Cdes Seroke, Nkumah, Ndebele Are individual's tails wagging the organisations?
A common phrase these days in the political spectrum is "an individual is not stronger than the organisation". This phrase is invariably used in political parties against embattled leaders who find themselves at odds with their organisations. Recently, leaders such as Zwelinzima Vavi and Julius Malema found themselves in scuffles the ANC. Because they wield a certain support from within the lowest echelons of their organisation, to discount the impact that this could have to the ANC. Those who control the levers of control, such as Gwede Mantashe, would normal say the ANC is bigger than individuals. Not only the ANC, I think most organisations including the PAC use this approach to minimise the impact of certain leaders if they are deposed. The reason I am raising this concern is because from empirical experience, influential individuals play prominent roles within organisations. If they are powerful, the easiest way to dismiss them is to say organisations are bigger than they. Maybe this argument will address some deficiency lacking within the PAC of Azania. The firebrand Julius Malema was dismissed as an individual far smaller than the ANC, but when he launched his splitter movement, it became clear that he was posing a threat to the ANC's support base particularly the youth. Today newspapers are replete of the EFF and Julius Malema, actually it is Julius Malema who is sensational than the EFF. Within COSATU, we heard the same rhetoric "COSATU is bigger than Vavi", however when Sdumo Dalmini was addressing a COSATU march, Vavi's supports chanted pro Vavi slogans. So where was the COSATU bigger than Vavi. We are made to believe that individual cannot be tail wagging the organizations. But it is clear the influence of influential individuals should not be discounted as marginal. Who was greater between the NAZI party and Adolf Hitler? Could the NAZI Party have thrived without Hitler? Sobukwe was not infallible as any human being. But, he seemed to have more recognition than the PAC. Was the PAC greater than him?I am not upholding individualism per se, but I am trying to bear out the importance of visible and recognizable leadership in political formations. To the PAC context The PAC has been suffering organizational paralysis for a long time, until now, it has not managed to produce a leader who can be visible to the masses. PAC leaders are hardly known to the masses. Go to the street, ask people who is the president of the PAC (forget about the asking who is the acting president). The answer that you will get is "I don't know'. Sadly, if the EFF is going to undercut us in the forthcoming elections, I will be justified in my argument that the PAC has a deficiency of a strong leader. History has long proven the thrust of my arguments, late comers for example such as Teror Lekota of COPE performed much better than us in elections, despite having less than a year before contesting. Comrades are denying that the EFF has stolen our thunder, we may rationalise this denialism , but people joining the EFF are saying we have found the organisation concerned about the total emancipation of the African people. Someone who recently joined the EFF told me that for a long time the African people have been without hope because the ANC sold out. So, haven't we been saying the same thing? The difference is that we were never heard because no visible leader was able to transmit that message across to the masses. I strongly believe in what the PAC stands for, but unlike other organisations, my PAC doesn't have a visible leader. If you have noticed I used the phrase 'visible leader', I did this deliberately because many years ago while I was working in a hotel at Santon, I was privileged to be a waiter in a conference of political scientists and I asked one of them if the PAC was relevant and his simple answer was: "the PAC needs a visible leader". I believe this is still relevant today. kind regards Mduduzi Sibeko Distribution Customer Service Coordinator [cid:[email protected]] T +27-11-724-9300/01 C +27-71-101-2595 F 086-754-2176 E [email protected] www.randwater.co.za<http://www.randwater.co.za> A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. George Bernard Shaw Disclaimer The information contained in this communication from the sender is confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. This email has been scanned for viruses and malware, and automatically archived by Mimecast SA (Pty) Ltd, an innovator in Software as a Service (SaaS) for business. 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