(BLACK OPINION SA) ‘Hands off President Robert Mugabe’ – BLF
By admin Posted in Featured Politics
Posted on September 8, 2017
BO Staff Writer
Radical black consciousness movement, Black First Land First (BLF), has come out in defence of Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, after African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, dismissed Mugabe’s comments about the ANC selling out its people during the 1994 negotiations.
Mugabe has on numerous occasions told his Zanu-PF party supporters that Mandela only negotiated for his freedom from jail and not for the economic emancipation of the majority black people.
Read BLF’s full statement below:
BLF says President Mugabe is correct about South Africa
Black First Land First (BLF) stands with the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, in his observation that the South Africa struggle was compromised, firstly by a very poor understanding of the national question.
The ANC in its whole articulation of what the central contradiction in South Africa is, has been wrong. It was wrong from its establishment, it was wrong in Kliptown 1955 and again proven wrong in 1994 with the massive compromise with the settler colonial regime.
As a result of the failure to understand what is the central contradiction in South Africa, the ANC has put black people in a situation where we are a landless majority, a powerless majority, a majority without dignity, freedom and our land. President Mugabe is therefore correct to conclude that it was wrong for the ANC and all its former presidents, including the late O.R. Thambo, late N.R. Mandela, to have conceded so much to the white settler population.
It is nonsensical for Gwede Mantashe to speak back in his neo-liberal response to President Mugabe.
Zimbabweans have their land back through a Chimurenga, led by President Mugabe which has brought real independence to the country. Zimbabwe stands as a beacon of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism in Africa.
The ANC has failed in the past 23 years to return land to black people. The ANC has failed in the past 23 years to end racism and white supremacy. Only now has President Jacob Zuma of the ANC attempted to chart a different path toward Radical Economic Transformation. We are aware that even he does not have the support the of the full ANC.
That is why in the 2017 ANC Policy Conference the party failed totally to resolve on important question such as:
1. Land expropriation without compensation
2. The fact that the central contradiction remains the power of White Monopoly Capital
3. The ANC fails to endorse the fairly moderate Mining Charter as articulated by the Minster of Mines, Mosebenzi Zwane
BLF is absolutely clear that the ANC has to redeem itself by focusing on addressing the central contradiction in South Africa and stop wasting its time in speaking back to President Mugabe. He deserves our respect and reverence, not stupid tit for tat responses.
BLF says Hands Off President Mugabe. We call upon the faction led by Mantashe and other agents to follow the example of President Zuma and focus on RET, the return of the land and the sharing of the land through the mining charter.
The ANC has no moral right to speak back against President Mugabe. He is, and remains, a hero to the African revolution.
The ANC must still prove itself. Up to now it has sold black people to white settler colonialism.
Land or Death
Izwelethu!
ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF THE BLACK FIRST LAND FIRST MOVEMENT (BLF NCC)
8 September 2017
Black First Land First Email:blackfirstlandfirst@gmail.com
Facebook: Black First Land First
Twitter: @black1stland1st
Website: www.blf.org.za
Zanele Lwana
(Deputy President)
Cell: +27799867225
Lindsay Maasdorp
(National Spokesperson)
Cell: +27 79 915 2957
Brian Tloubatla
(Deputy National Spokesperson)
Cell: +27 82 216 7664
Labels: ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE, LAND REFORM, ROBERT MUGABE
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(THOUGHTLEADER SA) With an ‘oppositionist’ Cosatu, who needs a DA?
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe is not so happy with the “oppositionist” posture that Cosatu and some unions within the federation take when dealing with the ruling party.
The veteran former unionist surely feels that “as comrades with same revolutionary parent (read goal), let us talk gently and say our opprobrium behind closed doors, not in the presence of our nemesis”. You can’t fault Mantashe for his concerns. In the last couple of months, the ANC has endured sustained attacks from within and without. The left nexus feels the party is shifting right while the right feels the party is not right enough. Some people feel this leadership is the weakest in the history of the ANC and has completely lost the radar. In the meantime, the DA has grown bolder and more assertive, believing it can even take Gauteng out of the ruling party. Once the DA used to engage in what others call “clicktivism” (internet or social media activism) but they are now bold enough to march to Cosatu house and even … wait for it … Nkandla. Why? Because they think the ANC is more vulnerable now than any time in history.
The ANC, on the other hand, feels that they are being blamed for everything under the sun. I assume that when the party’s head honchos meet for drinks they take a look at the political scene and the media’s offensive and conclude “those (the media) must be ignored, they never accepted us right from Polokwane anyways”. I can imagine my favourite secretary general, Mantashe, remarking to Cyril Ramaphosa somewhere in Sandton that “while the ‘white’ media, ‘white’ opposition and imperialists hated Thabo Mbeki, they could tolerate him because he was seen as an intellectual who they could sit up and listen to. With us, they can’t accept how we chose an uneducated man to lead Africa’s biggest economy and how we ousted their favourite ‘president’. So relax mchana, the media has a reason to hate us but the people on the ground love and will vote for us”. With this they sip their favourite whiskey and enjoy the day without a care in the world. Let’s be honest. The ANC, and just about any government that can take over in this democracy, is actually irritated with the media. It’s good, though, because where the media and the government are bedfellows then that’s a banana state. So in the eyes of our “revolutionary” leaders, the media’s criticism is easy to ignore and rubbish. After all, no leader of the ANC worth his salt would not have been taught that “counter revolutionaries use the media to subvert revolutions”.
And then there is the criticism from those who have a “post-Polokwane hangover”, as Blade Nzimande would call them. Those are dismissed as having sour grapes and refusing to accept they were defeated. Those are personified by the likes of Ronnie Kasrils. I am sure when his name pops up in conversations within the corridors of power, he is simply dismissed as just a rumble in the jungle. Even those who have genuine things to say about how the republic is run have cowed into silence because they know it will be difficult for them not to be seen as having sour grapes. Talking of which what happened to Joel Netshitenzhe?
Then there is the traditional opposition, whether Agang, Economic Freedom Fighters or the Democratic Alliance, those are just not taken seriously. They are just that: the opposition. What would be their relevance if they didn’t find fault in everything the ANC does anyway? So our dearest secretary general does not worry about them as much. They can criticise the ANC for all they like, it is like farting in water.
But try criticising the ANC from within and you rile up Mantashe. He could not take it when this was done by the Malema youth league and will definitely not take it when it’s being done by an important alliance member like Cosatu. That is why he emphasised at the Popcru conference that the federation needs to talk to the ANC gently and they will listen. He even suggested that there could have been at least 10 Cosatu leaders in the ANC NEC had it not been for the Cosatu “problems”. But what Mantashe misses is that with an “oppositionist” Cosatu who needs the DA?
To the average person, there is no need to vote for an opposition in South Africa because Cosatu raises the things the DA and society at large complains about … and the ANC listens. Or do they? The alliance is good enough with a strong and stinging Cosatu. With a lapdog Cosatu the DA would be riding at the crest of the wave on e-tolls, corruption and maladministration and people would rightly consider voting them. But with an “oppositionist” Cosatu people feel there is no need to vote for the opposition because Cosatu will raise the things they complain about and in a pro-poor way. Reducing Cosatu to a labour desk will therefore open space for the opposition and has long-term consequences for the ruling party.
It is better to have a troublesome child within the family than an outsider because no matter what he or she says or does, once an outsider joins in he or she defends the family wrongs and closes ranks. With the youth league officially silenced, Cosatu divided, an SACP too deeply embedded in the ANC, who will become the conscious of the once mighty revolution?
