ADRESS BY AZAPO PRESIDENT, MOSIBUDI MANGENA, AT THE 25TH ANNIVESSARY OF THE FORMATION OF AZAPO ON 26/04/2003 HELD AT THE FUNDA CENTRE, DIEPKLOOF.

 

Programme Director, The Azapo Leadership here present, Distinguished Guests, Comrades, Ladies And Gentlemen.

This is indeed a proud moment when we pause to recognize, mark and celebrate our achievements and those of our people.  Yes, this is not just an organisation for those who are its card-carrying members, but it is a movement born of the aspirations, needs and struggles of the oppressed masses of this beautiful land.

 

It was the banning of the political organisations of the people in 1960 that created a political vacuum in struggle politics.  This vacant political space was exploited by white liberals who appointed themselves champions and spokespersons of the black oppressed.  It was at this time that Bantustan quislings came to the fore in large numbers to peddle falsehoods that every indigenous ethnic groups in our country is a nation that must be given its own barren piece of land, and that the rest of South Africa, all 87% of it, belonged to white people.  The coloured and Indian components of Black people were to be given phoney parliaments with almost non-existent powers.  The strategy of divide and rule was unfolding on a grand scale.

 

The Black Consciousness Movement, manifesting itself through organisations such SASO, BPC, SASM, BCP and others, emerged in 1968 to carry the struggle forward, and it fulfilled the task with oomph, exuberance and distinction.

 

When Seventeen Black Consciousness organisations were banned by the racist regime on the 19th October 1977, activists in this Movement regrouped, organized and launched AZAPO on the 28th of April 1978.  This is the event we are celebrating today.  And so we should, and with pride.

 

 This because we refused to be cowed down as a people.  When they banned our organisations, we did not roll over and die.  We got up, dusted ourselves up, picked up the cudgels and continued with the struggle for our emancipation.  The formation of AZAPO, after the bannings and the murder of its leaders such as Steve Biko and Mapetla Mohapi, was an eloquent restatement of our determination to be free.

 

Through speeches, the written word, poetry, drama and symbols, AZAPO continued the conscientization tradition as pioneered by its predecessors in the BCM.  In addition to rallies, strikes, boycotts and stayaways, under AZAPO the BCM added armed struggle to the many fronts that opened against the oppressive system.  AZAPO was the life-blood, sustainance and the base of the BCMA and the AZANLA cadres.  It was through the political infrastructure of AZAPO that cadres were recruited, trained, infiltrated back into the country and found assistance, refuge and political nourishment.  A late- comer in armed campaigns as compared to other components of the liberation movement, who were engaged for decades, the AZANLA cadres made an important contribution to our struggle for freedom.

 

AZAPO and its predecessors in the BC movement were always characterized by a strong ideological line and vigorous political activism.  The initial Black Consciousness ideological pillar was later joined by a strong socialist line, which firmed in the era of AZAPO.  Initially by design, but later by tradition and custom, the movement has always been weak on organisation, organisational discipline and hierarchy.  It fostered robust debates and independent thinking amongst its’ members.

 

While these attributes made the BCM difficult to kill by decapitation or bannings of both leaders and the constituent organisations by the racist regime, the Movement became a happy recruitment terrain by older liberation movements.  This explains, in part, why so many people who cut their political teeth in this movement, populate the ranks of other liberation movements in our country.  And the imposition of a strong organisational discipline on these former BCM cadres, who had been cultivated through debates, activism and independent thinking, made the recruits even more valuable to their new organisations, and of course ultimately, to the country.

 

However, in the new environment of democracy and parliamentary politics, in which AZAPO participates, there is a need to adapt, to keep our strengths but modify those aspects of organisation that are not helpful.  In particular, we need to strenghten organisational discipline and party line.  The ideological and political loyalty of our members remains truly remarkable.

 

It is a fact that presently AZAPO is underperfoming in the national politics of our country.  It is operating far below its potential and at a level not befitting its’ track record.

 

We should be embarrassed by the fact that those who oppressed us yesterday are now strutting the political stage presenting themselves as an alternative to the present government.  It is frightening to contemplate the fact that if something happened to the present ruling party, then those who misruled us not so long ago, can in fact come back to rule us legitimately-voted for by our own people.  Remember, the masses can, at times, have short memories.  And if that happened, it would be because we, the patriots who fought for freedom, could not see beyond our noses.

 

AZAPO has no choice but to gird itself for the huge tasks that lie ahead; this because we have not yet attained a country and society envisaged by the struggle for liberation.  The only route open at the moment for advancement of the gains of our people is elections.  We must do well in the coming elections if we are to contribute meaningful to the development of our country.  Otherwise we will remain bystanders in an arena that requires vigorous our input.

 

It cannot be, that when we sacrificed so much, others among us losing their lives, we were fighting for a society:

 

·              Where social inequality is so huge and where the haves

of yesterday are the haves of today and the have-nots

of yesterday are the have-nots of today

·              Where inequality is a divide along racial lines.

·              Where poverty among the African component of

the black population is so deep and extensive that 20% of their children are mentally and physically stunted by the age of two years.

·              Where land ownership is badly skewed against the majority of black population.

·              Where millions of blacks have no safe drinking water

·              Where black people are still so riddled with inferiority complexes that they do not believe they can teach their own children.

 

To right these mighty wrongs and give the democratic dispensation we have relevant content, we must still rely on our solidarity and unity of purpose.  These are the values and qualities that brought us to the point where we are at present.

 

And it is precisely this still punny content of our democracy that led AZAPO to suggest that we should still be in a national reconstructive mode, which would require that all patriotic forces join hands at a certain level to advance the interest of liberation to give greater meaning to freedom.

 

This should be done in tandem with our efforts to build a strong multi-party democracy which is supported by credible national institutions.

 

This consideration explains why AZAPO continues to oppose floor-crossing by public representatives under the present electoral law.

 

The undignified maneuverings by parties and parliamentarians gave the impression that public representatives believed in nothing except the well being of their own bacon.  We sincerely hope that this law will be revisited because it does several undesirable things:

 

(a)         It makes public representatives unreliable in the eyes of the electorate

(a)        It lowers the credibility, integrity  and dignity of parliament and parliamentarians

(b)        It creates parties that sit in parliament and make laws without being elected by anybody

(c)         Governments at different levels might be change without the participation of the electorate

(d)        It destabilizes political parties and also make it difficult for them to maintain discipline within their ranks.

(e)        It involves organs of state in party gains and losses of membership, which is highly improper.

(f)            It raises the possibility of those who have enough money, both in this country and abroad, to create a new party in parliament that may take power.

 

Yes, floor-crossing might be legal and constitutional, but it is certainly not politically and morally right.  But more importantly, for democracy to work the people must have faith, respect and trust in the democratic institutions and their public representatives and servants.  Floor- crossing undermines this.

 

We have lived under oppression for centuries and know how it is like.  But we have never been a democracy before 1994, and did not know how life would be in those circumstances.  Many were euphoric and believed their lives would be instantaneously transformed for the better.

 

It was not to be.  In some aspects things are a lot tougher than before.  Let the profile of Black Consciousness rise, let the voice of Black Solidarity be raised in pursuit of the deepening of democracy in our country and the building of a more equal and caring society.

We deserve it!

 

Mosibudi Mangena

AZAPO President

26/04/2003