Comrades, I have also noticed the anti-communist bias in a whole lot of published trash in the mainstream media. This Thabile character often receives a lot of print media coverage for her ill-informed views, and she is not the only one.
I also do not know from under which rock this Thabile person crawled from, but I do know that she and many other anti-revolutionaries rely on the media to construct their views on matters they know very little about. The South African media has made it a habit of sowing divisions within our movement by forever making up conflicts even when they do not exist. This is done ostensibly to sell more newspaper copies. There is a tangible hatred against communists, the so-called Rooi Gevaar. If you remember the pre-Polokwane era, a split within the Tripartite Alliance was expected from the left. In countless opinion pieces, commentators and the so-called political scientists urged the SACP to break away from the ANC. When their views did not carry the day and the watershed 2007 conference saw the left triumph, it becam,e a sore point with them. Since then, the media has re-created the Rooi Gevaar all over again, scaring liberal ignoramuses about the perceived take-over of the Tripartite Alliance by the Left. It is a moot point that political organisations are private entities. Outsiders' opinions on the going-ons of the organisation remain just that: opinions. The fact that this Thabile could not differentiate between a General Secretary and a National Secretary should ring alarm bells that she is talking about a topic foreign to her. Whether the SACP GS retains his position is a matter that concerns the members of the Party. The Thabiles of this world use the media platform to seek to pronounce on matters they know very little about, except from reading the opinions of a similarly ill-informed political commentators. The liberal bourgoisie media, like many other capitalistic entities, feels threatened by this rise of the Left. Any topic that highlights perceived schism within the movement is given prominence (preferably qouting faceless sources and insiders). We shall not be destracted! Amandla! Vusi Nzapheza On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 12:15 PM, Alex M. Mashilo <[email protected]> wrote: > > > *TH**E RIGHT OF **RESP**ONSE* > > > > Thabile Mange writes in *The Citizen* (Thursday 3 December 2009), Sowetan > (Friday 4 December 2009) and perhaps elsewhere that *“In a few days the > South African Communist Party (SACP) will hold its elective conference”*; > and that* SACP General Secretary Blade Nzimande will seek re-election”*. > In this, according to Thabile, Nzimande *“enjoys the support of the Young > Communist League (YCL) and its general secretary, Buti Manamela, who has > sent a stern warning that anyone who stands against Nzimande will be > ‘crushed’”. *She goes on to write that *“the YCL in **Gauteng** is opposed > to Nzimande’s re-election”* and that *“This doesn’t come as a surprise, as > the YCL in **Gauteng** and Nzimande don’t see eye to eye”*. * * > > > > I found it important to respond to Thabile comprehensively. This is because > of the wide coverage her writing has received which has a potential to make > unattended distortions to be believed. > > > > Thabile’s writing is absolutely empty of content. She wrote from either > deep-rooted ignorance or malicious intentions and perhaps this could be part > of an attempt to turn the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) and > SACP in Gauteng against the YCLSA and SACP nationally. > > > > Firstly, Comrade (CDE) Buti Manamela is not the General Secretary; he is > the National Secretary (NS) of the YCLSA. In the Communist Party, and by > this I mean not only the SACP but the YCLSA as well, we don’t have two > General Secretaries. We have one General Secretary, that’s the General > Secretary of the SACP. > > > > Secondly, like the SACP, the YCLSA is a unitary, not a federal, > organisation. There’s no one YCLSA too many. There’s only one YCLSA with > structures articulated from branches, districts, sub-districts, provinces, > to the national level. What governs this organisational articulation is a > principle of democratic centralism. This simply means that individual > members are subordinate to the organisation, and that lower structures are > subordinate to higher structures with the National Congress, and in between > National Congresses the National Committee, as the highest authority and > decision-making body. In all this, democratic processes apply. This is a > fundamental principle and procedure for both decision-making and conduct in > the YCLSA. By separating the YCLSA in Gauteng from the YCLSA nationally > Thabile is either wittingly or unwittingly attempting to dismember our > organisation. This shall never succeed. > > > > Thirdly, the YCLSA, and not the National Secretary CDE Buti Manamela as > such, has pronounced itself on the question of the SACP General Secretary > CDE Blade Nzimande serving at the same time as government Minister. Without > any contradiction as the YCLSA in Gauteng, in line with this pronouncement > we issued a statement just some few days ago (Sunday 29 November 2009) in > which we wrote: > > > > *“We want to reaffirm our support not only to SACP General Secretary CDE > Blade Nzimande, but also to Deputy General Secretary CDE **Jeremy**Cronin, > National Chairperson CDE Gwede Mantashe, National Deputy Chairperson > CDE Joyce Moloi-Moropa and National Treasure CDE Phumulo Masualle as well as > the rest of the current serving dedicated Central Committee (CC) members.” > * > > > > Had Thabile, if this is not a pseudonym, been following political > developments in South Africa she would have come across this fresh > statement. Thabile should also come to terms with the fact that by > communicating this position, our National Secretary CDE Buti Manamela is not > championing his personal view but the YCLSA’s political position. > > > > Fourthly, to give Thabile and her likes the information, at no stage had > our Provincial Congress, Provincial Council and Provincial Executive > Committee decide that we must fight against CDE Blade Nzimande. Over and > above this reality, as a matter of principle the YCLSA shall never take such > an infantile decision. This does not only arise from the good relations we > enjoy as the YCLSA with our only current serving General Secretary of the > SACP CDE Blade Nzimande and the rest of the Party CC. It is also because it > would be self-defeatist if not foolish to compromise, or abandon, or > substitute, working class struggle against the capitalist class by > concentrating the battle in our own working class formation. > > > > Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the SACP will not be holding in the > next few days an elective conference, but will be holding a Special National > Congress (SNC). The SACP held its 12th National Congress in 2007 July, in > the Nelson Mandela Metro. SACP elective congresses (not conferences) are > held once in five years. As such, the next National Congress (13th) shall > be held after two years from now, in 2012. As a matter of fact, CDE Blade > Nzimande is not seeking re-election. Neither has he ever sought to be > elected. It is SACP members, and in 2007 also supported by the YCLSA after > it was banned in 1950 and re-established in 2003, who requested CDE Blade > Nzimande to avail himself for the role of the Party’s General Secretary. > > > > As the YCLSA, we shall go to the forthcoming SACP SNC to ensure that the > Party is well positioned to lead the South African working class in line > with the continually changing conditions to which it is not a spectator, but > an active role player. This will require the Party to adopt tactical > adjustments in its approach to organisational and political questions in > order to remain well oiled for the success of a thorough-going National > Democratic Revolution (NDR) and the realisation of a socialist transition, > of which both are matters of strategy. As such, it is our view that the > question which SACP CC positions or whom from the Party’s CC members should > serve fulltime is a tactical question which should be subject to adjustments > as and when a need arises. > > > > As things stand, part of the SACP’s political programme for the success of > a thorough-going NDR and the realisation of a socialist transition is to > increase the presence, impact and influence of the working class in all > centres of power. Of these centres of power the SACP identified at least > five: the community, the workplace, the economy, the ideological terrain > and, most importantly, the state. According to this political programme, > from the second decade of our democratic transition, no single significant > centre of power in our society should be able to exercise that power without > the presence of, and input, impact and influence by, the working class. In > all this, the SACP, and correctly so, its members and leaders, have a role > to play in providing leadership to the working class. This cannot be done > from a remote distant location outside any respective given centre of power > if material conditions are such that it must be executed from within. > > > > Accordingly, following the SACP’s 12th National Congress (2007) the Party > convened a year later (2008) in a Special National Policy Conference (SNPC) > and resolved without any restriction that there must be increased visibility > of communists in all final lists of the African National Congress-led (ANC) > Alliance’s electoral campaign. It was thus neither an accident nor personal > decision from his part that CDE Blade Nzimande had to form part of the ANC’s > electoral list in our country’s fourth democratic elections, held this year, > 2009. Neither was CDE Blade Nzimande’s first time in ANC’s electoral list. > Over and above being nominated by ANC members in their own right (nominating > one of them) along with many other communists in their capacity as ANC > members, CDE Blade Nzimande was released by the SACP’s CC to serve as an ANC > Member of Parliament (MP) and subsequently a Minister of Higher Education > and Training (HET) while remaining the Party’s General Secretary. The CC > was fully aware of what this would mean in respect of subsequent tactical > considerations and adjustments. > > > > As the YCLSA in Gauteng we fully support the SACP CC and shall zealously > stand by it. > > > > > > *Alex Mashilo – YCLSA Gauteng Provincial Secretary * > > > > -- > You are subscribed. 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