Election+Religion,+Bambatha+and+Gandhi,+Cheche+Selepe

=//Religious About Elections?//= =Remember Bambatha!=


 * Cheche Selepe**



Comrade this one is not at all an attempt at contradicting or contesting what Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen is saying. He sounds interesting.

He is so religious about the elections that he feels there is no alternative to voting. To him the struggle ends with the elections – have the elections and that is the end of the South African revolution. Elections are therefore an end in themselves and not a means to an end. He should be reminded that the Nazi party also came to power through the elections, so is Hamas in Palestine or Bush of war in the US or Mugabe in Zim. There is nothing supernatural about the elections really. They still are a platform through which the poor and the working class decide which bourgeoisie to oppress and repress them through parliament.

Truth is that the long cherished socialist view says no parliamentary democracy has ever delivered a socialist future, but fascism and capitalism it has.

Joel Netshitenzhe recently points-out how comrade Blade correctly argues that: ‘electoral victories of the mass of the people are always susceptible to reversal by those who control wealth and the major ideological institutions in society.’ Blade said this in the light of his meeting with newly elected Bolivian president Morales. But then comrade Netshitenzhe contends that Blade’s emphasis is on ‘mass mobilisation to buttress electoral victories’ instead of using other avenues.

Well, they agree that one-man equals one-vote in theory and not in practice where one-millionaire equals one-million-votes. And that is not the purpose of this letter. This one argues that it is for tactical reasons that socialists support and even contest (even abstain like in Merafong) in theelections. But this they do for tactical rather than strategic reasons of delivering socialism. Parliament and the elections shall and has never delivered the strategic goal of a socialist future. And an overwhelming majority of the people of this country demand socialism. They want free-education, free-housing, free-health care and a lots more from the state. The state in SA is aware of this reality which we struggled for in many years and ways. It is no coincidence that there are attempts at state-delivering and the concomitant heated struggles for free housing in SA. There is unending attempts at affording all children a free education, cde Mandela even tried a free lunch for kids and failed. Free health-care is also being strived for by the SA state. All these are not by coincidence but by the truth and history of our struggle. A struggle for socialism.

Parliament and its institutions created through universal franchise are inherently bourgeoisie institutions that can never deliver socialism. Even the very principle of universal franchise, freedom of the press, equality before the law and all such like principles are bourgeoisie democratic principles that the working class tactically supports in the short to medium term. In the long term socialist future, all such like principles and the elections are irrelevant. Irrelevant because people vote in order to deal with the ills of capitalism such as crime, homelessness, poor health-care and so on. But socialism makes it impossible for such ills to exist in society.

As for Hassen he sounds romantic about the elections. “A vote even if it is not for the ANC, is a better way to give expression to your feelings,” he says. But this is not about feelings and how we nurse them, Hassen. He is so attached to elections and sees no other way-through without them. Even if this vote goes to the right-wing it is still fine because it is a “better way to give expression to feelings” rather than abstaining like the overwhelming majority of the people of Merafong.

Generally, the people of Merafong took a heroic decision not to vote at all rather than to “vote, even if it is not for the ANC” as Hassen would prefer. Well on the JZ issue he is sort-of celebrating his sacking as deputy-president of the country. He gives weight to his friends’ troublesome argument that says sacking is not enough. They say if the ANC was tough on corruption comrade JZ should be in prison. But why prison? It is unfortunate that some call for the leaders of the people to rot in prisons. Well it is true that no capitalistic system would function without prisons. Prisons are the ugliest aspect of the inhumane system of capitalism. Prisons are inhumane institutions of the inhumane system.

Someone should really educate others about imprisonment, the humiliation it brings to any individual as well as its capitalistic and slave connections. We also need teaching on the political-economy of imprisonment in general. And it is inhumane to call for anyone to be imprisoned given the system. The humiliation and degradation that the imprisonment of cde JZ shall bring will not only be felt by him, his immediate family, friends and comrades. This shall be a humiliation to the entire working class particularly the African working class and Africans in general. And they shall retaliate.

