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Never be apologetic. Discuss.  Extracts from Julius Malema’s Political Report to the ANC YL Congress, 16 June 2011 [With headlines courtesy of the CU] Comrades,
our struggle is the
National Democratic Revolution which is a struggle to resolve
the national,
gender and class contradictions through creation of a
non-racial, non-sexist,
democratic, prosperous and united South Africa. The end result
of the NDR
should necessarily be the political, social and economic
emancipation of the
black majority, and Africans in particular. The NDR is not a
class-neutral
struggle, but a struggle of the working class in their pursuit
of total
emancipation from colonial, racial and class oppression. In
South Africa today,
elements of colonial, racial and class oppression continue to
define an
absolute majority of our people, blacks in general, and
Africans in particular.
This in essence means the struggle is not over, and we have an
obligation to
intensify it.
[ANC not to be democratic, but dogmatic] The ANC is a broad church, it welcomes everyone within its ranks to fight for its ideals but being a broad church does not mean that the ANC’s political and ideological direction is broad or multi-directional, it simply means that all people are welcome to join the ANC. Once you are in the ANC, you fight, amongst other things, to achieve the aims and objectives of the Freedom Charter through a National Democratic Revolution. At the core of the NDR should be a class and politically-conscious working class, which should utilise proper tools of analysis and revolutionary theory to guide the revolution. [The SACP to be dismissed by decree, Yeltsin-style] Whether we have a conscious working class which uses Marxism-Leninism as our guide to action and tools of analysis in South Africa today is a question we should always ask because what is supposed to be the vanguard of the working class in South Africa has degenerated into a lobby group in the ANC. The organisation of Moses Kotane, Joe Slovo, and Commander-in-Chief, Chris Hani, played a very important role in shaping the ideological direction and political strategies and tactics of the National Liberation Movement, but it has now degenerated into a lobby group, as we have mentioned, in the ANC, concerned more on who becomes a Mayor, MEC, Minister or Secretary of the ANC, than struggles of the working class and the poor. There is nothing ideologically sound and coherent that comes from what is supposed to be the vanguard of the working class, despite the fact that we are in a class struggle. [The ANCYL are vanguard, mass and all. “That is who we are”, i.e. fascism] In the absence of a vanguard of the working class politically, ideologically and organisationally, the ANC Youth League should assume the role of the vanguard of the working class. Nature does not allow a vacuum and once a vacuum is created, it will be occupied by something else, in this instance a more better positioned something else is the Youth League. Ideologically and politically, the ANC Youth League has been at the forefront of working class struggles, which seeks to change property relations and transfer wealth from the minority to the majority. Politically and organisationally, the ANC Youth League has openly associated and supported struggles of the working class and workers, even in instances where workers were confronting the democratic government of the ANC. We are not apologetic about this character because that is who we are. [Those others attacked us. They are aggressors. We can take what we like from them.] When we are at the forefront of the ideological, political and organisational struggles of the working class, those who call themselves “vanguards of the working class” have been looking for reasons and creating conspiracies on why the struggles of the working class are not genuine. In our call for nationalisation of mines, those who call themselves “vanguards of the working class” developed a conspiracy theory that we are simply saying nationalisation of mines because we are bought by black business people, and now that we have raised the bar to speak about expropriation without compensation, the so-called vanguard of the working class say we are reckless. A question we should ask is: what is reckless about calling for changing property relations to favour the working class and the poor? [Vanguard and mass are all one now. Therefore we are taking over the Trade Unions.] Comrades, our taking over the leadership role of working class struggles at ideological, political and organisational level means that we should begin to organise workers in their workplaces and speak to real working class issues and struggles, in particular relating to the need to change South Africa’s racialised capitalist relations. The ANC Youth League should mobilise workers in mines, factories and farms, and organically develop ideological and political positions that will lead to their total emancipation. The ANC Youth League should be the voice of the petrol attendants, waiters and waitresses, and tellers in retail chain stores because they do not have a voice. We should be the voice of farm workers, of garbage carriers, of street sweepers, of manufacturing workers, of the unemployed reserves of workers. We should be the voice of all people in informal settlements and underdeveloped areas. [We are taking over SANCO, too. There is no more alliance, only the ANCYL.] There is no organisation in the Congress Movement which currently speaks on behalf of the people in the informal settlements, because SANCO is non-existent and the “vanguard” exists in offices and not on the ground where the poor, suffering people live. We were in Alexandra in Sthwetla during the elections campaign and can say that the poverty that the people of Sthwetla and many communities like them face