ADDRESS BY AZAPO PRESIDENT MOSIBUDI MANGENA TO THE AZAPO NATIONAL COUNCIL HELD ON 14 -16 JUNE 2003 AT SHAFT 17 JOHANNESBURG

 

By today, the 15th of June 27 years ago, plans were ready. The mental sinews of students in Soweto were taut. The die was cast.

 

The extensive web of spies and informers the system had created to keep a lid of oppression over the aspirations of Black people, knew nothing about the wonderful plans the students had hatched.  This despite the fact that the student leadership, most of whom were members of the South African Student Movement, SASM, had consulted extensively with the Black People’s Convention, the Black Parents Association, some religious leaders and other senior community members. The special branch and the regime did not know what was about to hit them, despite the wide and extensive network of SASM branches, contacts and committees the students had in many high schools in Soweto.

 

Just like the CIA knew nothing about September the 11th; just like the British and American intelligence agencies knew nothing about the existence or non - existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the intelligence system of the racist regime knew nothing about the impending uprising in Soweto the next day.

 

The students knew that they were going to march the next day to demand the scrapping of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, the abolition of Bantu education, the abolition of Bantu Councils and the paying of fair wages to Black workers. They knew all that with certainty.

What they did not know was that by the end of the next day Hector Peterson would have been shot dead, and that Soweto would have been on fire. They didn’t know that in the following days, weeks and months, several hundreds of them would be shot dead by the police and army of the racist regime; that thousands of them would be in detention and that thousands more would be forced into exile. They did not know that almost the whole country would come out in support of their action and in revolt against the regime. They did not know that their heroic actions would give the struggle for freedom such a mighty push that the forces of oppression would remain on the back foot from then on.

 

The Students did not plan a ‘final push’ ala Zimbabwe, nor did they plan a revolution per se.  They were young people who planned a protest march.  But because they were Black, the racist regime reacted by mowing them down.  Instead of protecting and guiding the march as any civilized government would do for its young people, they shot them dead.

 

Those of us meeting here today, on the eve of the 27th anniversary of the June 1976 uprising, are in a sense products, beneficiaries and comrades in arms of the heroes and heroines of that campaign. We are therefore, at once, greatful for their love for us as a nation, bearers of their legacy of struggle and self-sacrifice, as well as participants in the continuing struggle to actualise the needs and aspirations of our people.

 

Indeed, the struggle for freedom is far from over. Yes, the scaffolding employed to build and maintain the edifice of oppression, exploitation and degradation of the Black majority might be gone, but the edifice itself remains. The racial inequalities that are the essence and content of that edifice are there for all to see.

 

·        We know who is homeless or lives in a mkhukhu or a matchbox

·        We know who does not have safe drinking water or who struggles to find it.

·        We know who owns the economy of our country, and therefore we know who is poor and who is rich

·        We know who is unemployed and therefore unable to pay for services such as electricity, water, refuse removal and school fees for his or her children

·        We know who owns land in this country and who does not have land to plough, to rear livestock, to build on or to use it as collateral in business activities

·        We know who lives in poverty and squalor and therefore vulnerable to diseases, including TB, HIV and AIDS

·        We know who lives in dangerous neighborhoods where unemployment, overcrowding and want breed crime

·        We know whose children are disadvantaged in education due to poor diet, hunger, inability to pay school fees, to buy uniforms, lack of electricity at home and at school, and lack of reading material at home and in their communities

·        We know which children are likely to live on the streets, sniff glue and die young, and

·        We know who is likely to travel in an overloaded taxi, bus or train and who is likely to fly in an aircraft. We know who walks to the taxi rank, and who drives to the airport.

 

Who can say we are free, the struggle is over, when this is our lot?  Who can tell us that the legacy of struggle the class of 1976 has left us, is fulfilled?

 

Until nine years ago, the struggle was fought with stones, petrol bombs, guns, grenades and mass action. And it is precisely these methods of struggle that transformed our situation from settler-colonialism to neo-colonialism.