It has been a long cherished view of the racists (and white supremacists) since the end of slavery to argue that blacks in general and particularly Africans are criminals and belong to prisons. They built prisons soon after the end of slavery in order to perpetuate their hold on power and their bigoted views. Their first prison in SA was built by a world diamond monopoly just at the end of slavery and the concomitant emergence of capitalism. If they do get cde JZ to prison that is victory for the racist and white supremacists across the capitalist board. They shall reinforce their belief that blacks are inherently inferior animal-like criminals with subhuman behaviour.

It is not surprising for Hassen’s friends and such like individuals to argue for the imprisonment of comrade JZ as the ultimate to justice, capitalist justice. There can be no justice in a capitalist system. In a race divided and capitalist society prison is the second home of the under-racial class, particularly males. Cosatu’s earlier decision that charges against cde JZ be dropped was not out of context, but a valuable view born out of workers interaction with justice under capitalism. It was the most revolutionary of all decisions aimed at avoiding to degrade the icon of our struggle in a capitalist court. And it is a myth, in fact childish, to say innocent until proven guilty because even before proven guilty or otherwise you still cannot be deputy president of the country or the movement. Innocent until proven guilty by whom? In who’s interests? Under which system? Workers, the poor and the African particularly males are always guilty even before entering court.

Even when you go to that court; it is not a people’s court but a court that is firmly based on the bigoted views of the slave masters and their stereotypes about Africans and the working class. It is the same courts that have over the years shattered the lives of millions of the African working class through the prisons built and based on white-supremacy and its twin-evils of slavery and capitalism.

Yes slavery and capitalism because recently the firm owners who are alleged to have murdered three female employees and stuffed them in chemicals are out on bail in Vereeneging. The only sin of the workers is that they are workers of a different race wanting to form a union. Another one locked workers of a different race inside a night-shift factory till they all burnt to death, and was out on bail and is out. The people of SA are aware of this and all other capitalistic/racist injustices perpetuated by justice. In both the situations, the victims were all women and African working-class women in the hands of racist capitalists. Therefore, is there something like a non-racial capitalist system?

As for Hassen, he goes on saying JZ must have his day in court “hopefully with less singing, or at least a more appropriate song.” So he hopes we won’t sing and if we do, it should be an appropriate song. Does he know the role of singing in the struggle, our South African struggle at least? What is an appropriate song? Telling us not to sing Umshini Wam is tantamount to telling the people of Mozambique that they should remove an AK 47 in their national flag. That country’s yester-year reactionaries and today’s opposition Renamo has tried and failed to have that AK removed from the national flag of Mozambique. Removing an AK on the Mozambican flag is like telling the ANC to remove the spear and a shield in its emblem or even in the emblem of the disbanded mighty people’s army Umkhonto we Sizwe, spear of the nation. It is with spears and shields that Karl Marx’s colleague Frederick Engels wrote: ‘The Zulus did what no European army could do. Armed with only lances and spears, without any firearms, they advanced under the hail of bullets from breechloaders up to the bayonets of the English infantry - the best in the world for fighting in closed ranks - and threw them into confusion more than once, yea, even forced them to retreat in spite of the immense disparity of weapons.'

That was at Isandlwana, but we did it at the Frontier-wars, the battles of Thaba-bosiu and in many more locations in defence of this democracy we currently enjoy. Later we did it at Cuito Cuanavale where cde Mandela describes that war as one in which: ‘Sa wa betha amabhunu wabaleka wade wa xhekeka umtsintsila’ meaning (we beat the boers they ran breaking the innermost part between their legs.)

