Monthly News, Comment & Mobilization Pamphlet Of Azapo — February 2010

THE DANGERS OF TENDERPRENEURSHIP
On a recent visit to one of Gauteng’s top shopping malls, I collided with an old friend and comrade, who I used to serve with in the AZAPO student wing, AZASCO. Very excited to see each other, after almost ten years, we exchanged greetings and I found myself confessing ”eish! m’fethu ucishe wang’baizisa”. And by this, I actually meant he had gained so much weight I almost didn’t recognise him. And unwittingly, he reacted “it’s the good life chief, the good life”.

I then decided to enquire what he meant by the ”good life”, he proudly told me: ”Chief, you are still asking! Didn’t they tell you! Hey, uyadlala wena! I own a five bed roomed house with a pool in Jozi north, I am an executive in a BEE company and chief, you don’t want to know what I drive”. Out of pity for my ears, I didn’t bother to ask hoping that he would stop now because I had just heard enough now.

Just when I thought this ostentatious cabaret was coming to an end, my friend, then holding up his hands like a Mafia boss about to tutor a novice, looked me in the eye and said: ”Chief, you have brains but you will remain brilliant and poor for as long as you are in AZAPO, I don’t know what you’re waiting for”.

A bit bemused and with all types of emotions building up within me, and I imagining		 all manner of responses, he was rattling on. I was thinking to myself: here is someone who was not just taught the science of politics and leadership by AZASCO, but also someone who, before he became a respected AZASCO leader, was notorious on campus for passing out at the main entrance of the student residence after bashes. And today, the same person is standing in front of me and lecturing me on what the future holds for me. How paradoxical, I thought to myself.

I nevertheless decided to keep quiet and with a smirk of revulsion, I just stared at him. Still stupefied by what I had just heard, he then offered to buy me a drink at a nearby restaurant, which I accepted. We got to the restaurant and picked a table that was neatly tucked into a corner. After placing our orders, we went on with our conversation and gradually veered towards the mundane. It was during this moment that it became patently clear to me that my once close friend and comrade had experienced a seismic shift in values.

After about two hours or so, we parted ways and as I walked away, I kept on asking myself: what happened to the modest and ethically grounded young BC radical I used to respect and admire?

In my efforts to answer this depressing question, it soon dawned on me that, what I had just witnessed in 		my friend was not so much of an isolated personal metamorphosis, but rather an acute manifestation of the extent to which we have degenerated as a people since the dawn of so called freedom.

First, the advent or dawning of neo-colonialism in our country has made it possible for black people, not just to occupy high paying jobs in the public and private sectors, but has also made it possible for many blacks, particularly the politically connected middle class, to become instant millionaires or what is known as the tender brigade. This instant change in personal social status is obviously not shared by the majority of black people and this is perhaps understandable given the economic framework within which BBE occurs.

Second, in most African countries, the state is not just viewed as a provider of basic services to the citizenry, but also an instrument through which connected individuals can enrich themselves and those close to them. This has, in the majority of cases, not just resulted in the weakening of the power of states to direct their own citizenry, but it has also created intricate webs of transnational networks that systematically undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. It is also worth noting that many Western banks have been crucial in facilitating this transnational

The Dangers of Tenderpreneurship

Capitalists in Socialist Masks?

National Director of Public Prosecutions

Taking Ourselves Seriously as a People

Quotes, Notices

January 2010
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009

Office No. 1900, 19th Floor
Kine Centre
141 Commissioner Str.
JOHANNESBURG
2001

P.O. Box 4230
JOHANNESBURG
2000

Tel: +27 11 331 6430/1/2
Fax: +27 11 331 6433

E-mail: azapo@mail.ngo.za

Website: www.azapo.org.za
 

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theft.

Third, like many of the former colonies, the oppressed in our country have never lived under any other system except the capitalist one and this partly explains why they would also exhibit the capitalist values of greed, competition, gratuitous accumulation and gluttonous consumerism. It should therefore not be surprising that even those that were no so long ago regarded as freedom fighters have also been part of the sophisticated schemes to pop the lid of the cookie jar. This thirst for tenders has also been central to the bitter conflicts amongst our country’s ruling elite and the consequence of which has been the splitting of the ruling party.

Fourth, the whole sham of black economic empowerment has inadvertently created the impression that, meaningful wealth redistribution for the majority, black people, can be achieved under the current economic system. The inherent weakness in this logic of BEE is that it assumes that a system that was designed to condemn our people to poverty and landlessness can all of a sudden change and extricate our people from the devastation of under-development.

