Dalton I'm sorry but it is difficult to disclose my identity bcoz in this forum the trend has been that of marking the man and not the ideas. I sympathise with you comrade. I rather put my ideas upfront. Hope u get my point.
On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 4:16 PM, Dalton Dan Gama <[email protected]>wrote: > Cde SASCO member thank you for this real politics as you said, i have just > one request for you. would you please register in this forum with your real > name and initials because it is not fair for all of us who are also SASCO > members to see other using our structure to write and equally worship their > political menthors here in this forum. i am asking this as a young cde of > the movement, not to spark any debate with you. Amandla!! > > On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 6:52 PM, sasco member <[email protected]>wrote: > >> This is refreshing. Cn we discuss real issues for a while? Copyright >> SASCO website. >> ** >> *Memorial Lecture on the Life and Legacy of our late President Cde >> Siphiwe Zuma delivered by the President David Maimela on Friday, 14 >> September 2007 at KK Papiyane. UKZN (Howard College) * >> >> * * >> >> *Of note, of intellectual pursuit, of organic leadership* >> >> * * >> >> Distinguished Guests >> >> Fraternal Organisations >> >> Dear fellow members >> >> Dear comrades >> >> >> >> Today we remember our late President. President Siphiwe Zuma! >> >> >> >> 9/11 2002 goes down in the history of the student movement as a dark day. >> A day when our President; the 10 th President Cde Siphiwe Zuma passed on! >> >> This memorial lecture takes place three days after the commemorative day >> of his passing. It has been exactly 1 829 days since the death of our >> President. This year; he would have been 28 years old. This year we >> commemorate the Fifth Anniversary of his passing! >> >> >> >> Lawrence Siphiwe Zuma was born in 1979 (ironically the year of the birth >> of COSAS) in Newcastle Osizweni here in KwaZulu Natal. During his high >> school days he served in the ranks and became leader in the structures of >> COSAS and the ANCYL. He joined SASCO in his first year of study in 1997 and >> remained a member until his last day. He served in school and university >> choir, he was in the Student Christian Fellowship (SCF) in the then >> University of Natal Durban. He served in various governance structures at >> varsity including as President of the SRC in 2001 and thereafter, his >> organisation SASCO deployed him to serve the whole of the students of South >> Africa as President of the SAU-SRC; the predecessor of SAUS. >> >> >> >> In October 2002, at the former University of the North he was elected >> national President of SASCO after our disgraceful Belville Congress. In his >> development and activism in student politics; Cde Zuma was in the first >> place a student; a final year student of law; we are proud to announce. In >> this, he led the way in demonstrating in practice; the principle of academic >> excellence required of all members of SASCO! >> >> I personally remember Cde Zuma as an astute brilliant negotiator and of >> course he knew how to sing and he loved it; hence the nickname "Pavarotti". >> He dressed and presented himself like a young person, he socialised and he >> did so excellently. He was energetic, loud and he loved his debates! >> >> >> >> Three historic dates surround the life of Cde Zuma as he was >> affectionately known in the ranks of SASCO. He was born the same year as >> COSAS in 1979. He died a day before the death of Steven Bantu Biko who died >> 25 years earlier then; Biko is an icon in the liberation history of country >> and a symbol of excellent student leadership. Indeed his death coincides a >> year earlier, with the US bombings of 9/11 which has had a huge impact on >> the world. These dates are important to observe as they brought some changes >> here at home and abroad. They constitute a total sum of the interconnected >> world in which Cde Zuma lived and struggled. I'm neither a sangoma nor an >> astrologer; I won't attempt to interpret the irony embedded in these >> historic dates! >> >> >> >> We are here today to celebrate a life that was silenced so early and yet >> echoed through the living and the non-living in great depths. A voice that >> echoed through the hallowed corridors of student power. Yes, comrade Zuma >> died in the line of duty! >> >> >> >> With all of his youth life lived in student and youth politics; his >> dedication and commitment to serving the youth of South Africa is beyond >> question. No-one will dare rise to oppose us when we say: >> >> Cde Zuma was a youth leader of note; a dynamic student who posed difficult >> questions in search of solutions to the normal daily lives of his people . >> In this; Cde Zuma represented the best of traditions in our ranks; the >> progressive young intelligentsia that SASCO seeks to build! >> >> >> >> In his life journey; we can extract two facts. The first one is the fact >> that he served in almost all the structures of the Progressive Youth >> Alliance. Indeed Cde Zuma was an activist and member of COSAS, the ANCYL and >> SASCO. This qualifies him as an organic leader of the broad progressive >> youth movement in South Africa. >> >> >> >> The second one is the fact that he