Labels: ANC, COSATU, GWEDE MANTASHE, NEOLIBERALISM
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(STICKY) (BUSINESS DAILY LIVE SA) Mantashe hits out at EFF for ‘distorting the Freedom Charter’
by Natasha Marrian, 29 July 2013, 15:11
COMMENT - Mr. Gwede Mantashe seems to have drunken the coolaid. He needs to read up on prof. Ian Scoones and prof. Joseph Hanlon's works on landreform in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean economy was destroyed by sanctions and financial manipulation, not land redistribution. Also, it looks like the ANC has a problem in Gwede Mantashe. - MrK
ZIMBABWE’s Zanu (PF) was using the newly formed Economic Freedom Fighters to "destabilise us from across the Limpopo", African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Monday.
Axed ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema’s "protest movement", the EFF, has released its "manifesto" which centres on the Freedom Charter, the founding document of the congress movement. The manifesto calls for the nationalisation of the mines and banks and land expropriation without compensation.
Mr Mantashe on Monday said the EFF was "distorting" the Freedom Charter to further its own ends.
"To me EFF has nothing to do with the Freedom Charter it has everything to do with the influence of Zanu (PF) that’s what its all about," he told journalists at a briefing in Parktown.
He said the ANC was aware that there had been "active engagement" between Zanu (PF) and the former youth league leaders who formed the EFF. Mr Malema frequently visited Zimbabwe during his time at the helm of the youth league and after he was sacked in 2012. Mr Mantashe said part of the battle between the ANC and its youth league, during Mr Malema’s tenure, was the "influence of Zanu (PF) over them and using them to destabilise us from across the Limpopo".
Really? The desire of the ZANU-PF is to destabilize the ANC? So that the ANC can be replaced by whom? How about - you can't ignore a good idea? - MrK
"So it has nothing to do with the Freedom Charter, it has everything to do with what Zanu (PF) has done."
Mr Mantashe at the same time said he "loved" Zanu (PF) but he always told young ANC activists that the fact that the party destroyed the Zimbabwean economy had to be accepted.
"We must say so. They destroyed the economy. In 1980 the Zimbabwean dollar was R1.50, today it has no value.... They have caused a massive destruction to the economy and to me I have an issue with that," he said.
"I will not voluntarily do what Zanu (PF) does because they are my comrades, because I don’t want the South African economy to actually collapse in the same way, we musty do things that are practical, that are sustainable that can continue keeping the economy alive."
The calls made by the EFF based on the Freedom Charter were distorted in their "articulation", Mr Mantashe said.
Land grabs without compensation, for instance, were a distortion of the Freedom Charter. The charter speaks about sharing land among those who work it.
Exactly. So how about it? - MrK
"If you want to create farmers, you are not going to succeed, farmers are not created, farmers are like entrepreneurs, you don’t create them, it’s something you are going to have passion and love for.
"Once you want to create them by force or by hook or by crook, you will see farming as a place for weekend braais," he said.
Is the Secretary General of the ANC suggesting that Africans can only rise to peasant farming, no matter how much land they have? - MrK
Similarly, the call for nationalisation by the EFF was a distortion. The charter was explicit that the minerals belonged to the people as a whole, but the Minerals and Petroleum Development Act gave ownership of mineral wealth to the state on behalf of the people.
Zimbabwe reportedly denied allegations that it was funding the EFF. Youth development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere dismissed the allegations as "nonsense" claims, the City Press reported on Sunday.
Labels: GWEDE MANTASHE, JULIUS MALEMA, LAND REFORM, NEOLIBERALISM, SAVIOUR KASUKUWERE, ZANU-PF
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COMMENT - On Strategic Nationalisation. In the ANC's own words, interview with Minister Gwede Mantashe: (YOUTUBE, ABNDIGITAL) Unpacking ANC's Strategic Nationalisation -
Part 1, and
Part 2. He is talking about a Botswana type Joint Venture like DEBSWANA, which is very exploitative and sways power toward De Beers. A lot of handwringing from their 'business panel':
(YOUTUBE) Analysis: ANC Favouring Strategic Nationalisation - lots of hand wringing about 'policy uncertainty'.
President inspires South Africa: ANC stalwart
Sunday, 03 March 2013 00:00
Sunday Mail Reporter
President Mugabe has inspired South Africa’s ruling party the African National Congress (ANC) to embark on an economic revolution and follow in the footsteps of Zimbabwe, an ANC youth stalwart has said.
Delivering a solidarity message on behalf of former liberation movements at the 21st February Movement celebrations at Chipadze Stadium in Bindura yesterday, ANC Youth League national executive Cde Andile Lungisa revealed the ANC made a decision in December to adopt the Strategic Nationalisation programme that is modelled along Zimbabwe’s successful land reform programme and the indegenisation and economic empowerment drive.
“In December last year, we agreed at our meeting to adopt the Strategic Nationalisation agenda.
“This was inspired by President Mugabe and what he has done for the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Cde Lungisa said South Africa whose society is characterised by a large gap between the rich and the poor is seeking to emulate Zimbabwe to reduce social injustices in that country.
“We are saying in South Africa and the whole of Africa, we should emulate Zimbabwe and understand what President Mugabe has done for the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Cde Lungisa who is also the President of the Pan African Youth Union said President Mugabe is a visionary leader who stands as a shining example to all the youths of Africa.
“As youths of this continent we are happy to celebrate the life of a visionary. President Mugabe is a clear example of a man who has his people at heart,” he said.
Representatives of former liberation movements that include, SWAPO of Namibia, Frelimo of Mozambique, the Patriotic Front of Zambia PPRD from DRC, Chama Chama Pinduzi of Tanzania and others.
Labels: ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE, LAND REFORM, ROBERT MUGABE, SOUTH AFRICA
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ANC snubs MDC-T
Sunday, 01 July 2012 00:58
Sunday Mail Reporter
The leader of the Zanu-PF delegation to the ANC Policy Conference, Professor Jonathan Moyo, ANC National Executive Committee member Winnie Madikizela Mandela (centre) and Senator Monica Mutsvangwa pose for a photograph on the sidelines of the conference which ended on Friday.The MDC-T tried to force its accreditation at the ANC Policy Conference in South Africa last Tuesday, arguing that it should have been allowed to attend the conference on GPA grounds since Zanu-PF was in attendance, it has been learnt.
It is understood that this “highly unusual, un-diplomat and impolitic” move by the MDC-T was flatly rejected by the ANC, leaving the MDC-T branch in Johannesburg livid.
As if undeterred by this stinging rebuff, it is understood that the MDC-T sponsored one of the delegates in the International Relations Commission at the conference to raise a complaint over its exclusion under the same argument that the party should have been invited because Zimbabwe has a hung Parliament which includes Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations.
Although MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora yesterday refuted the claims that his party sought to bulldoze its way into the conference, highly placed MDC-T sources at the Johannesburg branch, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Sunday Mail that the ANC was not amused by the approach and told the MDC-T that it had only invited fellow liberation movements.
The liberation movements that had been invited included Zanu-PF, Frelimo from Mozambique, MPLA from Angola, Swapo from Namibia and Chama cha Mapinduzi from Tanzania.
“The GPA is very clear and there are three political parties in it. There is MDC-T, Zanu-PF and Welshman’s (Prof Ncube) little party. Our partner in the GPA, Zanu-PF, was attending the conference and we should have been accredited to attend. We saw nothing wrong with that at all.
“However, our accreditation was turned down on flimsy grounds that the ANC had only invited liberation movements to its conference. So when it sees it fit, the ANC chooses to side with Zanu-PF. We find that very strange because how do we relate now in future,” said the MDC-T source on the phone from Johannesburg.
When the MDC-T-sponsored delegate raised the issue in the International Relations Commission, the ANC secretary-general, Cde Gwede Mantashe, rebuked him, adding that the ANC had only invited liberation movements of which the MDC-T was not.