The combined effect of all these and other factors has inculcated in the minds of our people, especially the youth, a very dangerous mentality. Tenderpreneurship is not just slowly eroding whatever is left of our moral fibre, but we have also seen how this has resulted in another dangerous development, which is the recent tender murders.

My friend is one of the many once promising young AZASCO leaders who have fallen victim to this culture of tenderpreneurship. And as a result, not only has our Movement,		 but also our country probably lost what could have otherwise been an asset for our people and country during these times of duplicity. This kind of insatiable urge to get rich at all cost is not just dangerous for the current generation of black youth; in fact, it even threatens the future of generations to come. A society where everybody has a “what’s in it for me” mentality is a dangerous society and AZAPO, through is youth structures must ensure that we fight this vile capitalist morality with all our might.

ŕ A chilling report on these Tender murders is given in the Sunday Times of the  07/02/2010

CAPITALISTS IN SOCIALIST MASKS?

One of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti, was recently struck by a 7.0 strong earthquake. More than 200 thousand lives are reported to have lost. Dead bodies lying all over the place was a common sight. Even mass graves could not cope, thereby forcing the survivors to burn the corpses in the open streets. The air was thick with the stench of decomposing human flesh. All this took place at the doorstep of a superrich superpower called the US. Instead of sending food, water, medicine and health professionals, they opted to prioritise flooding the bleeding and life-losing country with hundreds of soldiers and guns in order to colonise the airport and “keep law and order”.

That is capitalism and imperialism at their best. Capitalists are never interested in saving lives. They are preoccupied with maximising their profits. Hence to them this dilapidated Haiti is a raw market waiting to exhale. Their calculation is that super profits will

 be extracted during the reconstruction phase wherein the US would send in their construction companies and materials, engineers, business people and many more soldiers to finish off the plundering of the bleeding and decomposing material resources of Haiti. These vampires or leeches if you like, suck blood even from a dead bone. Meanwhile, hundreds of children are orphaned, families are wiped out, and the surviving relatives are mutilated and amputated.

What is shocking is the painful fact that the catastrophe that befell Haiti could have been avoided. In a socialist order that invests in the wellbeing of humanity through harnessing the social benefits of science and technology, the earthquake could have been detected beforehand and the people evacuated or relocated to safer areas. By milking the economy dry, capitalism ensured that Haiti did not develop this capacity. All the profits were hastily shipped out of the country. The small portions that were left were used to grease the palms of the soulless and unpatriotic comprador bourgeoisie.

But what lessons can we learn from Haiti?

Heartbreaking as it were, what happened in Haiti is nothing new for black people in neo-liberal South Africa. The only difference is that in Haiti it occurred in one day, whereas in South Africa it takes place over a relatively extended period of time. What we mean is that starvation, joblessness, homelessness, street kids, orphans, mass killings, mass graves and social displacement are all second nature to black people. The shipping out of profits beyond our shores under the baasboyish nose of the bootlicking comprador bourgeoisie is a familiar occurrence. Out of its slavish zeal our managerial		 class of local capitalists has developed capacity to “keep law and order” so that the natives are brutally groomed to be as obedient and submissive as possible. This is the dubious role played by the comprador bourgeoisie in the ruling party.

The ruling party has mastered speaking with forked tongues and hoodwinking the poor. Like a chameleon, it changes its colour in accordance with its surroundings. It has assumed a character of a three-headed beast. One head is the “broad church”, another is trade unionism and the last is the SACP brand of communism. These three heads are planted in a capitalist body. The implication of this is that the political space is closed and suffocated by the beast. You will depend on the beast in the form of the ruling party for service delivery, and if it delivers it becomes a hero. When it does not deliver as is usually the case, the beast changes its form into COSATU or SACP and usurps the role of leading the masses against itself. In other words, the beast is both the ruling party and opposition at the very same time.

That is why we have in this country “communist” and trade union leaders that live a stinking capitalist lifestyle. Some of these “communists” are cabinet ministers who oversee the privatisation of public enterprises. Others are given law and order ministries to unleash trigger-happy police and dogs on striking workers. During the hard times of economic recession they call on the poor to tighten their belts, while they buy R1 million luxury cars, sleep in five star hotels and drink expensive whiskies, wines and cigars. All this is done in favour of capitalists and against the very same workers that are supposed to wage a

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socialist revolution.

To AZAPO socialism is not just a label. It is a way of life. We practise what we preach. We mean it when we say our struggle is nationalist in character and socialist in content. The name of our organisation does not have to be a “Socialist This” or “Socialist That” for us to be true socialists and wage a socialist revolution. Our real political and ideological character is determined not so much by the name of our party, but our principles and our actions. It is for this reason that Karl Marx warned that we must differentiate between what a man thinks of himself and what he really is. It is about time that the true socialists in this country close ranks and free the concept of socialism from being an empty slogan used by greedy and corrupt leaders to enrich themselves from the public purse.

