> > > > > *Umsebenzi Online, Volume 16, No. 18, 26 October 2017* > > *In **this Issue:* > > *· A tribute to Oliver Tambo* > > *· SACP 14th National Congress Declaration and Resolutions * > > > > > > > > *Red Alert* > > > > *A tribute to Oliver Tambo * > > > *By Cde Blade Nzimande* > > > The South African Communist Party (SACP) lowers its red banner in honour > of, and tribute to former and late President of the African National > Congress (ANC), Comrade Oliver Reginald Tambo on his birthday centenary. > Tambo would have turned 100 on > Friday, 27 October 2017. He was born on 27 October 1917 and died on 24 > April 1993. The SACP is deeply indebted to Cde Tambo in general and as the > longest serving President of our historical ally, the ANC. Tambo played one > of the leading roles in the building and strengthening of the Tripartite > Alliance under the most difficult period of our struggle. > > > > As the SACP said at the funeral of Cde Ahmed Kathrada, this was a > generation that was well ahead of its times! It was a generation that was > never tempted to confront the racist apartheid regime with a narrow > Africanist or racial chauvinistic alternative. It would have seemed easy to > racially mobilise the Black majority against their white counterparts. > However, Tambo’s generation of leadership had a superior historical > mission, that of building a non-racial society. Think about it! These were > young men, most of them from our country’s deep hinterland in the 1940s, > yet by the late 1950s they were proponents of non-racialism. Although the > SACP played an important role in contributing towards building a liberation > movement, whose main platform was to achieve a non-racial South Africa, we > however salute Oliver Tambo for being part of our visionaries in this > struggle. > > > > However, Oliver Tambo and his generation also deeply understood that the > struggle for national liberation was not only about throwing away the yoke > of racially based oppression, but that the economy had to be radically > transformed to serve the interests of the overwhelming majority of our > people. It was these shared strategic and programmatic perspectives that > constituted the foundation of building our Tripartite Alliance. > > > > Oliver Tambo, working together with the likes of Moses Kotane, JB Marks, > Ray Alexander, Moses Mabhida and Joe Slovo, progressively built a strong > revolutionary alliance that was at the head of the liberation movement and > all other progressive forces. These were leaders who placed the liberation > of the people at the centre of their strategic and tactical considerations, > and not their own, personal or family interests. > > > > Perhaps one other important thing that needs to be said about Oliver Tambo > and his generation of leaders was that they firmly understood the context > within which the struggle for the liberation of South Africa unfolded. It > was this understanding, informed by the struggles of our people on the > ground that evolved into the four pillars of our struggle: mass struggles, > the underground organisation, the armed struggle and the international > isolation of the apartheid regime. All these tributaries of our struggle > were central in the defeat of the apartheid regime in 1994. It is indeed > very unfortunate that some of the leaders of our movement want to elevate > some of the pillars as more important than others. Oliver Tambo must be > turning in his grave. Let us honour Tambo by uniting our people in all key > terrains of struggle in order to drive a second, more radical phase of our > national democratic revolution: in the workplace, in our communities, in > the economy, in our stokvels and co-operatives, ideologically, etc. > > > > We are however commemorating the centenary of Oliver Tambo’s birth at a > time when our movement, especially the ANC, is facing very serious > difficulties. Our revolution and movement has entered unchartered waters, > more or less in a whirlpool, such that it is on the verge of imploding. We > should use this moment to continue reflecting very hard on the challenges > facing our movement and what is to be done. > > > > Like Oliver Tambo and his generation of leaders, we have to ask why our > country and movement are where we find ourselves today. One way of > answering this question is to refer to Oliver Tambo’s own apt observation, > that is: > > > > “Comrades, you might think it is very difficult to wage a liberation > struggle. Wait until you are in power. I might be dead by then. At that > stage you will realise that it is actually more difficult to keep the power > than to wage a liberation war. People will be expecting a lot of services > from you. You will have to satisfy the various demands of the masses of our > people. In the process, be prepared to learn from other people’s > revolutions. Learn from the enemy also. The enemy is not necessarily doing > everything wrongly. You may take his right tactics and use them to your > advantage. At the same time, avoid repeating the enemy’s mistakes.” – *OR > Tambo, Angola, 1977*. > > > > In other words we need to understand properly the difference between the > current situation and the period during which Tambo was at the helm of our > movement. One way of understanding our current context is that democratic > revolutions in under-developed countries are always faced with the vexed > reality that election into any political office often becomes the only > means of livelihood for many leaders, with no or very little prospects of > personal economic survival when they lose that political power. That is why > Marx and Engels, amongst other things, emphasise in the 1848 Communist > Manifesto, the necessity for a victorious working class to rapidly increase > the productive forces: > > > > “The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degrees, > all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralise all instruments of > production in the hands of the state… and to increase the total productive > forces as rapidly as possible”. > > > > Although this statement by Marx and Engels may primarily be about a > transition to socialism, but it has many lessons for national democratic > revolutions. A failure to rapidly expand productive forces – in other words > to develop and diversify productive capacity and national production after > a democratic breakthrough narrows