“Mantashe even shot down a complaint that had been raised by one of the delegates regarding the same matter in the International Relations Commission. This shows that the ANC was not united in shutting us out. Clearly we were not happy and we will bring up this matter at an appropriate forum,” said the source.
However, Mr Mwonzora said: “An ANC conference is not an MDC-T conference and all our cadres in Zimbabwe and outside are aware of that. The MDC-T respects the sovereignty of other countries and political parties in those countries.
“We have never and will never interfere with the internal processes of any other political party whether in Zimbabwe or outside.”
Throughout its troubled tenure in the embattled inclusive Government, the MDC-T has sought to abuse its GPA status by portraying itself as an indispensable party that Zimbabwe’s neighbours in particular and Sadc in general must deal with because of its presumed support by America and its Nato allies.
Asked to comment about this incident, the leader of the Zanu-PF delegation to the conference, Professor Jonathan Moyo, said he was not aware of it as he was in the Economic Transformation Commission and the not the International Relations Commission where Cde Mantashe rebuked the sponsored delegate.
However, he said he was not surprised to hear something like that, adding that “this is very typical of the antics that Tsvangirai’s MDC likes playing.
“The record will show that their party is not a people’s choice but is an imperialist voice and neo-colonial instrument for regime change in our country.
“As such, the MDC-T is a reactionary movement and not a liberation movement by any stretch of the imagination. The mere fact that it is part of the hung Parliament and is in the inclusive Government does not make it a liberation movement but is only a confirmation of the power and treachery of imperialism and neo-colonialism.
“This is the downside. The upside is that the people’s revolutionary momentum against imperialism and neo-colonialism in Zimbabwe is not only on the rebound but is in fact surging and the MDC should stop trying to gatecrash conferences of liberation movements and start counting its costs before the election in which it will be dealt a final blow.”
The Zanu-PF delegation, which received a standing ovation as it was being introduced to the conference, also included Deputy Minister Senator Monica Mutsvangwa.
The ANC conference ended on a high note on Friday with the liberation party adopting a new position on the strategies and tactics which marks a radical shift to the left since the dawn of a new South Africa in 1994 to advance and quicken the pursuit of a national democratic state in that country.
The conference also made new and bold decisions on economic transformation, rural development, land reform, communications, gender, education, health, legislature, governance, peace and stability.
These historic decisions are set to be presented as policy decisions at the ANC’s 53rd National Congress to be held in Mangaung in December this year.
Labels: ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE, JONATHAN MOYO, MDC
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No peeking: ANC keeps media out till policies fully baked
26 Jun 2012 06:39 - Nickolaus Bauer
Policies adopted at ANC sessions this week will affect the entire nation, but the media aren't welcome as the party "doesn't want to hold back". The media have been barred from the majority of the ANC's policy conference in Midrand which kicks off on Tuesday. (Oupa Nkosi, M&G)The media have been barred from most of the ANC’s policy conference sessions in Midrand, which kicks off on Tuesday.
“There will be closed sessions at the conference as we don’t want people to hold back because of the media. We want open conversation where people won’t be afraid to say what they feel,” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday.
Mantashe assured journalists that although the conference would be largely off limits to the media, regular press conferences would be held to “inform” the press.
The conference will be opened by President Jacob Zuma and will run at Gallagher Estate until Friday.
Mantashe said about 3 500 delegates were expected to attend, comprising branch members, national executive committee delegates, alliance partners, ANC leagues and other representatives.
On Tuesday, the ruling party’s three main policy documents on organisational renewal, strategy and tactics as well as the state intervention in mining will be discussed, along with the national development plan spearheaded by Trevor Manuel.
Reporting back
Wednesday will see commissions debating the ANC’s 12 policy documents, after which each will report back on Thursday and Friday.
“There have been very robust debates within our branches, regions, provinces [and] alliance structures, and the public, on the policy propositions.
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We are very confident the conference will bring together all those discussions and produce outstanding policy outcomes,” Mantashe said.
It’s expected that the policy conference will be the scene where the covert ANC leadership race – happening within the ruling party ahead of its elective conference in Mangaung this December – deepens.
Zuma is embroiled in a leadership tussle with Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale who are both vying to replace the him at Mangaung.
It’s understood the policy conference will be the place where Sexwale and Motlanthe not only informally launch their respective presidential campaign, but gauge possible support.
“The policy conference is a preparatory conference ahead of the Mangaung elective conference – to decide our policy mandate before then. Leadership might be discussed within commissions but there will be no nominations taking place,” Mantashe said.
Off limits
Although nothing is stated in the ANC constitution regarding the rules of engagement within a policy conference, Mantashe made it clear that the leadership debate would not be touched on.
ANC policy head Jeff Radebe reiterated this notion and said the programme would be strictly adhered to.
“Any manifestation of ill-discipline won’t be tolerated at the policy conference,” said Radebe – a hint at how those wanting to open the leadership debate might be dealt with.
Radebe said while policy debates would be spirited, he said they would not become divisive or partisan.
“In my experience in the ANC there is no voting when it comes to policy. It’s a collective effort to shape policy together,” Radebe said.
Labels: ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE
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COMMENT - 'It won't work'? It has already worked in Zimbabwe. The land reform program has survived international attack, economic sanctions, domestic sabotage by the MDC and Tendai Biti, and the knowing and willful destruction of the Zimbabwe Dollar through economic sanctions coming out of the US Senate(ZDERA 2001). And still the Zimbabwean farmers are beating records every year. A lot of effort has gone in trying to prevent the successful landreform program of Zimbabwe being seen as such, and subsequently being implemented in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Kenya.
ANC won’t engage on land grabs: Mantashe
June 6 2012 at 03:20pm
By SAPA
The ANC will not engage with its youth wing over the issue of land reform, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday.
“It will not be helpful to engage in violent polemics with the ANC Youth League in the run-up to the ANC policy conference. The conference will address land reform in detail,” he said.
“It is not the ANC policy to expropriate land without compensation, and
personally I don't think it will work,” he said.
Mantashe was talking at a meeting between the ANC and South African farmers in Morningside, Joburg.
He said the party was engaging with both established and emerging farmers to help create a successful agricultural environment in the country.
“Land distribution (to emerging farmers who claim land) must go together with things like food production and food security.”
Mantashe was joined at the meeting by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, who said the issue of farmer safety was “touched on” during the meeting.
Afriforum and the Transvaal Agriculture Union (TAU SA) announced on Wednesday that they were preparing to lay charges against ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola over comments he made about land reform.
On Tuesday, Lamola said the Constitution must be changed to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.
He warned that if white South Africans did not hand land over to poor blacks, there could be land invasions like those which took place in Zimbabwe.
Afriforum legal representative Willie Spies said Lamola's comments amounted to hate speech and fell within the definitions of incitement to violence.
TAU-SA said it was “disgusted” by Lamola's comments and would file a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission.
Spies said Lamola specifically referred to, among others, “the Van Tonders and the Van der Merwes on farms” and warned that their safety cannot be guaranteed.
ANC spokeswoman Magdalene Moonsamy said the groups needed to be “ready for the fight of their lives”.
“We welcome this battle, and we will not retreat. We are adamant that this issue of land cannot be negotiated, and at no point will we back down,” she said.
Mantashe said he chose not to watch a video made by Afriforum which called on South Africans to take a stand against certain ANC policies, specifically about land ownership.
“I have a problem with Afriforum, they are an offshoot of Mynwerkersunie – a racist organisation. I have no desire to watch it. I will only get surprised if they (Afriforum) do something different.”
The video, entitled “ANC, the conmen” alleges that the ANC plans to make fundamental changes to the Constitution, which will remove the right to private land ownership.