¨ It is your social practice that counts, not what you mouth loudly - Ed

NATIONAL Director of Public Prosecutions

In the recent past, there have been a series of articles written in newspapers condemning the appointment of Advocate Simelane as the NATIONAL Director of Public Prosecutions. The condemnation centered on his alleged lack of fitness and integrity to hold such a high office. The condemners based their vitriolic attack on the findings of the Ginwala commission which was set up to investigate, amongst others, the fitness of Advocate Pikoli to hold office. The opinion that Mrs Ginwala formulated about Advocate Simelane was as unfortunate as it was unnecessary.

 However what is interesting is that immediately after the report was made public, Advocate Simelane was transferred to the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions to serve as a National Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions. The move was welcomed and described as a demotion to an arrogant Simelane. Nothing was said about his integrity and conscientiousness or lack thereof. The question we need to ask is: why now?

As at the time of his appointment Advocate Simelane was a National Deputy Director possessive of the requisite skills, expertise and integrity expected of an incumbent of that position. In my view a deputy is as good as a director and interestingly, the requirements for the appointment for both are the same under section 9 of the NPA Act 32 of 1998.

It is my considered view that the condemnation is not so much about Advocate Simelane’s integrity as it is about the desire by some amongst the section of the society to control the National Prosecuting Authority. A group of liberals is emerging as pace-setters on matters of the constitution and the law and is out to influence public opinion that Black people do not understand the law and will forever remain perpetual students. In the broader scheme of the political power play, Black people cannot be trusted with power and whenever they have it, they will use it for improper motives. They exhilarate in Black misery and waste no time in seeing the warts in Black people and are silent in exposing the warts in their own. They tell us that Simelane is appointed to protect Zuma and that Mpshe withdrew charges to buy favour for a permanent appointment. It is never about them acting within the law. Pikoli is celebrated when he re-instates charges against Zuma and plea-bargains with 		coup plotters in Africa. Mpshe is a hero when he charges Selebi and plea-bargains with Agliotti. You do not need Solomonic wisdom to see that this is not about justice, but projection of Black people as corrupt. This we must guard against and take deliberate steps to fight as it amounts, in my view, to a frontal attack on the dignity of Black people.

But most importantly, we should always remember that the democracy we have is a result of a negotiated settlement that did not give Black people total control of the levers of power. The National Prosecuting Authority is an important institution in the management of the state power and will of necessity continue to remain a contested terrain for all those who are interested in grabbing the state power. It plays an important role in the development of state capacity to create an investor–friendly environment. No one would want to invest in a country where there is a high crime rate and the perpetrators are not arrested and convicted. No one will vote for a party that fails to demonstrate serious commitment to fight crime and corruption. Accordingly, it should not be surprising that white liberals seek to project Black people as thugs and crooks who are out to protect each other.

As a revolutionary party, we should always maintain clarity of thought and guard against pronouncements that will earn us instant fame in the liberal press whilst at the same time reversing the gains and progress society has made in its fight against imperialism in all its forms. We need to accept that from time to time, there will be those who speak like us but not for us. They will speak for change that seeks to reverse, when ours is a call for change that is progressive and rapid in the realization of the aspirations of our people. Our people are not their people. We eradicate		 racism and inequality, whilst they seek to maintain it under the disguise of rule of law and judicial independence. I rest my case.

TAKING OURSELVES SERIOUSLY AS A PEOPLE

In this article we will focus on the basic needs that have been identified by economists as requirements for survival of human beings. We look at how we relate to some of these basics as black people in our country. The question to answer is: do we take ourselves seriously enough as a people?

The RDP settlement

It is perhaps apt that the Ministry of Housing in the new South Africa has been renamed the Ministry of Human Settlement because the RDP housing unit and zone cannot be anything but a settlement. The zones chosen for RDP houses in urban areas cannot be called suburbs or even townships. At least the townships have school, business, sports, cultural and sometimes even park areas zoned out in their planning. Not so the RDP settlement zone. This is just a mass of uninspiring dwellings following on each other... There is hardly yard space to do any home gardening, despite the fact that these settlement units were designed for the poorest of the poor. There should have been space for vegetable gardening, at least.