strove to ask difficult questions. He >> questioned the order of society and that of our education system. His >> baptism in the school of SASCO made him appreciate that; ours is the >> strategic objective to transform society in general and education in >> particular. He understood and articulated this perspective because he knew >> that in reality; he belonged to the community before he could be a student. >> In this regard I personally recall one of his favourite phrases: "if you >> serve the student; you serve the community!". >> >> >> >> Out of the entirety of his life and legacy I choose to speak about the two >> life facts about the person of Cde Zuma. >> >> >> >> In his intellectual pursuits, the one fact about his life; Cde Zuma once >> wrote in 2001 as SRC President whilst addressing a graduation ceremony at >> UND: >> >> >> >> "I'm not a student of Marx, but I always find pleasure in reading his >> classics. Marx demands that I have to acknowledge the dialectical >> inter-relationship existing between the calibre of a graduate that an >> institution can produce and the culture and traditions of that university. >> Are our universities, particularly historically white institutions ready or >> should I say willing and prepared to produce an African graduate? Are our >> campuses, specifically their attitudes, curriculum and culture bound to >> produce a well-rounded, universal African mind that can interpret and >> understand problems facing our continent and act accordingly to contribute >> to the resolution of such problems? I dreadfully fear and shamefully doubt >> it; that our institutions are ready for these challenges that are presented >> at the face of globalisation. Can our universities really produce for >> instance; a historian who will challenge and confront the colonial, racist >> oppressive history of Jan Van Riebeeck, John Vorster, Louis Botha and >> Andries Pretorius and rewrite it to account for the martyrs of our new order >> with academic ointment. You open a computer today you write Siphiwe Zuma it >> still asks you questions. You do spell check it says unknown". >> >> >> >> History (or rather the structure of society) as we all know, is a product >> of struggle and depending on the dominant ideas represented by the dominant >> social forces at a given moment; who go on to create institutions and >> processes after their image including ensuring that scientific research and >> new knowledge and discoveries of the human mindare conditioned to serve the >> interest of the dominant social forces and therefore, given this context, we >> want to argue today correctly so that, universities are also influenced >> directly by the structure of social relations and that this is a continuous >> struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed. >> >> For example, the status given to universities as being autonomous and >> enjoying academic freedom reflects the triumph of the liberal discourse both >> in society in general and higher education in particular. Academic freedom >> and institutional autonomy as currently articulated by both institutions and >> government is clearly reactionary and anti-transformation! >> >> What is it that Cde Zuma was trying to communicate to us besides merely >> being who he was: a youth leader of note; a dynamic student who posed >> difficult questions in search of solutions to the normal daily lives of his >> people! >> >> >> >> In the trail of his intellectual pursuits, the current leadership of SASCO >> continues to assert in the same manner that Cde Zuma would: >> >> >> >> "We hold that education is a socio-economic right and not a privilege. Our >> call for free education is consistent with our principle to increase access >> and transform the education system. Indeed it is consistent with the pursuit >> of the view we share with the ANC to ultimately establish a people's >> education for people's power (Atleast we want to assume that the ANC still >> holds this vision). And we believe this view is consistent with the >> provisions or at least the sentiments of the Freedom Charter. (2007 SASCO >> Policy Submission to the ANC on Education). >> >> >> >> This we believe could have made Cde Zuma proud that SASCO; the >> organisation that he served all his varsity life; the organisation to which >> he died in the line of duty; the SASCO that he loved; is still consistent >> ideologically, politically and programmatically. And certainly, had he been >> alive, he would have said these things and perhaps problematised them even >> further, true to his character! >> >> It is in the nature of young people to ask questions all the time and >> about everything. If we stop doing this, then we must know that we acquired >> education only to be conservative and therefore we are not worthy to be >> called the progressive young intelligentsia of society. Young people must >> ask questions when things are bad to make them good and, when they are good, >> ask more questions until they are better and when they are better, they must >> ask some more questions to make them even more better and when they appear >> to have reached the pinnacle; they must broaden their horizon further afield >> and start all over again! >> >> Dear comrades; indeed I'm still speaking about this youth leader of note; >> a dynamo who