It is no sin at all for cde JZ and anyone for that matter to sing a song that delivered our freedom. Maybe one may use this opportunity to educate Hassan and the like about our struggle songs. Before we used to sing the religious kinds of song in struggle. Nkosi sikelela came at the time when our music had that religious tune. Songs such as senzeni na, Vorster shall never go to heaven and so on. But later we realised that being passive does not work and we started singing dubula nge mai-mai, Umshini wam, Umama uyajabula, Uzongen’ Umkhonto uzoshaya amabhunu, Kill the boer -the farmer and the list is endless. These were no passive resistance songs but the real songs that were in line with the times and nature of our struggle. These were militant songs of war that we sang through-out the eighties to deliver the nineties freedom. These are the songs that delivered freedom and shall sustain it, if needs be. And this is another interesting source of the history of the African people. Their history is not well documented in books but it is oral and scattered across poetry, song and even dance. To learn more about the state of the situation at a particular epoch requires listening attentively to the music, poetry and dance of that time. Even slogans offer a useful insight into the struggle-history of the time.

Umshini wam is a song of the eighties that also tells the story of the time culminating in the buttering of the boers at Cuito Cuanavale, 1989. Thus paving the way for the 1990’s negotiations which the boers were forced to come to terms with. They never did it out of a change of heart, but were beaten to negotiate.

This is what the people of SA need to know, particularly the racist capitalists and their courts that think they delivered freedom and elections through a silver plate or as a favour. We fought for this freedom for many many years. People like Hassen are trying to rewrite our history. They want us to forget our past songs, poetry, slogans and dance, and we should never do that. Aluta continua!!! The struggle is not finished yet. The struggle against the plunder of the land we defended with spears and shields at Isandlwana, Thaba bosiu and many more battle-fields in the country. This struggle went on until the last brutal suppression of our armed uprisings in 1906 during the bambatha rebellion. Ever since that Great Rebellion we never looked back, but went on to organise and acquire modern arms to fight back the system with all means at our disposal. And Umshini wami tells that story of a people who’s land was taken away with a barrel of a gun. They tried to defend it with spears but lost it. They later organised to acquire guns (Umshini) from foreign lands in exile. And those remaining inside are calling the exiles to bring Umshini to return the land. It is as good as singing Umkhonto wami (my spear).

Talking Bambatha, it seems Hassen sounds like that Satyaghara pamphlet calling to celebrate 100 years of Satyaghara in SA outside the context of the Bambatha revolt that propelled Satyaghara in the first place. Ghandhi started Satyaghara in 1906, the same year as the Bambatha revolution, and after having served as a nurse in that revolution. In the light of the Bambatha rebellion, the blood that was lost and the significance of its spirit, it sounds politically uneducated for South Africans to celebrate Satyaghara. Maybe in India we may celebrate it but really in SA this should be the year of Bambatha. Hundred years of that Great Rebellion ever in the history of this country is the most memorable of all events to celebrate rather than 100-years of Ghandhi. Hundred years of the spirit of Bambatha that finally toppled the racists is worth celebrating. Hundred years of the spirit of Bambatha that motivated Ghandhi to liberate India. In fact this year South Africa and Bambatha should be declared the father of the Indian liberation. The Bambatha struggle where Ghandhi acquired his basic struggle training to liberate India and not South Africa. These 100 years should be celebrated as such.

We achieved our freedom not through the so-called “Madiba-magic” and the “miracle-minds” that “peacefully” negotiated at Codesa. That is untrue. This country was won through struggle, armed with spears at first then umshini, petrol bombs (mai-mai or molotov) and stones and much more. The armed struggle has been a site of our struggle and a very important one for that matter. Ghandhi knew this fact before leaving. This country was won through a combination of struggle tactics including the armed struggle, which played a very pivotal role in dethroning the racist system. This is what the racists must know, we can fight and we fought. Ghandhi and his philosophy of struggle never worked in SA hence he left and tried it elsewhere. He knew it will not work and it never worked. This country was won through the spirit of Bambatha and not Ghandhi, and therefore we cannot celebrate the latter’s 100 years this year. The days of songs like senzeni na (what have we done) as well as Satyaghara are over, they were tried and they failed. Therefore, telling us or cde JZ for that matter, not to sing Umshini wami is suicidal indeed. It’s like telling us not to celebrate the Bambatha that Mahatma thought to contradict in the first place. This is the year of Bambatha. The year of the Great Rebellion. Therefore, this year shall be celebrated as such.


 * cheche selepe**

2550 words