The other issue with RDP settlement areas is the lack of privacy. It is difficult to put up fencing between the family units in most areas. The houses are too close to each other. Arguments taking places in these units and other domestic noises become an unrequested shared experience with the neighborhood. When architects and town planners put down their plans, they

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normally point out to a philosophy of living that inspires or inspired their plans. It is difficult to understand what philosophy of living inspired the RDP settlement. What is clear is that the thinking that “Sizo phum’ elokshini” because it is not our creation is absent from the minds of the settlement designers. Leaving the township behind is not so much a desertion of the physical space zoned out as a township, as it is leaving behind the philosophy of living that led to the creation and negative sub-cultures of the township. What is also obvious is that the RDP settlement zone tales the centre stage at a time when the land question in our country is far from resolved.

The production of food

Food is vital for the survival of a people. So it is important that it be constantly produced. In earlier days African societies in Southern Africa produced and even stored surplus food for the seven years of drought. What is important is that they produced their own food and did not buy them from the passing ships of the Van Riebecks and Vasco da Gamas.

In the Republic of South Africa of the past 100 years or so food production has gone out of the hands of the indigenous communities. With the dispossession of land and the culling of livestock for economic reasons by settler-colonial administrations, indigenous communities could no longer produce enough of their own food. Some of the agricultural skills that they possessed such as doing crop farming on mountain surfaces were lost in the mists of time as they could no longer be passed on from generation to generation.

Today the staple food of most Africans, maize meal, is produced mainly by Afrikaner		 farmers in the Free State. This was also the case during the struggle for political liberation. What we simply do is consume the product by buying it over the counter. We do not know or ask what they have done to the seed, what kind of fertilizers and pesticides have gone into the production process and what procedures are followed in the production of the maize meal. Whenever any genetic modification is done to the seed, we never know. It is just a fait accompli.

What has been described above has more than just economic consequences. If one compares the physique of the West Africans and the Central African to indigenous Africans in our country, one will notice that the former are much taller and more muscular than the variety at the southern tip of the continent. Anyone who is forty years or older will remember when it was a rarity to see extremely short Africans. Today it is most common. There is no reason to believe that it does not have anything to do with the staple food produced by others on our behalf. After all they do not consume what they produce.

The Indians and Japanese produce their own rice. The Nigerians produce their own yams. Sri Lankans produce their own tea. Can you imagine the oddity of Indians leaving the production of their rice to the Japanese for instance? If we also intend to have any meaningful black economic empowerment, it is also imperative that we liberate the production of our staple food from the hands of those who have nothing to do with its consumption. But this is not likely to happen under the present political dispensation because in the 1980s giant maize meal producers like Premier Milling offered funding to the ruling party and		 shares to some of its leadership.

A disturbing development in the SADC region is that the production of food in these countries is being entrusted more and more to the same hands of the Afrikaner farmers. So are we likely to have a Southern Africa populated by a pygmy race of indigenous Africans by 2050?

Home Education

This once was an important transmitter of the morality and wisdom of our people. Older people used to relate fables and folktales to the young that had lessons that could be applied in later life. Desirable norms and values would also be passed down to the children this way. This would hopefully help the child navigate the tricky paths of life later on. Today the role has been left largely to television. The danger here is that television programmes are produced with a commercial purpose in mind. Therefore they would be more inclined to amuse and entertain. However even the cartoon characters provide models for our children. We may also have noticed how more and more teenagers tend to treat life like it is a soap opera.

In a global society where various cultural and economic interests are pulling in different directions, it is desirable that we give our children a moral and political centre. Therefore it is important that no black home be without a copy or copies of I Write What I Like amongst others. We should also consider the long overdue project of translating Biko’s writings into our indigenous languages. This will help us deal effectively with our situation as a people and a continent at the centre of Professor Ali Mazrui’s triangle.		 Clothing

Fashion and clothes are the articles with which people express themselves and relate to their environment. The different types of clothing that people have used down the ages have expressed this reality. It is imperative that we do not just become recipients of other people’s ideas on what should be worn. We also have to impose our own ideas of practical dress and sartorial elegance on the world. This includes producing items of fashion that would express a contemporary outlook. Such a project would grow and enhance our textile industry and we would not have to ask government to bale out an industry that produces copycat items from other countries.

Relating to each and every aspect of our material existence will not only help us succeed, but will also throw us into the leadership of economic existence and power. This is probably the better route to economic empowerment compared to staffriding on big business monopolies and giving BEE a bad name in the process.

During the 1960’s, in the run up to their independence from England, the Botswana Democratic Party had this to say in their Policy Manifesto:

“We do not and will not make any extravagant promises, nor claim the ability to achieve the impossible”.

Those in the corridors of power need to take notice of this statement and mend their ways, lest we have more and more Balfours.

AZAPO’s ELECTING CONGRESS TAKES PLACE OVER THE WEEKEND OF THE 20—21 MARCH 2010

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