opportunities for creating employment and > other means of livelihood, thus leaving state power as the only source for > survival and accumulation. This is part of the material foundation of state > capture and its twins, factionalism and corruption. > > > > Access to political office is financed, among others through corrupt means > often in partnership with a parasitic bourgeoisie, and/or sections of > imperial capital. In these conditions there is often a dialectical and > mutually reinforcing relationship between factionalism and parasitism. > Factions must capture the state to hand over tenders to the parasites and, > in turn, the parasites fund political factions to remain in control of both > the organisation and the state. There is no doubt that in our movement and > country today these phenomena strongly exist. > > > > Often access to state power as a means of livelihood quickly degenerates > into greed. The greedy exploit access to state power not only to cater for > their current wants but also to cater for their future when they are out of > office. It is often at this stage that family members, siblings, relatives > and their wider circle of friends get drawn into patronage networks, > including but not limited to the dispensing of tenders. This brings us to > an observation made by Franz Fanon in his ‘*The wretched of the earth*’ in > dealing with the pitfalls of narrow national consciousness: > > > > “National consciousness, instead of being the all-embracing > crystallisation of the innermost hopes of the whole people, instead of > being the immediate and most obvious result of the mobilisation of the > people, will be in any case only an empty shell, a crude and fragile > travesty of what it might have been. The faults that we find in it are > quite sufficient explanation of the facility with which, when dealing with > young and independent nations, the nation is passed over for the race, and > the tribe is preferred to the state. These are the cracks in the edifice > which show the process of retrogression that is so harmful and prejudicial > to national effort and national unity.” > > > > This tendency found expression high up among some heads of state in > governance after breakthroughs against colonial rule. If parasitic networks > begin to encounter resistance, from both inside or outside the state and > the movement, they start creating parallel structures and processes both in > the state and in the movement. Key decisions by the parasitic networks are > made outside of the organisation and the state by smaller factions of > individuals and ‘kitchen’ cabinets. Sometimes important state decisions are > sought from beneficiaries located outside of the official structures of the > state. > > > > Resistance to captured states and individuals in political movements is > often met with an increasing element of a securocrat state. The emergence > of securocrat states in Africa is persuasively analysed by Ibbo Mandaza, > who found that the tendency reflects moments of post-colonial primitive > accumulation where the new political elite, without its own capital, often > brazenly use state institutions to ruthlessly acquire wealth and crush > whoever stands in their way, both inside and outside of their own > movements. > > > > South Africa has visibly reached the early stages of a securocrat state. > The existence of rogue intelligence activities, including smear campaigns > and concocted criminal charges, primarily directed at leaders inside the > movement is a sure sign of the emergence of a securocrat state that relies > on factionalist use of institutions of the criminal justice system. Another > example of an emerging securocrat state was the attempt to tarnish the > image of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. The violence we are seeing in > the province of KwaZulu-Natal can also be taken to be part of this > (emergent) securocrat state. > > > > Although the two contexts are different, but what can we learn from Oliver > Tambo and his generation of leadership in order to deal with the current > problems afflicting our movement? Perhaps the most important lesson is that > of characterising the challenges we are facing as they are, as Tambo’s > generation of leadership did in the ANC’s consultative conference held in > Morogoro, Tanzania in 1969. But they went further in Morogoro by coming out > with a clear programme to confront the problems facing the revolution at > the time. They chose the path of collective leadership and involvement, > reflection and engagement with all components of the movement, and > confronted factions and came out with an inclusive way forward. > > > > As the SACP we had hoped that the ANC in particular will convene such a > consultative gathering, but unfortunately it did not. We hope that at least > the ANC will use its forthcoming December conference to learn from Oliver > Tambo and emerge with a leadership and programme to rebuild and reunite the > movement, if this conference does indeed take place. > > > > What is the task of the Communists in this period, also as part of > honouring Oliver Tambo and his generation of leaders? > > > > Communists must work both inside and outside of the ANC to try and assist > the organisation to rescue itself from the clutches of factionalism, > corruption and corporate capture. But over and above this, the SACP must > play its vanguard role in building, first, a popular front of progressive > forces that are still interested in taking forward the national democratic > revolution. Secondly, Communists must work hard to build a broader > patriotic front to defend the gains we have made over the last 23 years in > order to defeat parasitic networks. But we will say more about these > organisational challenges in the next weeks and months. > > > > For now we say long live the memory of Oliver Tambo, long live > > · *Cde Blade Nzimande is SACP General Secretary * > > > > *SACP 14th National Congress Declaration and Resolutions * > > > Click here > <http://www.sacp.org.za/docs/decl/2017/declaration-and-resolutions.pdf> > to access SACP 14th National Congress Declaration and Resolutions > <http://www.sacp.org.za/docs/decl/2017/declaration-and-resolutions.pdf> > or open the hyperlink http://www.sacp.org.za/docs/ > decl/2017/declaration-and-resolutions.pdf > > >
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