dared to ask the most feared questions in search for a better >> life for his fellow human beings. And when we say so; no-one dares to >> object; even behind our backs! >> >> >> >> This is one fact about Cde Zuma. The questions arises: who among us is >> bold enough to stand up and be counted as one to emulate the good that Zuma >> represented; and in this regard; in the area of intellectual enquiry! >> >> >> >> The second and equally important fact about Cde Zuma was his undivided, >> loyal and organic service to the Progressive Youth Alliance both in stages >> and dynamically. >> >> >> >> The ANCYL, YCL, COSAS and SASCO were not born out of flashy congress >> resolutions. They were born out of concrete and real struggles. The >> conditions at different stages of our revolution demanded varied responses >> and one of those was indeed; the birth of the progressive youth movement in >> SA. These youth organisations have always sought to propel the liberation >> movement and society forward and often in difficult phases of the >> revolution. Therefore the relevance of youth organisations and youth >> politics must always be assessed against time and space; in other words, >> against phases and reality on the ground. >> >> With this context in mind, we are obliged to borrow from the wise words >> spoken to the youth of 1968 by the late General Secretary of the >> Communist Party Cde Moses Kotane: "At this hour of destiny, your country and >> your people need you. The future of South Africa is your hands and it will >> be what you make of it". >> >> >> >> Indeed when SASCO needed Cde Zuma he was there for us. He heeded to the >> challenge of his time. He understood the fact that he constituted the >> future; the future that was in his hands and; he sought to make it what he >> believed, unwaveringly, to be a better future! >> >> >> >> As an organic member of the PYA, Cde Zuma understood unequivocally that >> the struggles of COSAS and SASCO in the education front were complimented by >> the broader struggles of the ANCYL as an organisation for all young people; >> for the school going and the rest. This was not a theoretical dogma or >> prescription from an induction manual from SASCO but, it is a concrete >> understanding based on concrete reality about the interconnected nature of >> our struggles hence, we are members of society before we are students. >> >> >> >> One can only assume that Cde Zuma would have asked the question: What is >> more important to see and appreciate between the ANCYL, YCL, COSAS and >> SASCO? Is it the objective struggle in which we share a terrain and somewhat >> similar objectives or the different names, logos and the leadership, all of >> which may perish in a minute? Which side of the question would Cde Zuma have >> preferred? >> >> As a youth leader of note; a dynamo who asked the questions that he did; >> do we think he would have been happy about the state of the PYA today? Do we >> think he would have agreed to SASCO contesting the Youth League or put >> differently, the Youth League contesting SASCO? >> >> >> >> I want to argue that, Cde Zuma having served almost all the PYA >> structures, he would have preferred to be called a youth activist, only if >> being identified with one of the PYA structures meant indifference to the >> others! >> >> So as we celebrate the life and legacy of Cde Zuma: We must ask the >> question: How do we strengthen the PYA as a progressive youth voice in the >> South African society. How do we continue to make it relevant today? I'm >> posing these questions because; I know for sure that Cde Zuma would have >> demanded of us to attend to these questions. He would have done so as an >> organic leader of these organisations and; not as a paper member! >> >> >> >> Indeed, we all know that, with his legacy, no-one can dare to challenge us >> when we say: Cde Zuma was a youth leader of note; a dynamo who dared to ask >> the most feared questions in search for a better life for his fellow human >> beings! >> >> >> >> As he lies underground, we are dead sure that he still does, just like the >> 19thcentury Cuban Revolutionary, author and poet; Jose Marti echo in the >> hallowed corridors of student power to say: >> >> "I have lived: It is to duty that I pledged my arms. And not at once did >> the sun drop behind the hills that did not see my struggle and my victory". >> >> >> >> Today once more an untold story is told. >> >> Once again the song sings. >> >> Today it sings a different tune. It is a story of two facts! >> >> And the song says: 'Behold students! Here in this land of Zulu lies a >> youth leader of note; of intellectual pursuit, of organic leadership'. >> >> When the untold story is told. Others would ask: But who was this man? >> >> Would it be enough to say he was a comrade? >> >> A leader of note? >> >> A dynamo? >> >> A brilliant negotiator? >> >> Would it be enough to say he was all of these things? >> >> One in a lifetime. Once in a life; upon this time Cde Zuma lived with us! >> >> Cde "Pavarotti" was a youth leader of note; a real dynamo. Our >> President…My President! >> >> Long live SASCO! >> >> >> >> End. >> >> >> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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. 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