I was expecting Thabo Mbeki to deliver a decisive speech on Africa Day and in that speech to clarify his argument perhaps for Codesa 2 and have been anxious to know how he accounts for the past 30 years of the ANC in power.
He did an interview with Xoli Mngambi of Newzroom Afrika where he reiterated that the entire devastation of the economy, collapse of state institutions and erosion of our culture was a counter-revolution orchestrated by former president Jacob Zuma, whom he described as an agent of apartheid forces.
The previous version of the argument was analysed by Mondli Makhanya, editor-in-chief of City Press.
“As he did in a recent speech, Mbeki cited the destruction of Eskom, the South African Revenue Service and other entities by Zuma and his coterie as an example of the counter-revolution at work.
He detailed the findings of the Zondo and Nugent judicial commissions, quoting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, saying that “this is one of the few instances where president Zuma was himself directly and personally involved in the activities and plans to take over a government entity… The only logical way to explain this is that, challenging as this might be even to comprehend, here we are dealing with a wolf in sheep’s skin.”
This takes us to another wild goose chase especially if one -recalls that Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota repeated the accusation that President Cyril Ramaphosa is a sellout, to radio host -Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh outside of parliament, meaning he believes that he is telling the truth and is quite prepared to face the -consequences, not protected by parliamentary privilege.
While they were arrested together in the 1970s, Ramaphosa, according to Lekota, made a sworn statement to the police to say it was Lekota who put communist ideas in his mind, and that he was a good Christian.
These allegations come at a time when some have declared that the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) has failed, and others are advising that state power must now be shared with the DA, which is a right wing organisation that stands against primary relations between the liberation movement and Russia and the people of Palestine.
“The South African revolution has failed,” former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke said as he gave a frank assessment of the post-apartheid state’s performance.
The big idea of the NDR had two dimensions. One dimension was to remove all oppression against the native Africans across the entire territory of South Africa and the second dimension was to bring about democracy that envelopes all the peoples of South Africa.
So, the black majority wanted to take charge of the country and have the right to self-determination while making sure that all residents of the country Africa share fairly and equally in all the resources and opportunities in South Africa.
The tangible and measurable benefits of the revolution are missing.
One crisis presented by the assessment of Mbeki and Lekota is that the NDR is led by sellouts or agents of the apartheid regime. Which means the freedom of the black majority could not be achieved because the very leaders of the NDR since 2009 are themselves agents of apartheid.
Meaning either we were led by Judas goats or by wolves in sheep skins.
In either case the leaders of the NDR were now seeking to sink the black majority into oppression by the white minority once again and, to scatter any hopes of black self-determination. That accounts for the failure that has occurred in the main state programmes since 2009 to date, at least according to Mbeki.
In last resort we all know that the NDR was not in safe hands and the leaders of the ANC have failed to protect the ANC and the NDR since 1990 to the point where there was infiltration by criminals, apartheid agents, profiteers and opportunists. Leaders were not vetted, normal state and national security protocols were not enforced.
The state through the ANC deployment committee is occupied and captured by these backward elements, according to Mbeki.
The danger now is that any other ANC leader can be accused of being a sellout or an agent of the apartheid forces, when in fact they are just delinquents, criminals, cowards and some of them are hopelessly incompetent rather than being sellouts.
It becomes clear we need leadership that has no baggage – leaders who must be appointed based on merit. Once performance is lacking anyone, regardless of their background, must be removed from their position of responsibility.
- Swana is a political analyst, an academic and a member of the 70s Group
