Phaki Ximiya: Factionalism is dishonouring our comrades’ memory

Johannesburg - The road to South Africa’s freedom has been a painful one. Sweat and blood were shed to bring us to where we are. It is important that we always remind ourselves of this painful truth, and from time to time revisit these painful stories of our people, so that we ensure we never forget where we come from and consciously or unconsciously be used in the reversal of our struggles. In commemoration of the Maseru Massacre of December 9 1982, vigilance is the operative word as we enter the season of conferences. These coming conferences are definitely going to be the do or die for the ANC. Unfortunately, some among us, on both sides of the divide, are so blinded by ambition to the point of recklessness and are busy slaughtering the only hope of our people, the ANC, motivated by personal gain. The critical question we need to ask ourselves during this rather difficult era of our revolution is “what matters? Our selfish interests or the general good of our people?” Are we going to be used as pawns by factionalists who are blinded by their ambitions and let the ANC die, or are we willing to sacrifice ourselves like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Albert Luthuli, who even dared the hangman’s noose for a better life for all? Are we so blinded by self-interest to the point of being willing to partake in the stealing of an ANC conference? I owe it to the giants who I have been fortunate to walk alongside as they gave their all for the noble struggle for a better life for all. To keep quiet when I can see that there are wolves among us in sheep skin is no different from selling out. When I allow money, position, business interests to weigh more than the interests of our people, how different am I from Judas, who took 30 pieces of silver? As a reminder to the painful journey, December 9 is one of those dates – 39 years ago on this day in 1982, I was a student at the National University of Lesotho. On the morning of that day, I was unceremoniously woken up by a panicking comrade Thozamile Botha who had heard on the morning radio news that many of our ANC houses in Maseru had been raided, and there were casualties. You can imagine the state of shock and panic we found ourselves in. With the scanty information from the radio, we could not tell who was affected and how many casualties. There were no names or numbers of the casualties. The only way to find out was to take a taxi to Maseru, about 35km away. We did not know whether the enemy was still around or had pulled out. So, there were fears of walking straight into the lion’s den. But we had to go and assess the damage. As the taxi went past Masianokeng, things looked normal as people were up and about travelling to work or to town. The flats in Ha Matala and those of Ralebitso in Lefikaneng had not been flattened. As I was leaving Roma, I thought that these were among the buildings I would have thought were easy targets as they were clearly visible from the main road, and had a number of comrades renting there. It’s still a mystery to me how they were left untouched. Then we got to Qoaling and a terrible site confronted us. We saw bodies of our comrades lying on the ground. Among them was comrade Mafutha, an elderly comrade who had created a base in Butterworth and built the underground machinery right under the boers’ noses. At comrade A’s place was another terrible site, blood on the walls and bodies of our comrades on the ground. At the time, comrade A’s place was being used by some of the new recruits who were waiting to go to military training or school. At Zola Nqini’ place, comrade Zola and Dr Ngciphe, an underground operative who had just come for a few days from home for consultation, had fallen. Comrade Nqini had been among the political instructors who had taken some of us through working-class politics when we first arrived in Lesotho with comrades Thozi Majola, Sizwe Kondile and Vusumzi Pikoli. In the house of Phakamile Mpongoshe was another gruesome sight of our comrades butchered by the death squads of the boer regime. In total, 30 of our comrades died in that raid, together with 12 Basotho nationals. The events of December 9 traumatised us for some time as students. On campus, we had a small unit of ANC cadres of about 13. Vusumzi and Girly Pikoli, Tito Mboweni, Mzimkhulu Gwentshe, Ngoako Ramathlodi, Loyiso Mpumlwana, Barry Pule, Shakes Mkhonto, Mahlubandile Rhadebe, Rev Michael Lapsley, Thozamile Botha, Jomo Khambule and I. The names I have mentioned are those of comrades who were in exile and, together with them, was a large contingent of students from SA who were still able to go back home. I would estimate the number of those South Africans who were not in exile to have been probably around 150 to 200 students. Many of them supported the struggle as led by the ANC, but there were a few who supported the PAC and BCM. For a few days after that raid, we were afraid to sleep in the hostels and would go and hide around nearby mountains. I am just relating this story to ensure that we dare not forget of suffering of the people of South Africa as we jostle for positions and power. This ANC that we are destroying for 30 pieces of silver was built on the sweat and blood of our people. As we commemorate these very important dates of the struggle of our people, we should not allow ourselves to be bulldozed into a direction or culture that is not in line with the teachings of the giants of our people. These are dates to ensure the sweat and blood of our people was not shed in vain. Long live the ANC. • Ximiya is UMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association’s western region chairperson. To read more political news and views, click here. Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.

Phaki Ximiya: Factionalism is dishonouring our comrades’ memory

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