The New Age
*De Klerk trots out tired cliches, misconstrues SACP* *Walter Mothapu, The New Age, Johannesburg, 10 August 2012*When I read Dave Steward's reply to an article by Blade Nzimande entitled the "SACP jackal yelped because De Klerk hit home", I recalled a scripture in Matthew 24. The scripture is based on the Signs of the End of the Age. This is when Jesus's disciples asked him: "what will be the sign of your coming and end of age?" Jesus said in his reply that "nations will rise against nations and kingdom against kingdom". What Jesus said we can refer to in Marxist terms as the "sharpening of ideological contradictions".
Since the dawn of democracy FW De Klerk and his ilk were comfortable with the ANC government for as long as they could realise that its power to govern South Africa does not necessarily translate to economic emancipation of the economically deprived majority. De Klerk and his crowd cheered on as a baton was passed between democratically elected presidents without real economic change.
But now that the "kingdom of economic white rule" is being seriously challenged De Klerk has been awoken out of a "coma". He now takes time out of his indolent schedule to consistently monitor the SACP and its pronouncements with keen interest unlike before when he and others dismissed the party as a non-significant and tiny ally in the tripartite alliance. Indeed the general secretary of the SACP, Blade Nzimande is spot-on to argue that the SACP is the party of the future. A recent survey published in the Mail and Guardian newspaper shows that the ideology of Marxism is regaining popularity among the youth worldwide.
Though the ANC is facing its own internal political challenges, it has clear mechanisms to contain and resolve them. Furthermore, the SACP is growing and the tripartite alliance is still intact. This is contrary to De Klerk's prophesying when he unbanned the liberation movement in South Africa and predicted the death of the ANC within fifteen years of its rule. De Klerk has lost the plot.
His next move? Awakening the ghost of "Rooi Gevaar". Truth be told it is capitalism and its greed that must be feared, because it is hell-bent on destroying the world we live in due to its ecologically unfriendly means of production such as the use of nuclear energy, coal and so on.
De Klerk conveniently contrasts the SACP to the ANC and paints the latter as seeking a moderate version of the national democratic revolution. De Klerk must understand that the ANC cannot swim in one direction like a school of fish. It is contested and influenced by communists and non-communists alike. A quick reality check will show De Klerk that it is communists who influenced reforms in the ANC, which saw white members being allowed to join and occupy positions of leadership.
This is because, even in its foundation stage, the SACP was a non-racial organisation with both black and white membership. It is communists with a sense of realism like Joe Slovo who proposed a "sunset clause" during Codesa for parties at the negotiations table, especially the liberation movement to come to terms with the realities of the end of the cold war and its impact on global politics.
But the likes of De Klerk misconstrued that to be a retreat from the Communist ideology, whereas it was just a tactical detour on the side of the SACP and its allies. Now it is communists who are in the forefront of leading a call towards the de-tenderisation of state in order to arrest massive corruption, greed and laziness that come with it.
Oliver Tambo once asserted that the freedom of the black majority is automatically linked to the freedom of white people from their self-incarceration. Actually what Tambo meant was that when we are politically and economically free as a nation, black and white, then we prosper together as one people.
It is tired propaganda that argues that communism has failed when it doesn't take a professor of economics from Harvard to realise the current crisis of the eurozone.
Recently, the CEO of Barclays Bank was in the news for fixing interest rates. How scandalous? But those are the symptoms of capitalist greed that we must really send us shivering through our bones when we can't trust those who must handle our financial savings. It is ironical that De Klerk is accusing the ANC of returning to the past when he is the one who recently issued a litany of reckless statements. He said on CNN that apartheid was good for blacks. Now, he says people must fear the SACP. What more preposterous things are you going to say De Klerk? That the attainment of gold medals by SA swimmers at the Olympics belongs to white South Africa? Please wake up and smell the coffee.
* Walter Mothapo is a member of the provincial executive committee of the SACP in Limpopo. These are his personal views. *From: http://www.thenewage.co.za/blogdetail.aspx?mid=186&blog_id=2532* ** ** ** ** -- 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] .
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