The missives always submitted and advanced by Cde. Jaki are always informative and illuminating, mostly in as far as pointing the middle finger to ourselves. If the dictum of 'refining revolutionary theory' applies, this is what should be happening. I wish to isolate to isolate the Shareworld congress Cde.Jaki has cited as what I perceive to be a missed opportunity in the party calendar because by then we too radical and probably irrational. I say too radical because I remember Joe Thloloe stating categorically clear how we can use the platform handed to us by the oppressors(negotiations) to our advantage. Looking back, I think Bra Joe had a journalistic insight of how this will project us both to the international community and endear us to the masses. I am under no illusion that the platform was hostile to us, but we could have used it to our advantage. Secondly, at the same congress, the late Khoisan X! appeared out of sync when he advanced that as a party we need to define ourselves whether we are social democrats,socialists and capitalists, obviously the chorus was "Singamasocially thina",based on what,you wonder. We have never as the party recognised the social stratum presented to us by the society i.e. acknowledge the existence of revolutionary intelligentsia/thinktank, lumpen proletariat, sympathisers,followers, members and cadreship. We judged everyone by what branch he/she belonged at the expense of his/her input idea or input. Let's face it, some people did not necessarily need PAC in their lives but PAC needed them. You can't chase away that person simply because ''akanabranch' That does not under emphasise the status of a branch. Cde.Jaki is raising the issue of African people being consulted at all times to determine their future and I can't concur with him more on that because once more we have lost opportunities by 'thinking for the people,not with the people', and the punishment at the polls over the years is indicative.As a response to the King Williams Town Golf Club operation,apartheid SA blocked all entrances euphemistically called border gates.Guess who marched against that :Tripartite mass democratic structures. Thina besiloko sihleli ekoneni,sisithi sizowashaya lamabhulu!,the same applies with the Matanzima coup in Transkei. Everybody knew that APLA due to the PAC popularity in the region had been instrumental,but the Charterists reaped the fruit. because we were distant from the masses. It is against this background that,to paraphrase Pokela, we need to go back to basics.I was listening to Zuma's speech in Mangaung and I noticed that strategically he dwelt on discipline. I wondered, what happened to our slogan ''High revolutionary morale,high revolutionary discipline". It had an impact in our ranks, actually it worked.Pity anarchists like Mphahlele can use it to serve their own interests.
________________________________ From: Mawethu Sidzamba <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, 11 December 2012, 15:09 Subject: Re: [PAYCO] BACK TO THE FUTURE Open Palm Salute! When good writers and good storytellers like Cde Jaki do narratives one is always reticent in giving any kind of reaction since that may detract from the efforts that exude high standards of articulation. This is an opportune moment where debate or dialogue becomes key in studying the rise and fall of the PAC.Some believe that the PAC died in the 70s.There is little theory espoused on the milestones of the party since its 60s glory.What I have read from the explanatory notes by Cde Seroke is that we need to grasp progress ochestrated by the era of Phokela, the presidential council triumvirate(Sibeko,Make,Ntloedibe(or is it?))and Mothopeng.I think Leballo's is rather foreclosed. Maybe in the past 2 decades the PAC made judgement calls at either an impolitic moment or at a time that the structures of the party were either not prepared or downright fragmented. One other moment in history I wish Cde Jaki could have captured is the suspension of the armed struggle and, events surrounding that and its effects on party unity.Notwithstanding the paramounce of consulting attitude proposed so eloquently by Cde Jaki I do not think there is always practicality of making every PAC appearance or position statement a consultative one,that is why we need to ensure that we have the leadership or executive we can trust with the import of theory and undoubted grasp of basic documents to make tidal decisions in-between congresses to address the urgency that may not allow for a time-consuming consulting process. I rate that part of these PAC hair-raising statements by various leaders at different times happen because the all- important cell system was abandoned at the birth of the pre-94 negotiations.Having met a PAYCO leader at some fastfood outlet recently,we lamented how the absence of cell system can account for the frailty of branches and lack of appeal or proximity to the masses as reminisced by Cde Jaki. We also are operating in a space where social networks are a new form of expression and the party policies have not metamorphosed to address such circumstances.When was the last the party deviced policies that govern the conduct of members that are spread around facebook,twitter,whatsapp,mixit,skype,youtube,BBM and all others unmentioned? I can on facebook claim to be a "gallant member" of the PAC and make statements that dangerously put the party in bad taste with hundreds and thousands of friends in my network. The contrast is is also true,if I articulate the party positions with brilliance and level-headedness it also draws positive energies towards the party.Some of the leaders are on the social networks on a "political mission" to reach out to as many a youth or a people as possible yet when they are being sanctioned to clarify the feeble party dynamics they avow never to discuss party politics on social media.This happens when the party is also under attack by its opponents and rivals.We cannot argue that this is the way a party can consume and interprete this social change,especially if we claim to be scholars of widely read individuals and giant writers like Sobukwe,Mda and Raboroko who rebuke all accounts of ignorance. This could be but a fraction of an answer to a challenge staged by Cde Jaki as he pleads "We must debate modern ideas and challenges, and lead" We all belong to PAC and that should be preluded by what makes us belong to the PAC for it will shape our revolutionary actions,discourage mediocrity and eliminate the evident membership insularity. Mawethu ________________________________ From: Jaki Seroke <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 4:17 PM Subject: [PAYCO] BACK TO THE FUTURE Several months back, Mark Shinners made reference to the nub of a discussion held by the PAC leadership in prison in the mid-eighties, to make a point with me on who really owns