Cde Terrence, I always asked myself if I am not naive to think that I am no more than just a member of the ANC, COSATU and the SACP and an activist who volunteers to be guided by these organizations to fight for change in the * world* for the betterment of the lives of working people and the poor.
I have been in and out of leadership positions of these organisations at levels lower than the province. The most prominent was when I was a PEC member in my union and the Party whilst the worst was when the District of the Party that I was a Secretary was disbanded (all Party structures were disbanded in Limpopo). My colleagues in the disbanded leadership were so disgruntled that I suppose where they are now they might be contemplating to hitch-hike the Shikota donkey cart, if they are not there already. I did not find that phenomenon (the disbandment) out of the imagination, I participated in the CC that took that decision and fully understood the necessity to resolve those contradictions prevailing in the Party at the time. As an individual, I didn't think, not even now, that I was any different from any member who had never had a chance to even attend a single conference, never had a T-shirt or any paraphernalia that cdes get in conferences, let alone dining and sleeping in hotels and claiming union funds and becoming a president. Today my branches in these organisations confidently invite me to a number of forums to do organisational work and engage in topical issues in those organisations. I should say however that there was a time(especially towards Polokwane ANC Conference) when some comrades recycled their political credentials in the movement by assuming the role of gatekeeping in the name of their "cult" leaders, more often without the blessing of those leaders. I always told myself that I am a member, no better than any other, forced by my class consciousness to volunteer to continue with the struggle as a collective within my branch. That experience led me to ask this question: Why should another member be so important that we are even concerned whether he has a spoilt vote, or resigns or does not campaign for the ANC elections? How many cdes failed to renew their membership in time or not at all, how many failed to honor deployments to our campaigns, supported or became independent candidates or even resigned from our organisations? Equally how many are joining our organisations on a daily basis? Is it because Cde Thabo Mbeki was the ANC president that we can continue to endulge in his personality beyond his term? Will I be wrong to argue that there is very little benefit to progressive debate about our all important struggle when we continue distract ourselves from the Revolutionary collective to individuals, even Cde Thabo Mbeki! If I'm wrong I will be the only one who will dismiss all discussions that seek to see individuals as being larger than our people. We need press conferences on the improvements & service delivery in our communities, opportunities for our young people, government's plans, manifestos of political parties etc. Not about individuals who claim to be branches and even regions resigning from the ANC, or individuals who elect not to vote for the ANC or choose to come open to insult the poor by abondoning the NDR to form an elite middle class party and still expect votes from the poor that depend on government's social grant. On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 7:44 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > paul ndaba on the fod site says that Mr Mbekis vote is one of the spoilt > votes? comrades what is happening? > > would he truly betray his people like that? I wonder...check it out,I am > shocked comrades.. > > > ------------------------------------------- > South Africas premier free email service - www.webmail.co.za > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > For super low premiums, click here http://www.webmail.co.za/dd.pwm > > > > > -- Percy NDLALA --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [EMAIL PROTECTED] . -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
