An open letter to Malema
Dear Mr Malema
I hope this brief and candid letter finds you
in good health. I have followed your political career with the awe of an
avid Orlando Pirates fan and have cherished a wish for a sustained
mutual political encounter on the issues that affect the lives of our
people.
You spoke with a determined voice, raising
issues that bedevilled the lives of our people. You raised your hand and
threw your fist in the air to be counted as one who fought for the
betterment of our people.
At an early age you took a labourious trip to
bury your struggle icon and hero Chris Hani and were counted among those
who paid their last respects and who took up the cudgel and the spear
(Umkhonto) to continue where he left off. Hani’s death might have been a
turning point in your life.
Back in Limpopo, you may have witnessed from
the distant margins, given your age, the enchanting devotion of Peter
Mokaba and his boundless energy couched in that iconic rhythmic trance
wherein he called the young lions to duty and harnessed their cyclonic
fury. At most times he was chided by the senior leadership for making
calls such as “kill the boer, the farmer” but the youth embraced them
like gospel truth. Mokaba was summoned and called to order and urged to
retract.
Regardless of how he felt about the justice of
his chants and their reflection on the true feelings of our people, he
relented and submitted to organisational discipline. Being reprimanded
in public was humiliating enough but Mokaba understood the essence of
organisational discipline and democratic centralism, and submitted and
swallowed his pride.
Thami Ka Plaatjie
.
This brings me to the main issue I wish to
raise with you, dear son of Africa. Political organisations are
established on the basis of a set of ideological underpinnings which
over time constitute a certain form of culture given the various
crucibles of struggles that have been waged and experienced.
Arising from this organisational culture are
numerous permutations that are added to it by the succeeding layers of
leaders and members, given certain historical realities. One of the
recurring themes of organisational culture that has eluded many is the
principle of submitting to organisational discipline.
This fact might, given varying circumstances,
be construed as submitting to a discipline of certain leaders. For
example, you argue as you always do, that your expulsion is as a result
of the hatred that President Zuma has towards you. So, in this case you
personalise organisational discipline to rivalry between yourself and
the leaders of the movement.
Ace Magashule might have felt the same way when
under president Thabo Mbeki he was harassed and frustrated over 10
years. But, unlike you, he endured and history rewarded him.
You are aggrieved because you have lost property and have suffered public humiliation for what you regard as your beliefs.
Are these the ranks that you wish to abandon
and curse? Over time and out of anger the people’s movement has lost
some of its fine cadres in the crucibles of its struggles.
I still lament the loss of cadres such as
Mbazima Shilowa, Smuts Ngonyama and Willie Madishe to name a few. Today,
to paraphrase the poet Thomas Gray, they have blushed unseen and wasted
their sweetness on the desert air. Today some of them cut lonely
figures on the opposition benches having erased their struggle legacy.
I wish to appeal for your endurance and
acceptance of organisational discipline. However you may feel –
aggrieved and betrayed and humiliated – you are asked, at least by
history, to endure because the crown of victory will come to those who
wear the cross.
Restrain your anger against your movement,
return to its ranks, and work among the people you so dearly love, fight
their struggles and bide your time.
The move of establishing a new political party
is born out of anger and frustration and will, in time, seal your doom.
In 1951 a prominent South African, angry against the ANC, set out to
establish his own political party. His name was Selope Thema, then the
editor of the Bantu World, a seasoned member of the ANC. Fooled by the
attention he commanded as editor of a black newspaper, he thought that
such a platform would translate into votes. He called his organisation
African Minded Block or Bafa begiya. It derived its name from the heroes
of Mendi who on the eve of their death embarked on the dance of death.
(Bafa begiya means they died dancing).
Alas, Thema’s political death came without a
dance as the pages of history referred to him in footnotes. Son of
Africa, media attention is temporal and transient. Rooting yourself and
steeling your resolve in the ranks of an experienced movement proffers
abundant possibilities to make a difference in the lives of our people.
One writer wrote that we are all tools of
history and history will always find new tools to wage its fight and
express itself. History has chosen Jacob Zuma, Gwede Mantashe, Cyril
Ramaphosa, Jessie Duarte, Lindiwe Sisulu, Thandi Modise and Baleka
Mbethe, to name a few, and in time it will find and chose other tools to
wage its fight and express itself.
When such a time comes, history must find you within the ranks of the people’s movement, the ANC.
I recently came across some interesting historical finds based on archival research for a book I am writing.
Angry with the ANC and disgusted by the extent
to which the communists had infiltrated its ranks, a crop of youth
leaguers based in Orlando broke ranks with the ANC in 1958.
Before they could finalise their decision they
approached AP Mda, one of the founders of the ANC Youth League and a
close alter-ego of Anton Lembede, for counsel. Mda advised that the
youth should work within the ranks of the ANC and systematically
advocate their views.
Their leader, Robert Sobukwe, challenged the
advice and argued that: “Mda’s ideas are no longer sacrosanct.” I am not
that old to be wise, but have in my brief life seen few episodes of
history which compel me to share these few lessons with you.
In Xhosa there is an adage that goes: Indlela
ibuzwa kwaba phambile (Ask for directions from those who have travelled
the road).
Accept that politics is not religion but is an
evolving science akin to a long arduous and demanding journey. Throw not
your hands in the air, son of Africa; compose yourself and enter the
long race. You have the best available asset at your disposal – the
benefits of age and time. My counsel to you, son of Africa, is to stay
within the ranks of the glorious movement, lick your wounds, regain your
resolve, up your chin and submit to organisational discipline and fate
will be the best arbiter.
Your views ring true and reverberate throughout
a troubled generation, but to fight against the people’s movement
hoping to win will be as impossible as presiding over your own
cremation.
The distant cries of Mokaba and Stompie Seipei
beckon you home. The Pedi people of old have advised that: Ditau tsa
hloka seboka disiwa ke nare ehlotsa (disunited lions are outrun by a
limping buffalo).
As we face the forthcoming elections, the unity
of our people is paramount. I trust that this advice will allow you
time to reflect and take decisions in the best national interest of our
people. So long, son of Africa.
* Ka Plaatjie is member of the panel of advisors to Lindiwe Sisulu, and writes in own capacity.
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