The SABC has refused to flight the video as a paid advert. – Sapa
Labels: ANC, ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, GWEDE MANTASHE, LAND REFORM
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Biti is arrogant and confused: ANC’s Mantashe
This article was written by Our reporter on 26 September, at 23 : 37 PM
THE secretary-general of the African National Congress (ANC), Gwede Mantashe, has described MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti as an “arrogant and confused” minister who does not know the difference between a political party and a Government ministry.In an interview on Thursday last week in Zimbabwe, the ANC supremo
chastised Biti for “lying” that he had met the ANC as a political party when in actual fact he “just met” South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan, on “official ministerial” business only.Mantashe said the ANC, Africa’s oldest liberation movement, had “no business with stooges”.
“That secretary-general of Tsvangirai’s party (Biti) is very arrogant and confused, he thinks if he has met Pravin, then he has met the ANC. Pravin is not the ANC, this is not hard to understand for a lawyer like Biti, hopefully.
“You do not meet a government minister in any country in his capacity as a minister, and not politician, then report back to your friends and wife that you have meet the said minister’s party. No.
“I have met him (Biti) several times in South Africa in the streets, malls and meeting rooms, and that does not mean that his party has met the ANC. You meet the ANC not there (streets, malls and meeting rooms) but at Chief Albert Luthuli House (ANC headquarters in Johannesburg),” said Mantashe.
The tough-talking Mantashe made it clear that the ANC had “no business with stooges” of former colonial masters and would only engage genuine home-grown political opposition parties within and outside Africa.
“Why should the ANC have time to engage stooges of those that oppressed and imprisoned us before? We will, as a party, only have time to spare a thought or two for real home-grown opposition political parties whose founding purpose is anchored on the masses and not some donor funds and neo-colonial interests.
“Besides, why can’t the MDC-T just organise meetings with their fellow stooges, the DA, which they seem to understand well?” he asked.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), an opposition political party in South Africa led by Hellen Zille, who is a rabid critic of indigenisation policies that are meant to benefit the black majority in that country, has been accused by the ANC of defending white privilege.
Mantashe added that his five-member delegation that was in Zimbabwe only met Zanu-PF because of the long-standing relationship that the ANC has enjoyed with liberation movements in Africa, and also because as the ANC they have “never been invited” to “anything” by the MDC-T.
Mantashe, who is also the chairman of the South African Communist Party (SACP), said he last met Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in June this year at the funeral of veteran anti-apartheid activist Mama Albertina Sisulu.
“I have never even met Biti’s boss — Tsvangirai — as the ANC SG or SACP chair. I just saw him at emngcwabeni kaAlbertina, singaqoqanga nokuhlangana,” he said, adding that if the MDC-T “does not repent”, they will achieve “nothing” in Africa.
When asked whether the ANC has met Biti’s MDC counterpart Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Mantashe responded: “As the ANC, we meet those that want to meet us; we do not go around fishing out for opposition political parties to make friendships with. We are in power and have a country to run.
“Those that desire to meet us, show by inviting us for such meetings, and for as long as they fall under what we believe in, we will sit down with them,” he said.
Mantashe flew into Zimbabwe on Tuesday last week leading a five-member delegation. He met Vice-Presidents John Landa Nkomo and Joice Mujuru, several Cabinet ministers from Zanu-PF and visited the National Heroes’ Acre where he laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The ANC has strong ties with Zanu-PF and is one of the liberation movements in Africa that have vowed to protect the gains of the liberation struggle against marauding imperial forces that have resorted to installing puppet regimes as a stratagem for manipulating and controlling African nations.
– TSM/TZG
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE (SOUTH AFRICA), GWEDE MANTASHE, MDC, SACP, TENDAI BITI
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Mugabe slams ‘racist Boers’ with colonial nostalgia
This article was written by Our reporter on 9 June, at 18 : 51
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said on Friday that South Africa’s ruling African National Congress should block an investigation in South Africa into alleged violence by Zanu-PF because it is inspired by racist whites. He made the remarks while officially opening a summit of former Sadc liberation movements in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.
“Naturally, as we develop and enact policies to deliver on these promises to our people such as our land reform programmes and the ongoing indigenisation and empowerment programmes here in Zimbabwe, we are targets for regime change.
“In this context, it is important to remember that this Harare meeting takes place after the recent ruling by one Boer Judge Hans Fabricius in the North Gauteng High Court in South Africa calling on authorities in that country to probe alleged atrocities in Zimbabwe, arrest and prosecute alleged offenders under the International Criminal Court of which South Africa is a party and Zimbabwe is not.
“Needless to say, we take umbrage at these residual Rhodesian and Apartheid forces that are finding space in our midst, to use our courts in a manner that seeks to mollify their defeat at the hands of our liberation struggles and reverse the gains that we have attained for our collective peoples.
“That judgment, like those outrageous ones of the Sadc Tribunal which has now been dissolved, constitutes a direct assault on our sovereignty by shameless forces afflicted by racist nostalgia.”
He urged the ANC to take action.
“I wish to urge our colleagues in the ANC of South Africa to see this for what it is and apply every means at their disposal to ensure that such machinations are not in the end, allowed to negatively affect our cordial relations.”
The President urged delegates to the summit to digest the issue and “pronounce itself clearly against that judgment as one of its resolutions”.
In May, a South African judge ordered prosecutors in that country to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
The case was filed by a human rights group called the Zimbabwean Exiles Forum.
The President urged South African leaders to “apply every means at their disposal” to prevent the case souring relations between the two countries that fought a common struggle to end white minority rule in Africa.
The ruling came at the instigation of those “still in our midst yearning for the old flags” of Rhodesia, he said.
He told representatives of the liberation groups of the ANC, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe that Africa has come under renewed attack from former colonisers determined to replace revolutionary parties with “malleable stooges.”
He said it is the role of liberation movement summits to ensure liberation struggle gains are not reversed.
“We want resolute and focused implementation of resolutions with tangible results, that has been our hallmark of the struggle, please make it remain so.
“Lest we forget, the purpose of these meetings is to accord former liberation movements an opportunity to deliberate, agree and develop joint strategies to enable us to retain the power we won on behalf of the people.
“This is urgent given that our revolutionary ideologies have come under sustained attack, nay, renewed attack from our erstwhile colonial masters who are determined to replace our revolutionary parties with malleable, neo-liberal stooge parties deliberately formed, built and funded to reverse all the gains of our liberation struggles,” President Mugabe said.
He narrated how the West formed the MDC in 1999 in a bid to reverse the gains of the liberation struggle and went on to locate the hands of the imperialists in uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Ivory Coast and Libya.
“Now being checked in Syria and contained in Iran, this predatory advancing wave of Western liberal imperialism is searching most desperately for other avenues of least resistance in which to express itself.
“We do not have to look far to see the West’s dark hand behind the current disturbances in Mali and Guinea Bissau. See how the carnal forces now seek the imminent balkanisation of Mali into smaller states and similar fragmentation of Libya into three or more separate states.
“As liberation movements, we need to closely watch these and other unfolding situations in the Horn of Africa, in order to be fully alerted to the key role players of
Africa’s destabilisation, establish their intentions and conceive ways and means of resisting the savagery of their actions. Africa should never be a colony again!” President Mugabe said.
He said Southern Africa, having been the last frontier of colonialism and by virtue of its high concentration of liberation movements in national politics, was regarded as inimical to the West’s fundamental interests.
The Zanu-PF party is not going to lose power without fighting to defend its role in achieving independence, President Mugabe said.
President Mugabe acknowledged on Friday that his Zanu-PF party lost votes in strongholds in the 2008 polls, but the party could still rule permanently with its traditional support.
“Parties don’t retire, its persons who retire. We cannot say we have stayed too long in government so that we should give others a chance to rule,” he said.
