Comrade President! Let me first add that I wish that political leadership will intervene as you say. The thought of more of our comrades on the scrap-heap is too much to bear.
Concerning the Minister. You want to know my sources, so it looks like I could be damned if I do and damned if I don't. Because I don't have any "sources" of the kind that is usually spoken of, in the usual sense of inside information. I won't be damned for quoting "sources" but then you could damn me for not having sources! The only source is myself. I first met the Minister when she was a young student in England. Not that I have met her often since. But it is a long time to be paying attention. Politics is a public business, or it is nothing. I do believe one must back what one sees with one's eyes, which is what the masses have to do. As I said in my earlier post: Back what you see over what you hear. My judgement is what I have written. An early judgement has the merit that it can be examined and if necessary it can lead to a remedy in time. At this moment in time I am free to make such judgements, I think (and as you know Cde Cedric). A late judgement (i.e. hindsight) is not much use. So I do not have any privileged information, other than what we have probably all seen and read. What have we seen? We have seen a gathering, fired on by police. People fleeing, police firing rounds at their backs. A horrible sight. There is nothing that we have seen with our eyes that would correspond to the description "violence by demonstrators". The minister saw what we saw. It is said, but contested, that there was an interdict by a judge. Whether this was timeous enough to be communicated to the gathering, is disputed. Whether those who gathered were union members at all, or whether members of SANDU or of SASFU, is not known. By the way it is SANDU, and not SADNU. (SADNU is a nurses' union and an affiliate of COSATU). SASFU is the COSATU affiliate, and SASFU communicates quite well to the public, including by radio. I have not been consistently listening to the radio but I did hear the SASFU President, if I am not mistaken, today, speaking clearly and reasonably. SANDU is, as you say, an unknown to most of us. We know very little about SANDU that is either positive or negative. All we can assume is that SANDU's members are our bona-fide defence-force members - "workers in camouflage" as you call them. I don't think we have any basis for questioning their loyalty to our country. I think it is common cause that defense force members are underpayed and that they have no rights of representation, which is a powder-keg and a living provocation, which we all, including the present minister, knew was brewing when the MoD/DoD was still under Terror Lekota and Mluleki George. It is common knowledge that there are still outstanding issues having to do with the integration of forces. COSATU believes that there should be representation. Trade unionism is not unpatriotic. But this is where you get to the nitty-gritties and see which side the minister comes down on. The special bodies of armed men are set up as a force of the bourgeois state. Their sworn duty is to protect the bourgeois state. A class loyalty to the working class - explicit in the case of SASFU, at least - is a challenge to the loyalty that the bourgeoisie expects from the special bodies of armed men and women. It begins to resemble a slow-motion revolutionary situation, wherein historically, one of the crucial factors (as in 1917) is that the troops refuse to fire on the workers. Back to the minister. Visits to regions and branches? It is not yet time for that. What we have is the situation that any politician who would wish to go all the way to the top is to that extent running for President all the time, for decades if necessary. Not all of them are like that, but in my opinion the Minister of Defence is one of those who is like that. It is not something that one would bring up gratuitously, but it is relevant in this case. This is one ambitious person. I believe her ambition has been a factor, as I said. Comrade President, you are familiar with the good old union song: "Which side are you on?" It is a matter of which side of the class struggle the minister is on. This is not a foregone conclusion with the ANC, because the ANC is the manifestation of a class alliance. The fact that we dealt with COPE does not mean that the potential for another COPE-like episode is not there. It is there! We must be on guard! The next time if they take us by surprise it can be a big set-back, or more than a set-back. We recently found out (in the bourgeois media) that Cde Lindiwe Sisulu goes way back with JZ. But how far back does Lindiwe Sisulu go with the working class, Cde Cedric? How much can the working class afford to invest in terms of giving such a minister, who fires on workers, sacks workers without a hearing, won't listen to workers, the benefit of the doubt? What doubt? There is no doubt about this person, in my opinion. Not to say that she is not a nice person. It's just a question of where her class loyalties and obligations lie. What is not being spelled out properly is this: that this anti-working-class minister is a member of the government that we all put in power. That is a big problem, but it must not make us tongue-tied. This message of mine has gone on too long. Let me just say a quick thanks as "moderator" (i.e.spam-sweeper) of this forum for this huge debate. It makes the work worthwhile. University lecturers do not see this quality of work from students in a month of Sundays. We do it without strain. It shows that we are capable of anything. In struggle, Domza (VC) 2009/9/3 sabelo gina <[email protected]> > Hi Comrades, > > Let us all hope that the political leadership will intervene and resolve > the matter with immediate effect just like it happened with the doctor's > strike. > > I wish to interrogate the sources of Domza in so far as proclaiming that > Minister Sisulu is eyeing the top job of a President. If Minister Sisulu is > advertising herself to the ruling class, was she going to to insist on the > debate on the race issue as raised by Malema even after the SG and the > President have attempted to close the debate? I am just asking that question > because the race debate is not a comfortable debate for the ruling class and > yet she stood up for it. To my limited knowledge, this will be a > contradiction for a person who has ambitions to be liked by the ruling > class. > > Was she going to be part of the subcommitte that looked at ways to > investigate the trumped up charges against the President of the ANC. Will > the ruling class forgive her for her role in that sub-committee? > > I want Domza to tell us about this candidates, it looks like they are > increasing day by day. I do not normally disagree with Domza but I must > disagree here and say I think that the allegations might be far fetched, but > who knows, Gauteng is another kind of a province- things happen here, even > the so called "third way" came from Gauteng and Domza living in Gauteng, he > might know things that we do not know. > > I would also presume that a person who aspires to be the President of the > ANC will start to visit branches and regions of the ANC, I have not seen > this comrade to be doing that, maybe it is lack of publicity for her visits > to regions and branches. > > I think the issue that we must also discuss is the ideological orientation > of the union called SADNU versus the ideological orientation of SASFU and > ask ourselves a fundamental question about this important analysis. The > issue for me is whether SADNU will defend this political freedom with their > lives or not. I have no doubt that SASFU members will die for this political > freedom. > > President Mvovo must know that they have our support in resolving this > matter amicably in the interest of the workers in camouflage uniform! > > Asikhulume > > Comradely, > > Cedric Sabelo Gina. > > On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Mxolisi Mlatha <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> >> Comrade Vilakazi >> >> Social intelligence not even legal knowledge will tell you >> that the law and appropriateness of an action do not always >> move in tandem. It is precisely the official dom of the law >> that has tied the hands of the soldiers to the extent that >> they acted in the regrettable manner that they did. >> >> If you had done your research you would have learned that >> it is still a contestable fact on the part of SANDU, so the >> fact that is claimed about a legal march is not a foregone >> conclusion. All these indicate that the waters are so >> muddied unfortunately the Minister might have steeped in >> the muddied waters by here action rather than be above the >> crisis. Every one has a right to be presumed innocent you >> cant dismiss and then provide a hearing, by so doing you >> are giving the indication of an unwilling ear. >> >> "The State is but the Executive of the ruling class".. How >> true is the workers are so trampled on... >> >> Mxolisi >> >> --- >> Sent from UnionMail Service [http://mail.union.org.za] >> >> >> >> -- Blog at: http://domza.blogspot.com/ Communist University web site at: http://amadlandawonye.wikispaces.com/ Subscribe for free e-mail updates at: http://groups.google.com/group/Communist-University/ Library of documents (CU "CD") at: http://cu.domza.net/ [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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