VUSI MAKE I can recall that in his funeral his leading contribution in the Evaton Struggles were highlighted. An academic and envoy from Algeria had a lot to share with mourners about his contributions in builiding the national university of that country as a lecturer and African intellectual. One must admit, I was left green with envy. Tembelani
--- On Mon, 9/6/10, Jaki Seroke <[email protected]> wrote: From: Jaki Seroke <[email protected]> Subject: [PAYCO] VUSIMUZI MAKE To: [email protected], [email protected] Date: Monday, September 6, 2010, 1:18 PM Cde Mdu Sibeko Contrarily I found that many people who knew Vusi Make closely had complementary remarks about him, his ideas and his influence as a leader. At his funeral service in Evaton a few years back, the then State President Thabo Mbeki made an appearance as an ordinary mourner and stood to listen to all the speakers. The two had a long history of sharing platforms on behalf of their parties and they obviously respected each other despite the different viewpoints. Make was among the youngest in the Treason Trial, was very eluquent and he was no push over politically and his physical weight merely made the statement true. With David Sibeko they were called the Baby Elephants, and they formed a powerful duo in diplomatic circles. We must promote the footage from UN platforms to see the stuff they were made of. His weakness was obviously his love for the finer things in life. Everybody said Vusi Make loved money and did not like to account for its use. I once jokingly referred to him as a petty bourgeois and he responded by saying I was very wrong, he couldn't be a 'petty bourgeois' but a fully fledged national bourgeoisie who was patriotic and democratic. He had an Oxford University degree and served as director in a top French investment bank. He said to me that his status in society was in no way small. We laughed about it. He was not a snob and he could talk tsotsi-taal with most of his friends in Alex (like abo-Sgubhu Mabiletsa) without making them feel belittled. I sat in with them when the late Joe Modise was Minister of Defence and we would talk through the evening about life in exile and so on. Post-1994 I'd worked for a defence sector company as marketing manager and had a range of football stadium suites entertain my clients. Most of the exile regiment would really say complimentary things about Bra Vusi. For me, his contributions in the campaign to save the PAC from derecognition from the OAU and the UN will always stand out. The ANC and social imperialism had combined to attack the PAC on the basis that the ANC was the sole representative of the SA people and on the Soviet -backed programme of the 'Authentic Six' liberations movements in Africa. As a revolutionary intellectual he applied an objective evaluation of events and argued that in every information that we received, whether from friendly forces or from the enemy, it must go through a filter of critical tools of inquiry. It must be interpreted, analysed, evaluated and an inference must be drawn based on the laws of evidence and conceptual and contextual consideration upon which our judgement must be based. We must separate fact from fiction. Vusi Make believed it was wrong to impose yourself upon others in an organisation. We should instead persuade others to see our point of view. This approach is fair and should be the hallmark of our conduct in dealing with the internal affairs of the PAC. Some elements in the PAC in exile had a tendency to oppose all intellectuals, and they disregarded the process of political discussions. They also formed regional and tribal cliques and agreed with their kith and kin all the time, at the expense of a national approach and Party unity. This political influence was from associations with Pol Pot, for instance, who destroyed all educational institutions and the money economy in Kampuchea as bad Western influences. The Cultural Revolution and its excesses in China was not analysed critically. Party discipline meant taking orders from office bearers and suppressing all other views. This blinkered approach is still practiced today. This is because we refuse to learn. Let us take the undemocratic processes that led to the 'watchdogs' phenomenon, and the lack of transparency in the decision-making process when the activities of APLA where opportunistically terminated, and even the current impasse where PAC constitutionality and legitimacy of leadership is not observed. You will notice the same foolish approach. These misconceptions must come to an end. If we refuse to apply our minds politically we will not revitalise the PAC. If we learnt from the positive contributions of Party leaders such as Vusi Make even minimal damage would be prevented. Izwe lethu iAfrika Jaki seroke Jaki Seroke -- Sending your posting to [email protected] Unsubscribe by sending an email to [email protected] You can also visit http://groups.google.com/group/payco Visit our website at www.mayihlome.wordpress.com -- Sending your posting to [email protected] Unsubscribe by sending an email to [email protected] You can also visit http://groups.google.com/group/payco Visit our website at www.mayihlome.wordpress.com