Labels: APARTHEID, GWEDE MANTASHE, NEOCOLONIALISM, ROBERT MUGABE, TENDAI BITI
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ANC ratifies support for Mugabe's Zanu-PF
NICKOLAUS BAUER - Dec 12 2011 17:51
The ruling African National Congress on Monday confirmed weekend reports it would be supporting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's party during general elections in 2012. "We are consolidating our relationship as a former liberation movement and yes we are supporting them," ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza told the Mail & Guardian.
According to media reports, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told the Zanu-PF national conference in Bulawayo last week that his party will support the Zimbabwean ruling party in retaining power next year. But Khoza said the ANC's supporting role will "mutually benefit all Zimbabweans".
"Our approach in helping former liberation movements is in the hopes they will improve. We need an approach that will allow political parties in Zimbabwe to be sensitive to the needs of the people," he said.
The nature of the support the ANC would provide remains unclear at this stage, but it would not be a financial contribution.
"They will decide how best to utilise our skills: Be it electioneering, strategising, monitoring and so on," Khoza added.
The ANC is the only one out several liberation movements at the conference to openly declare support for Zanu-PF.
Former president Thabo Mbeki brokered a power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and its rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) following disputed elections in 2008.
CONTINUES BELOW
The agreement saw MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai become prime minister in a government of national unity -- something Mugabe now describes as "unworkable".
"This inclusive government must now see its death. It must come to an end, and we must dig its grave. Let us now start preparing for elections," Mugabe told Zanu-PF supporters as he closed the party's conference.
No date has been set for elections, with the MDC maintaining a trip to the polls is impossible.
Confused roles
The ANC's support could be construed as confusion of roles as President Jacob Zuma currently serves as the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) political mediator in Zimbabwe.
But the presidency moved quickly on Monday to dispel any perceived bias towards Zanu-PF in the on-going efforts at achieving a workable political solution in Zimbabwe.
"I am sure the Zimbabweans can expect and trust President Zuma to act in an impartial manner in his role as SADC mediator," Zuma's spokesperson Mac Maharaj told the M&G.
Maharaj would not elaborate on how Zuma plans to balance his mediation efforts as state and party president, but maintained any confusion "would be clarified within the ANC".
Khoza echoed Maharaj's sentiment, maintaining the ANC's support strictly lent itself to "party interests, distinct from government".
Labels: ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE, ZANU-PF
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ANC offers Mugabe election help
11/12/2011 00:00:00
by AP
SOUTH Africa's ruling African National Congress has offered to help President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party win the next elections, according to local media reports.
"We are willing to assist in coming up with election messages and strategies that would deliver victory," ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told Zanu PF's annual congress in Bulawayo.
"It is important for Zanu PF to regain lost ground and continue to represent the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe," he was quoted as saying.
Observers voiced surprise at the offer, since Mantashe has frequently criticised the autocratic rule of President Mugabe, 87, who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
They expect it to wrong-foot South African President Jacob Zuma -- who is both ANC president and the regional Southern African Development Community's mediator for the country.
"These are government-to-government relations, and Zuma is working under the auspices of SADC, (while the) ANC is a different animal altogether," Mantashe said. "(The) ANC must interact with some of the sister parties in the region."
He added: "The ANC wishes to affirm her commitment to being a good and trustworthy neighbour to a fellow liberation movement (against white minority rule)."
"We will send campaign strategy teams to work with you; this will be the best way to celebrate the centenary of the ANC in January 2012," he said.
At the weekend conference, Mugabe called on his supporters to unite behind him to win elections which he would like to see held next year.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE, ZANU-PF
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ANC sends back nationalisation report for changes
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Nov 28 2011 13:56
The nationalisation document was presented to the national executive committee (NEC) on Monday but was sent back due to its style of writing. African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe hinted that not enough case studies from other countries were presented.
The ANC's task team investigating nationalisation has "almost finished its work", party spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said on Friday. He said that to the best of his knowledge, the team would -- as earlier agreed -- complete its report by year-end.
State ownership
The Mail & Guardian understands that the independent panel investigating the state's role in the economy on behalf of the ANC puts state ownership on the table as one of many options on how the state can extract more from South Africa's mineral wealth.
However, the panel hardly gives it a ringing endorsement. It lists nationalisation as an expensive, last-resort, high-risk proposition, which could lead to investment collapsing, bond rates (a measure of a country's risk) skyrocketing and the slowing of the economy.
The first draft of the 350-page report, titled State intervention: Maximising the development impact of mineral assets, was handed to the ANC steering committee's Gwede Mantashe and Enoch Godongwana a week ago and has been revised a few times this week.
The mere tabling of the report marks something of a victory for youth league leaders, who have vowed to bring about "nationalisation in their lifetime" despite fierce resistance from the higher echelons of the party who feel any talk about nationalisation is detrimental to the economy.
Sneak preview
But the battle to have the party accept it as a viable option will be arduous and uncertain. While the national executive committee got a sneak preview at the weekend, it is the party's policy conference next year that will be the true battleground.
The report is the fruit of an exhaustive exercise that started in March, taking panel members to 14 countries to gain insights into state interventions that boosted growth and job creation.
With the world in a state of economic flux and sovereign debt spiralling, countries around the world are under great pressure to reduce their borrowings. The thinking is: why fund the economy on debt when you can fund it with taxes? The latter is seen as a more sustainable approach.
Some of the controversial interventions mooted are a resources rent tax on mining profits, a tax on raw mineral exports and price penalties attached to licensing conditions.
A resources rent tax, similar to the Australian model, is seen as progressive because it is a tax on exceptional profits -- it only kicks in after the normal average profits are recorded.
State intervention
The ANC reckons it could bring R40-billion a year into the fiscus, which could almost halve South Africa's current account deficit. The bigger picture is about getting competitive input prices into the economy to stimulate job creation.
Essentially all the big feedstocks for manufacturing, which is currently a dead-end sector, are targeted for some form of the state intervention.
The thinking is that manufacturing, as in communist countries such as China, has the ability to absorb and create the most jobs. That ties in with government's current industrial plan to provide a R25-billion short-term stimulus for manufacturing.
On the target list are petrochemical companies, steel manufacturers, polymer producers along with iron ore, coal, platinum, copper, fertilisers and cement producers. Gold does not feature in this mix, mainly because the report does not identify it as a sector of great job creation potential.
Predatory pricing
The companies most under attack and targeted for nationalisation are Sasol and steel giant ArcelorMittal South Africa -- both state companies during apartheid -- which the ANC believes have strategic assets but are engaged in predatory pricing because of lack of competition.
It would be easier to nationalise ArcelorMittal SA, which would come at a price of R7.9-billion.
But to renationalise Sasol would be expensive. The report calculates that it would cost R55-billion for government to increase its 26% stake, through the Industrial Development Corporation and the Public Investment Corporation, to more than 50% and force its hand in pushing for lower prices.
A less expensive option would be to nationalise Sasol through part state ownership and pension funds. One idea is to try and convince the unions, whose pension funds are run by fund managers, to join up with the government, giving it a controlling stake. -- Additional reporting by I-Net Bridge
Labels: ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE, NATIONALISATION
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SUNDAY MAIL EDITORIAL COMMENT: We exported toyi-toyi, Cde Mantashe
Saturday, 24 September 2011 21:37 Opinion
In the aftermath of last week’s assertions by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe that Zanu-PF is influencing the thinking and actions of ANC youth leader Julius Malema, it may be useful to respond this way: that’s nothing new.
Consider this: Joshua Nkomo’s Zipra guerillas invented the toyi-toyi. An enchanting stomp-and-chant dance, the toyi-toyi originated in Zimbabwe. South Africa’s ANC then took the toyi-toyi and perfected it. The protest dance came from Zimbabwe, even though it later came to define South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement. Surely, Cde Mantashe is aware of this significant piece of history.
Cde Mantashe should ask himself how Zimbabweans successfully exported the toyi-toyi to South Africa. The answer will fascinate him.
