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ANC is under siege, observes Mantashe

ANC is under siege, observes Mantashe
Written by Chibaula Silwamba, Mutuna Chanda and Fridah Zinyama in Johannesburg
Monday, December 15, 2008 4:53:31 AM

SOUTH Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Gwede Mantashe has said the ANC-led tripartite alliance is under siege following the formation of a breakaway party.

And Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) general secretary Buti Manamela has branded the breakaway party, Congress of the People, as that of baboons using propaganda in misleading the people that it is popular.

Meanwhile, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) president S’dumo Dlamini has charged that some people in the South African government were looting public resources to undermine and render the new administration of President Kgalema Monthlanthe useless.

Addressing delegates to the 2008 national council of the Young Communist League of South Africa at University of Johannesburg in South Africa on Saturday, Mantashe urged all supporters of the ANC, its alliance partners - South African Communist League (SACP) and COSATU - to make sure that the breakaway party, Congress of the People does not succeed in next year’s elections because its founders had betrayed the principles of the country’s independence revolution.

Mantashe said there was no honour for a revolutionary who could not stand up and defend their revolution.

“The national council of the Young Communist League is an important event in the calendar of the SACP and therefore it’s an important date in the broad alliance. It is important because it gives the young people an opportunity to debate serious issues and engage themselves. It is a major contribution in the development of the young mind,” said Mantashe, who is also SACP national chairperson. “It is very important this time around in an environment where our movement is under siege. While we must be fighting battles from different fronts, this requires us to choose the battle we want to fight and choose those that are critical for us to win the war. Preservation of our history and the heritage is the battle worth fighting...that is the fight about the name Congress of the People. That is a battle to fight.”

He urged the members of the alliance partners to campaign vigorously to ensure that the ANC wins the elections.

“Every YCL member must be an active member of the ANC youth league and ultimately an active member of the ANC. You have to defend the revolution. It is our responsibility to mobilise those around us,” said Mantashe.

However, Mantashe expressed concern over the Western Cape Province where the ANC lost in ward elections to the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) mainly due to the influence of the governing party’s breakaway party, the Congress of the People.

“Western Cape has been disastrous in all respects. There can be no justification for waiting until the last moment to raise the circumference. It is one province that has to be treated as a disaster area and be managed as such,” he said.

Mantashe also assured that the ANC would continue siding with the working class.

“It is the responsibility of the allies of the ANC to keep the ANC bias towards the working people and the poor,” he said.

Mantashe rose to the global political stage about two months ago when he made a historic announcement of the ANC national executive committee’s resolution to recall former president Thabo Mbeki as Republican President.

And Manamela charged that Cope was using propaganda to mislead South Africans that it was popular to the extent that it claimed that it had 500,000 members within a short period.

He said it was not possible for Cope to mobilise 500,000 South Africans within a short period.

Manamela also said YCL maintained its resolution that Zuma must become South Africa’s president next year.

“We have members of the YCL who will be going all out because we know that the youth vote is the most important vote and the most determining vote in the next coming election,” Manamela said. “We are aware that of the more than 21 million people who have registered to vote, 25 per cent of those are young people. So it will be our preoccupation to ensure that those young people vote and vote for the ANC.”

“We have dedicated ourselves [and] we have taken a resolution that Jacob Zuma will be the President of the Republic, nothing can stop us. Amandla!” shouted Manamela as the crowd overwhelmingly responded and sang: “Zuma! Oh Zuma wethu! Zuma!”

Manamela also said labour brokers were enslaving the young people.

“We will be going all out to ensure that we do away with labour brokers and the other thing related to that is that employers use labour brokers for their own convenience so that they don’t deal directly with labour. We don’t want labour brokers because that affects young people,” said Manamela.

YCL members sang songs in support of Zuma on Saturday throughout the night.

And Dlamini, in his address to the YCL delegates, said there were some people who were looting in government.

“They are looting. We suspect that this is being done for two reasons either to undermine and render the new administration useless or it is done by those who are not sure about their jobs in government,” said Dlamini. “We call upon the Young Communist League to help COSATU, SACP and ANC and identify those people who are busy looting so that we act now and act decisively.”

He also said the Congress of the People would not achieve what it wants to achieve because it was counter-revolution.

“The breakaway party wants to achieve what the opposition political parties have failed to achieve in this country. That is why we must make sure that they do not succeed,” Dlamini said. “Let us focus our energy to ensuring that we maximise the victory of the ANC. Let us ensure that we go out there and mobilise our members, our families, our friends, our girlfriends, our boyfriends to vote for the ANC. Go to every street and every village for a decisive victory of the African National Congress.”

He also urged YCL members to explain to the people on the impact of the global financial crisis.

“We must be the first to come out to explain to our people how the global meltdown will affect them so that when we take the war in the streets people will understand,” said S’dumo.

Labels: ANC, BUTI MANAMELA, YCLSA

posted by MrK @ 4:50 AM