the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania. I recall that I had participated in the debate in writing but had lost the tail end and conclusions after I and my co-accused were hurriedly transferred away from the Johannesburg Prison. Bra Mark has a keen sense of the core debate since he was then coordinating the contributions by various Africanists, and I guess he would have summed up the consensus outcomes. We all had a stake in the trials and tribulations of the PAC and we were all - from various corners of the country - working to advance the objectives of the Party. Therefore no single individual, entity or thought grouping could justly claim sole ownership. More than that, the PAC was not founded to become a limited company owned by some obscure shareholders. At the time a coup had taken place in the then Transkei, and the PAC had played a leading role in it. We commended the developments. We learned from them theoretically that the failures of a linear and top-down structured relationship were its inability to understand the context of an objective condition. Ordinarily in this case the internal workings and dynamics of bantustan politics would be dismissed. However the paradigm was constantly changing and unpredictable, which allowed us to understand the development of a spontaneous and self-organizing local Party leadership that inter-acts and adapts to the environment around it. The leadership structures in Dar es Salaam or on Robben Island could not fully appreciate the need for self-directed autonomy if they hung on centralised control of the structures. The PAC was much more flexible and devolved authority to the operatives in decision-making and self-directed behaviour. Also, at no stage did the PAC want to micro-manage or manipulate Azanyu, and the developments which ultimately led to the formation of Nactu. The prison discussion we held was primarily concerned with the need, in these scenarios, to have a recognisable and identifiable pattern of political behaviour with a commonality of purpose. The diverse contributions were appreciated and encouraged. We were on for a healthy climate of criticism and self-criticism in the Party. What subsequently happened in the years from 1990 onwards was a series of internal political mistakes and flawed decision-making processes. We were probably wet behind the ears and inexperienced, or we undermined the sophistication and power of our adversaries. Political power is a contested terrain and the weak will most certainly be decapitated. A few examples of our own errors: * The Shareworld gathering excluded the inputs of those who opposed the economic policy proposal that bordered on Thatcherism and allowed a single dimension to the Codesa negotiations. Uncle Zeph Mothopeng had deliberately taken the letter of invitation to the talks to the Party membership for open deliberation and inputs. The democratic consultation process should have been taken to its maximum conclusion. We must learn to allow every opinion to be vented in our forums - and after all views have been heard let us together reach a consensus. * The PAC has never really interacted with the masses on its policies and views despite the proximity with masses. It is either because we are in disagreement or a cabal is in charge and does not know what to do. In fact almost every election manifesto was drafted by some smart individual without the inputs of the broad Party membership. In 1994 Jon Qwelane worked all night on his own to produce a printed election manifesto, which was not even read by the National Executive Committee. In 1999 Bishop Stanley Mogoba resorted to the impromptu announcement to cut off the limbs of criminals instead of articulating the PAC election policies. In 2004 Dan Mdluli insisted on the catchphrase "Siyodlasonke", which literally meant the PAC and its followers would also be part of the gravy train and corruption. In 2009 the election manifesto was drafted singularly by Peter Mayende without even the elementary understanding of what it meant. The point of all this is that without ventilating political issues out in the open among ourselves first, the membership will always be disgruntled with the treatment they are getting from the PAC leadership and even distance themselves from the Party come crunch time. * In the last local government elections Letlapa Mphahlele boldly made the predictions that the Party will win 400 seats countrywide. An accomplished politician would know how to deal with predictions in a campaign because these matters are determined in a scientific manner, not wishful thinking. There is a vast difference between the actual 40 and his hoped for 400. In 2009 the IEC accepted political proposals from the ANC to accommodate three poorly performing parties with less than the cut-off 50 000 votes in a mathematical formula that ordinarily allowed the leading parties to share the three seats. The public impression was that the ruling party needed Themba Godi on the Scopa seat instead of a hostile opposition, and the PAC was slightly higher than the APC and Azapo. Any right thinking analyst could not believe Mphahlele's prediction because he had called for a second rule by decree. That is why the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi in Egypt has withdrawn his usurpation of power by presidential decree - watch him closely, he is bordering on self destruction. Let's go back to the good things we did in the past and learn from our mistakes in order to go forward victoriously. Ideologically, the sum total of the Bureau of African Nationalism ideas were that the African people must be consulted at all times to determine their future. The Africanist journal expressed heavy theory in biblical simplicity into what the core objectives of the national liberation struggle were. Their emphasis was on content and subject matter rather than form. These teachings are from the pioneers of the PAC and we must study them and bring fresh ideas to make them accessible to the masses. We must debate modern ideas and challenges, and lead. Spontaneity of the masses will ultimately be guided by strategic objectives articulated by the Africanists. This approach has been heavily criticized by those who belief in a linear paradigm where things are orderly and stable, and leadership issues out instructions from some elitist tower. The struggle for change and transformation is often unpredictable, unstable and the rules of linearity do not apply. I believe the ideas of Pokela, Sobukwe and others were visionary and scientific, even though they were misunderstood by some of our own membership. I'm raising the same debate today spurred by the comments of Mark Shinners to say we all own and belong to the PAC, our diverse backgrounds notwithstanding. Jaki -- 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 -- 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