is not a joke. Old women and mothers stay in single-roomed shacks with their older children, because they have nowhere else to stay. During rainy seasons, those staying next to the Jukskei River are engulfed by the water and some of the people have not yet been discovered since their disappearance. These people, those who suffer, remain loyal to the ANC, and 17 years into democracy, we still have a Sthwetla and we still have a Diepsloot informal settlement, with their inhuman living conditions and with health hazards and where our people are so easily exposed to natural disasters. [We speak for you. We are 80%. If you are not with us, you are The Oppressor.] The ANC Youth League should be the voice of the voiceless, because if they do not have a voice, reactionary and counter progressive forces and white political parties will play with the emotions of our people. Being the vanguard of the working class means that we should unapologetically and consistently defend the interests of the working class at ideological, political and organisational levels, and that is what should continue to inform the politics of the ANC Youth League post the 24th National Congress. These are the people the ANC seeks to liberate from political, social and economic bondage, and a solid base of our electoral support. We should consolidate our base, the African working class majority, who constitute 80% of the South African population not through election messages, but through tangible programmes to redeem them from starvation and inhuman living conditions. [Something good? We did it. All of it. Alone.] We were at the forefront of the struggles in the ANC to call for the establishment of universities in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga Provinces and for the first time under our leadership, the ANC has adopted a resolution to establish universities in these Provinces. We made the call for the provision of free sanitary towels and already programmes are in place to provide free sanitary towels to poor females in indigent municipalities. All the central and key economic transformation issues that re-affirm the Freedom Charter are now firmly on the agenda of the ANC, because we were at the forefront of these battles. [Down with profit! Fascists are anti-capitalist!] The ANC Youth League should actively oppose wage subsidies and all sorts of models of enticing capitalists because entrusting the private sector with this urgent need of job creation is potentially dangerous. The 17 years of democracy in South Africa have proven that, whilst playing an important role in the growth of the economy, the private sector is not interested in the upliftment of our people through job creation and other developmental interventions. We should sooner accept the reality that the private sector is obsessed with profit maximisation and will forever try to use as few people as possible to make more profits. The State should, therefore, play a central and leading role in the creation of sustainable employment for our people. [NGP and NPC are hateful rubbish! IPAP2? - Never heard of it! Take it all away!] These interventions are cannot be based on lessons derived from previous State wage subsidies through internships and learnerships, because we do not have a coherent economic development strategy. There was much excitement about the New Growth Path and the National Planning Commission, but it looks like these interventions are not getting off the ground. The New Growth Path was not new because it was repeating the same mistakes of GEAR and ASGISA, that is, of growth first and the rest shall follow. Furthermore, the lack of leadership by the celebrated Minister responsible for planning is failing the planning commission and process. It is almost three years since a Minister of Planning was appointed, but there is still no direction and clarity on which direction we are taking as a country. [One Solution: Redistribution. By the ANC YL. Trust us.] Recently, the National Planning Commission released a Diagnostic Report, which we understand is an attempt to diagnose challenges confronting South Africa before proper solutions are developed to respond to these challenges. Our input to any diagnosis in South Africa is that the biggest challenges are the massive wealth and economic inequalities created by colonial and apartheid domination of one race by another. The solution should be, and can only be, decisive leadership ready to redistribute the economy from those empowered by the colonial and apartheid domination to the previously oppressed and exploited people of South Africa. Any diagnostic report that fails to acknowledge this reality is misdiagnosis and will dismally fail. [We own the future. We own the past. We own the ANC, too. We will never be apologetic!] Comrades, we bear an obligation to reproduce our ideas and propose new strategies on how best to make our ideas reality. We will never rely on the older generation to provide new strategies and tactics, but we can learn a lot from them. We learn from Sefako Makgatho, J.T. Gumede, Chief Albert Luthuli, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Mxolisi Majombozi, David Bopape, Robert Resha, Mama Albertina Sisulu, Lillian Ngoyi, Winnie Mandela, Gert Sibande, Harry Gwala, Chris Hani, Joe Gcabi, Anton Lembede, A.P. Mda, Solomon Mahlangu, the Silverton Trio, Peter Mokaba, Frans Mohlala, Lawrence Phokanoka, Castro Pilusa, Alpheus Malivha, Siphiwe Zuma, and many great heroes and heroines of our undefeated revolution. In honour and commemoration of these great leaders, we will fight side by side, throughout our lives, until we have won our total economic liberty. We will never accept defeat in our life time, never! We shall overcome - and victory is certain. VC -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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