.
cde Congress in PAYCO we are pleased by your
support and contributions in building our revolutionary party. We continue to be
inspired and motivated by leaders of your calibre and conviction. We
promise to consider your suggestions and to consult you consistently in our
march to build a strong PAC ready to govern.
Yours in socialist revolution
Linda Kwame Ndebele
PAYCO Secretary General
Cel.0720682881
Tel.0343287688
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