The Zipra-Umkhonto WeSizwe alliance which facilitated the exportation of the toyi-toyi to South Africa was anchored on our people’s shared aspiration for total freedom and democracy.
If indeed it is true that Zanu-PF is currently exporting revolutionary ideas to South African youth, it is because the ideas are inspirational and have struck a cord. Nobody can stop an idea whose time has come. The toyi-toyi taught us that.
Today we should ask ourselves whether the black masses of South Africa and Zimbabwe have tasted total liberation.
To the people of Zimbabwe, political freedom was achieved in 1980 but economic freedom is yet to be fully won. While the Third Chimurenga agrarian revolution has delivered a huge measure of economic freedom — much to the chagrin of racist Western politicians — it is really the Last Chimurenga, through the ongoing indigenisation and economic empowerment programme, that will finally lead us to a totally free Zimbabwe.
To the people of South Africa, freedom remains a painful mirage — 17 years after the first multi-party elections. Even the political freedom attained in 1994 is now under serious threat from a privileged white minority which is audacious enough to campaign for the banning of struggle songs. As for economic freedom, South Africa is a ticking time bomb.
Poverty and inequality have actually worsened in South Africa, making a mockery of the much-vaunted “Rainbow Nation”. This is the reason why Malema’s radical message has struck a cord with the poverty-stricken masses. There is a growing realisation that the current senior leadership of the ANC will not deliver economic freedom. Nice-guy Mandela failed dismally, Mbeki flopped spectacularly and now Zuma is utterly clueless, compromised by his close ties with a greedy capitalist class that is refusing to share the cake.
Cde Mantashe and President Zuma cannot afford to ridicule Malema’s gospel of economic emancipation. Any leader of the ANC who chooses to ignore the enormity of South Africa’s racial inequalities is playing with fire. The pauper-poor citizens of South Africa are growing restless by the day, and very soon the threshold of patience will FGGTYbe breached. Clearly, one does not need the intelligence of a Zanu-PF spin-doctor to make this obvious point. Cde Mantashe should know this.
The politics of economic empowerment is shaping the future of Southern Africa in ways that are yet to be fully revealed.
Ask yourself how Mr Michael Chilufya Sata won Zambia’s presidential election last week. No mystery there.
After 20 years of being fed on Western-sponsored hot air, the people of Zambia have now taken matters into their own hands by showing the red card to the politics of deception. Lest we forget, Zambia was a bastion of African liberation, before Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s diminishing returns enabled a motley gang of Western proxies, regime-change upstarts and snake oil salesmen to topple him in 1991.
Those who thought Zambia’s nationalist politics was dead and buried are gasping in utter shock as the magnitude of Sata’s feat hits home. Today, wherever you go in Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe or Livingstone, Zambians of every political persuasion are quick to tell you that their nation paid dearly for the embarrassing blunder that swept Mr Frederick Chiluba to power in 1991.
After 20 long years of unmitigated mismanagement, corruption and Western appeasement by the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, more than 70 percent of Zambians are living in abject poverty. The euphoric “change” that was promised by the MMD and its Western partners 20 years ago rings hollow today.
The people of Zambia have finally realised that they were sold a dummy in 1991. Sata’s resource-nationalism is expected to restore the dignity of the Zambian people.
Sata’s victory is sweeter when you factor in the decisive factor: a surge in new young voters who boosted the numbers for the Patriotic Front leader. And here is the clincher: the message of economic liberation, anchored on a nationalist ethos, can still strike a cord with the youth. This is imperialism’s worst nightmare.
Labels: GWEDE MANTASHE, MICHAEL SATA, MINING
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Biti arrogant, confused: Mantashe
Saturday, 24 September 2011 21:42
By Busani Ncube
THE secretary-general of the African National Congress (ANC), Cde Gwede Mantashe, has described MDC-T secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti as an “arrogant and confused” minister who does not know the difference between a political party and a Government ministry.
In an interview on Thursday, the ANC supremo chastised Mr Biti for “lying” that he had met the ANC as a political party when in actual fact he “just met” South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan, on “official ministerial” business only.
According to the latest batch of US embassy cables revealed by WikiLeaks, Biti has depicted himself as a politician who enjoys special insight into the workings of ANC politicians.
In one of the cables, Biti is quoted as telling US Ambassador to Harare Mr Charles Ray that former South African president Mr Thabo Mbeki’s representatives, who helped broker talks between Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations, were “conniving little idiots”.
In the same discussion with the American diplomat, Biti then speaks glowingly of President Jacob Zuma’s team of representatives, describing them as “a breath of fresh air”.
Cde Mantashe said the ANC, Africa’s oldest liberation movement, had “no business with stooges”.
“That secretary-general of Tsva-ngirai’s party (Mr Biti) is very arrogant and confused, he thinks if he has met Pravin, then he has met the ANC. Pravin is not the ANC, this is not hard to understand for a lawyer like Biti, hopefully.
“You do not meet a government minister in any country in his capacity as a minister, and not politician, then report back to your friends and wife that you have meet the said minister’s party. No.
“I have met him (Mr Biti) several times in South Africa in the streets, malls and meeting rooms, and that does not mean that his party has met the ANC. You meet the ANC not there (streets, malls and meeting rooms) but at Chief Albert Luthuli House (ANC headquarters in Johannes-burg),” said Cde Mantashe.
The tough-talking Mantashe made it clear that the ANC had “no business with stooges” of former colonial masters and would only engage genuine home-grown political opposition parties within and outside Africa.
“Why should the ANC have time to engage stooges of those that oppressed and imprisoned us before? We will, as a party, only have time to spare a thought or two for real home-grown opposition political parties whose founding purpose is anchored on the masses and not some donor funds and neo-colonial interests.
“Besides, why can’t the MDC-T just organise meetings with their fellow stooges, the DA, which they seem to understand well?” he asked.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), an opposition political party in South Africa led by Hellen Zille, who is a rabid critic of indigenisation policies that are meant to benefit the black majority in that country, has been accused by the ANC of defending white privilege.
Cde Mantashe added that his five-member delegation that was in Zimbabwe only met Zanu-PF because of the long-standing relationship that the ANC has enjoyed with liberation movements in Africa, and also because as the ANC they have “never been invited” to “anything” by the MDC-T.
Cde Mantashe, who is also the chairman of the South African Communist Party (SACP), said he last met Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in June this year at the funeral of veteran anti-apartheid activist Mama Albertina Sisulu.
“I have never even met Biti’s boss — Tsvangirai — as the ANC SG or SACP chair. I just saw him at emngcwabeni kaAlbertina, singaqoqanga nokuhlangana,” he said, adding that if the MDC-T “does not repent”, they will achieve “nothing” in Africa.
When asked whether the ANC has met Biti’s MDC counterpart Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Cde Mantashe responded:
“As the ANC, we meet those that want to meet us; we do not go around fishing out for opposition political parties to make friendships with. We are in power and have a country to run.
“Those that desire to meet us, show by inviting us for such meetings, and for as long as they fall under what we believe in, we will sit down with them,” he said.
Cde Mantashe flew into Zimbabwe on Tuesday leading a five-member delegation. He met Vice-Presidents John Landa Nkomo and Joice Mujuru, several Cabinet ministers from Zanu-PF and visited the National Heroes’ Acre where he laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The ANC has strong ties with Zanu-PF and is one of the liberation movements in Africa that have vowed to protect the gains of the liberation struggle against marauding imperial forces that have resorted to installing puppet regimes as a stratagem for manipulating and controlling African nations.