 

We meeting here in the National Council of AZAPO, embued as we are with the philosophy of Black Consciousness - the same ideology that emboldened the 1976 generation to face the bullets of the regime with their bare chests – must take the struggle for our people forward in the new era.

 

Whereas in the period of settler-colonialism much of our efforts were directed against the state, in the new era of democracy, the state assumes a pivotal, positive and powerful role in the struggle against poverty and inequality. But the right of access to, and participation in the organs of state is earned through an election. You can only use state organs to advance the ongoing struggle of our people provided that the same masses give you the right, through an election, to do so.

 

This National Council takes place at a time when our country is preparing for another election. Although we are not worshippers of statism, we should debate as thoroughly as possible issues related to that election so that we leave this place with clear minds concerning our electoral platform.

 

We know that our policies and positions are in place on many issues facing our people. But we should debate and examine them again if necessary and make sure they accord with the new circumstances.

 

Those policies and positions must tell our people how, for instance:

 

·        We will implement a fast and equitable land redistribution programme.

·        We will tackle the problem of expanding and deepening poverty in our country. It is unhealthy, undignified, unsustainable and unacceptable that so many millions of our people should depend on social welfare grants and food parcels for their survival.

·        We will ensure that all have electricity and water that are reliable and affordable.

·        We will eradicate mikhukhu and ensure that all are properly and decently housed.

·        We will create jobs so that as many of our citizens as possible are able to earn a decent and dignified living.

·        We will advance Black economic ownership and control in the shortest possible time in order to give meaning and content to our struggle for freedom, and

·        We will develop the rural economy and infrastructure so that those of our people who live there can also benefit from the fruits of liberty.

 

Accepting, as we do, that the struggle for freedom is not yet over, and that ours is not yet a classical democracy, the unity of our people remains a crucial cornerstone of our endeavours. Even as we debate issues and canvass for votes, the stage at which our country and society are at, must be borne in mind. Indeed, the issues we are dealing with are at times difficult and complex, giving rise to sharp differences of opinion.  As we grapple with them, we should debate with vigour and discipline, but without rancour and mudslinging.

 

AZAPO can only be an important element in the unity of our people if it is itself united, disciplined and well organised.

 

It is also true that in the last few years, our movement has been grossly underperforming in the struggles of our people and in elections. This was due in part to our level of organisation and factors outside of our immediate control. However, it is clear that it is unacceptable that our Movement, with its track record of struggle, should perform at this level. And the coming elections must begin to correct this.

 

As we prosecute this struggle, we should be learning the lessons of Zimbabwe, which are rich and numorous. But basically, ZANU-PF has fallen victim to it’s own strength.

 

Too much uncontested political power can be just as bad as too much wealth in the midst of poverty and squalor. It leads to complacency, corruption, laxity and policy dead-ends. Revolutionary as it undoubtedly is, ZANU – PF needed a patriotic alternative to it’s rule.

 

With a deterioration in the economy and governance, Zimbabwe is now faced with an opposition that is nurtured and supported from outside, sitting comfortably in the bossoms of the DA’s of this world, and carrying the “regime change” hopes of the Tony Blair’s and George Bushe’s. Outside forces are moving in for the kill, by creating an environment akin to a quicksand, where you are accused and provoked, but the more you protest your innocence and struggle to free yourself, or lash out at your tormentors, the deeper you sink.

 

ZANU-PF and its government are in the grip of a python. Every movement they make, including breathing, increases the squeeze.

 

We should learn the lessons well, so that we don’t go down that road. It is already evident that the ruling party in our own country is suffering from political obesity and all the ailments associated with that.

 

We can safeguard our political space, our future and our country better by building patriotic political parties that can meaningfully contest for power.

 

This National Council must be another building block in our endeavor to build such a strong and patriotic organisation. There is no doubt that the Movement that produced Steve Biko, Mapetla Mohapi, Onkgopotse Tiro, Mthuli ka Shezi, Makompo Kutumela and countless others, more than fits the bill.

 

 

 

Mosibudi Mangena

15/06/2003