- The Sunday Mail
Labels: ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, PRAVIN GORDHAN, TENDAI BITI
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Malema 'planting seed of civil war’: Mantashe
30/08/2011 00:00:00
by AFP
SUPPORTERS of Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of South Africa's ruling party's youth league, have been accused of trying to "plant the seed of civil war", as hundreds clashed with police in Johannesburg. Gwede Mantashe, the African National Congress's Secretary-General, said the violence was the worst seen in Johannesburg's central business district since apartheid ended in 1994.
Stone and bottle-throwing started early Tuesday morning and police responded almost immediately with rubber bullets, stun grenades and water canon fire. Car windows were smashed, rubbish bins were set slight and there were reports that people travelling to work were dragged from their cars and told to join the protesters.
Several blocks around the ANC headquarters were sealed off with razor wire, behind which stood riot police with helmets and plastic shields.
Clashes between police and supporters of Malema erupted in Johannesburg as the outspoken leader appeared before the ANC's disciplinary committee accused of "sowing dissent".
"If this is an attempt to intimidate, it is not working," Mr Mantashe said. "Whoever brought this crowd here will have to take responsibility."
Malema and his supporters are openly challenging President Jacob Zuma and the ANC leadership, who they accuse of trying to "silence" them in their calls for wealth distribution through mine nationalisation and Zimbabwe-style land seizures.
The party has charged the Youth League president and his senior aides with sowing dissent in ANC ranks and bringing the movement into disrepute through attacks on Zuma and a recent call for the overthrow of President Ian Khama in neighbouring Botswana.
Malema, who faces expulsion from the party in the coming weeks if found guilty, could form a breakaway party.
During a postponement in the hearing, the 30-year-old emerged from the ANC's Luthuli House and was given a hero's welcome.
Wearing a black beret and a black T-shirt bearing the slogan "Economic Freedom Fighters", he told the estimated 3,000 people who converged in a public square to hear him speak to stop attacking police and burning ANC flags.
He reminded them that their gripe was with the current leadership, not the party of Nelson Mandela.
But he said the ANC youth league and its "revolutionary struggle" was the "only hope" for unemployed and impoverished South Africans.
"The silencing of the youth league is the silencing of the voice of the voiceless. The youth league is the only organisation that speaks on behalf of the poor," he said.
He called on protesters not to attack journalists or police, adding: "You must know who is the enemy," at which the crowd roared: "Zuma is the enemy".
Several journalists and a police officer were injured by flying rocks and broadcasting equipment damaged.
Malema has often claimed the media who reported the corruption claims that have dogged him are backed by right-wing extremists and "imperialists".
Kebby Maphatsoe, the chairman of the veterans' association of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC formed by Mandela to fight apartheid, said the violence during the day was carefully organised.
"Their actions are clearly meant to divide our communities and ultimately the South African society," he said.
"Their deliberate actions are clearly meant to plant the seed of a civil war in our country."
Bongani Mani, the president of Cosas, South Africa's student union, condemned the involvement of schoolchildren, some of whom were reportedly bussed in from Soweto in the middle of the day, still in their uniforms.
Labels: ANC, ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, GWEDE MANTASHE, JULIUS MALEMA
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Malema lashes Mantashe on Botswana
05/08/2011 00:00:00
by Agencies
JULIUS Malema on Thursday accused ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe of “using headlines” to attack the ANC Youth League’s views on Botswana.
Speaking at a public lecture at the University of Johannesburg's Soweto campus, the ANC Youth League president said they had not contradicted the ruling party's policy positions as cited by Mantashe and ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu earlier this week.
The ANC will on Monday hold a bilateral meeting with the league and the Botswana issue will take centre stage.
On Sunday the ANCYL executive, led by Malema, said it would set up a "command team" to promote unity among opposition parties in Botswana with the aim of toppling President Ian Khama's elected government.
The statement drew strong condemnation from the ANC, with Mantashe on Wednesday accusing the league of publicly showing a "desire to undermine the ANC leadership".
But on Thursday, Malema instead fired a broadside at the ANC, accusing Mantashe and Mthembu of attempting to stifle debate on political positions taken by the league.
"At our congress the BNF [Botswana National Front] spoke in front of everybody, not in the toilets. Why do we want to become a generation of cowards? They openly and proudly associated themselves with us [during apartheid]. Why can't we do the same? BNF must be supported by strategy and tactics. Not to overthrow. What's regime-changing about that?" Malema asked.
"When the DA calls for regime change in Zimbabwe, no-one says anything. Do you want to suppress debate? It can never be. Is there a problem of policy or individuals? You want to engage us through headlines. This was a political view. There's no contradiction."
He added: "We will continue to associate with BNF. While the ANC was trying to overthrow apartheid, other parties associated with us openly; they didn't just write press statements. They gave us arms, they gave us food. They openly and proudly associated themselves with the ANC. Why can't we do that ourselves today?”
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, who arrived towards the end of Malema's address, hopes to eclipse Mantashe from his position at the ANC's national conference in 16 months' time.
While Botswana’s opposition parties have welcomed Malema’s help, the government there says it is not concerned.
Botswana government spokesperson Jeff Ramsay said: "It is unlikely that the government will respond to such utterances as they were made by someone who does not hold any official position within the South African government and as such does not necessarily represent the position of the South African government.
"Whatever Malema said will not in any way strain relations between the government of Botswana and the South African government."
Labels: ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, BOTSWANA, GWEDE MANTASHE, JULIUS MALEMA
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Cosatu, ANC rift deepens
2010-11-02 18:59
Johannesburg - A civil society gathering hosted by Cosatu last week had taken an "oppositionist" stance toward the ANC-led government, party secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday.
"We noted that the ANC, the (SA Communist Party) and (SA National Civics Organisation) were not invited, positioning the conference as an alternative block to the alliance," Mantashe told reporters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg.
"We call it oppositionist because there is a difference between political criticism of an ally or an organisation you are party member of and you position yourself opposite to that party.
"It's not an opposition party, but the stance is oppositionist. And we think it's a dangerous populist approach to disagreements and it is intending to create a crisis where there is no crisis."
He was speaking after a meeting of the ANC's national working committee on Monday. The conference last week was hosted by ANC ally, Cosatu, and included civil society formations.
At the two-day gathering, a labour breakaway from the ANC was mooted, but shut down.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi also denied suggestions the conference was testing the waters for a new political party.
Mantashe said the ruling party did not believe the majority of Cosatu's leaders intended to effect regime change in the country.
"... but we nonetheless caution that an action like the one of leading a charge for the formation... of a mass civic movement outside the alliance and the ANC might indeed be interpreted as initial steps for regime change in South Africa."
Vavi's attacks on "black political parties" and the "notable omission" of the Democratic Alliance further reinforced the conference being interpreted as a move toward a breakaway.
Mantashe said despite assertions the conference was not "anti-government or anti-ANC", Cosatu's failure to invite the ANC and to allow the government to respond to criticism levelled at it, pointed to the opposite.
Despite this, Mantashe said the ANC's relationship with Cosatu remained "working" and "workable".
There were disagreements, but in the end, the ruling party and its labour ally would talk to each other, he said.
Mantashe acknowledged there were problems, saying perhaps these could be attributed to an "ideological shift" within Cosatu.
"Many of these issues... old debates that were defeated in the 80s and in the 90s, and if they re-emerge now and they have the resonance in the federation, it may point to the ideological shift in the federation itself and the shifting of the balance of forces to the extreme.
"If that happens within the federation, it will also create difficulties in the working of the alliance."
No disciplinary action
A temporary cease-fire between the ANC and Cosatu emerged after the ANC's national general council (NGC) in September after months of tension over the country's economic trajectory and the ANC's perceived soft stance against corruption.
The fall-out prompted the ANC to mull disciplining Vavi, but the idea was eventually canned. Vavi remained vocal and critical over what he termed the "predatory elite" and "political hyenas" in the ranks of the ruling party.
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema urged the ANC to discipline Vavi over his "political hyena" comments, saying this went against an NGC resolution to avoid public spats.
Mantashe on Tuesday said the NWC was "appalled" over Vavi's "predatory elite" remark. He added that public spats were directed at a particular person, while Vavi's comments were "generalised".
"... when you generalise and say there's a smell of predatory elite here, you are not attacking a person... we can't go out and say 'listen you are attacking comrade so and so... therefore there is a public spat... therefore we must punish you'."
He however added that generalising was more harmful than being specific.
"... those generalised statements cause more harm than being specific... because when you throw generalised statements... actually you are casting aspersions and innuendoes that cause more damage then specific cases."
No disciplinary action could be taken against Cosatu as it was an "independent" body in an alliance with other independent parties, the ANC and the SACP.
"They are not a labour desk of the ANC, they are the trade union federation independent of the ANC, but in an alliance with the ANC."
The ANC would convene an urgent meeting with Cosatu to discuss its qualms.
- SAPA
Labels: ANC, COSATU, GWEDE MANTASHE, JULIUS MALEMA, MALE, ZWELINZIMA VAVI
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COMMENT - The mines must pay for national development. There is no way about it. Until they do, all the laments by politicians that 'there is no money' are completely unbelievable. If there is no money - THEN GO AND GET IT. YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS.
Mines have only brought sickness: Malema
by Sapa
04/10/2010 00:00:00
JULIUS Malema, the leader of the youth wing of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress said mines had “brought nothing but sickness” for rural communities as he vowed to ensure that ANC leaders who oppose his efforts to put the country's mines in the state's hands are removed.
"Comrades we are not threatened ... we will fight until we realise economic freedom in our lifetime. Political power without economic power is useless," he said on Saturday at the launch of the league's nationalisation campaign in Maandagshoek, Limpopo.
If mining did not benefit the majority of South Africans, the league would ensure it didn't benefit the minority of the country's people either, he said. He likened mining companies operating in the area to thugs. The only difference, he said, was that the mines were “daylight robbers”.
"The people who steal these resources play golf in London. They know nothing about your poverty. These mines [have] brought nothing but sickness."
The ANCYL under his leadership would emulate the league of Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu in ensuring the campaign succeeded. “The ANC leadership of the 1940s was writing love letters to the queen of England, when the youth league wanted a radical programme of action.”
This was in reference to the removal of Dr Alfred Xuma, then-ANC president, “who dismissed Mandela and Sisulu when they wanted radical programme of action instead of negotiations”.
At the ruling party's recent conference in Durban, the youth league succeeded in placing the nationalisation debate firmly on the agenda.
At the start of the conference, the league's secretary general, Vuyiswa Tulelo, spelled out the kind of position the league wanted from the national general council.
"They must say we'll talk about it again at the policy conference [in mid-2012] and take a decision at [the national conference in] Mangaung," she said in the lobby of Durban's Hilton Hotel.
The nationalisation discussion was marked by booing and heckling, and leaders such as ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe tried to shift the focus from mines by arguing that Postbank should be "nationalised" as a proper bank.
In the end Deputy Public Enterprises Minister Enoch Godongwana and Planning Minister Trevor Manuel were brought out to explain the outcome of the discussion to the world's media.
Godongwana afterwards grudgingly admitted to journalists that "nationalisation got as far as it did" in the ANC's cycle of debate because he, as chairperson of the economic transformation committee, had not done enough to counter the youth league's discussion documents.
His and Manuel's strenuous arguments about why nationalisation is a bad idea -- it would cost R2,3-trillion, the state cannot even run Alexkor (the state-owned diamond company), and it already owns all mineral rights -- failed to convince the delegates.
In the end, the leadership was forced to include the word "nationalisation" in the final declaration.
Meanwhile South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers said on Monday that Malema’s statements “threaten the livelihoods and security of jobs of the over 400 000 mineworkers employed in the industry”.
Union spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said they supported the resolution of the ANC’s national general council last month that “proper research be done” on nationalisation and that these findings be presented to the party’s national conference in 2012.
“We, however, call on the ANC to provide the much-needed leadership and to rein in its youth wing to ensure that in the process serious damage is not done to the reputation of the country and the image of the South African mining industry” in the eyes of the investor community, he added.
Labels: GWEDE MANTASHE, JULIUS MALEMA, MINING, NATIONALISATION, NEOLIBERALISM
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Mantashe urges more efforts for South Africans
By Larry Moonze in Cuba
Fri 26 Mar. 2010, 09:20 CAT
AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) general secretary Gwede Mantashe has said a lot still needs to be done for South Africans in the post-apartheid era.
Mantashe, who is also national coordinator of the South African Communist Party, leading an ANC delegation visiting Cuba said the reality in South Africa was that since the fall of the apartheid regime, work was being done in favour of the people.
“A lot has been done in favour of the people although we still have a lot to do,” he said, according to Cuban News Agency reports from Santa Clara.
The ANC delegation that arrived in Havana last Friday is on a tour of the central province of Villa Clara where it has paid homage to Che Guevara’s museum and met some 100 South African students.
Mantashe thanked the local authorities in Santa Clara for the opportunity to “visit the historic museum and the mausoleum where the mortal remains of Guevara and his guerrilla comrades who died in Bolivia rest.”
“We feel inspired by Che’s example,” he said. “He taught us solidarity and internationalism and Cuba is a bastion against injustice and in favour of people’s freedom.”
Mantashe acknowledged the greater role Cuba played for Africa’s struggle for political independence.
He said due to Cuba’s assistance, the African peoples got rid of the infamous apartheid regime.
Regarding the friendship ties between Cuba and South Africa, Mantashe said they were very close and that the delegation’s visit was an example of that.
He also stressed ANC’s support of the struggle for the release of the “five Cuban antiterrorists who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998.”
Communist Party of Cuba politburo member Misael Enamorado said the visit would strengthen the historical bonds existing between the PCC and the ANC including the South African Communist Party.
Labels: ANC, GWEDE MANTASHE, SACP
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A lot yet to be done for South Africans post Aparthied - Mantashe
By Larry Moonze in Cuba
Wed 24 Mar. 2010, 13:20 CAT
AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) general secretary Gwede Mantashe has said a lot still needs to be done for South Africans in the post-apartheid era.
Mantashe, who is also national coordinator of the South African Communist Party, leading an ANC delegation visiting Cuba said the reality in South Africa was that since the fall of the apartheid regime work was being done in favour of the people.
“A lot has been done in favour of the people although we still have a lot to do,” he said, according to Cuban News Agency reports from Santa Clara.
The ANC delegation that arrived in Havana, Cuba on Friday is on tour of the central province of Villa Clara where it has paid homage to Che Guevara’s museum and met some 100 South African students.
Mantashe thanked the local authorities in Santa Clara for the opportunity to “visit the historic museum and the mausoleum where the mortal remains of Guevara and his guerrilla comrades who died in Bolivia rest.”
“We feel inspired by Che’s example,” he said. “He taught us solidarity and internationalism and Cuba is a bastion against injustice and in favour of people’s freedom.”
Mantashe acknowledged the greater role Cuba played for Africa’s struggle for political independence. He said thanks to Cuba’s assistance the African peoples got rid of the infamous apartheid regime.
Regarding the friendship ties between Cuba and South Africa, Mantashe said they are very close and that the delegation’s visit was an example.
He also stressed the ANC’s support of the struggle for the release of the “five Cuban antiterrorists who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998.”
Communist Party of Cuba politburo member Misael Enamorado said the visit would strengthen the historical bonds existing between the PCC and the ANC including the South African Communist Party.
Enamorado said the PCC expected to receive South African President Jacob Zuma as soon as it was possible for him.- Post Online
Labels: ANC, CUBA, GWEDE MANTASHE, SACP, SOUTH AFRICA
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