Dont+use+alliance+to+gain+power,+Kebeni,+Star



=**Don’t use alliance to gain power**=


 * The Star, Johannesburg, September 15, 2005**


 * By Luphumzo Kebeni**

Cosatu’s leadership lacks understanding of the old Alliance traditions and true revolutionary workers must revolt against this kleptocracy.

“Ours is not merely a paper alliance, created at conference tables and formalised through the signing of documents and representing only an agreement of leaders. Our alliance is a living organism that has grown out of struggle.” These are the words expressed by the former ANC president Oliver Tambo as he addressed the meeting to observe the 60th anniversary of the South African Communist Party in London on July 30 1981.

These sentiments echoed by a veteran of our struggle in 1981 are still relevant today as we observe the manner in which components of the alliance, particularly Cosatu and the SACP, are dangerously grappling and tampering with the old traditions of the alliance traversing many decades.

As long as Zwelinzima Vavi and Willie Madisha continue to steer Cosatu into turbulent waters with their mishandling of the Zuma saga and tampering with the alliance traditions, the union is heading for a political suicide mission. They should rather take advice from Tambo’s wise words when he said on the relationship between the ANC and the SACP, in the same speech in 1981, that: “Our organisations have been able to agree on fundamental strategies and tactical positions, whilst retaining our separate identities. For, though we are united in struggle, we are not the same.”

The suicidal political ambitions of the two have been exposed in their continuous public challenge of the prerogative of the ANC to deal with its own internal matters, particularly the charges against former deputy president Jacob Zuma. This begs the question as to their vociferous interest in this matter, as opposed to other similar matters which involved senior members of the ANC in the past.

To further echo Tambo’s wise words, “within our revolutionary alliance each organisation has a distinct and vital role to play. A correct understanding of these roles, and respect for their boundaries, has ensured the survival and consolidation of our co-operation and unity.” This correctly alludes to old alliance dynamics and traditions of which Vavi and Madisha and some of their supporters are ignorant in their understanding of the relationship between alliance partners.

No sober-minded and politically conscious cadre of the movement can explain, in rational terms, the logic behind Vavi and Madisha’s bold public statements about a political plot to prevent Zuma from becoming president and their subsequent opposition to proposals for the creation of an alliance commission of inquiry to probe allegations and accusations emanating from the very same statements.

It’s amazing how some in the Cosatu leadership have taken it upon themselves to drag the country into the periphery of democratic discourse with their demands for the state to drop the charges against Zuma and reinstate him as deputy president.

Imagine the kleptocracy that South Africa could turn into and the sycophancy that could reign if these two could go unchallenged in their political ambitions to ascend to power, riding on the ANC’s back and using the Zuma saga as a smokescreen.

The ANC and the alliance at large has never been a breeding ground for political novices and anarchists who show little comprehension of ANC traditions established over a period of years of struggle and the sooner these Johnnies-come-lately in the struggle are dealt with, the better.

The Cosatu affiliates that have broken ranks with its mother body and pronounced on their opposition to the divisive manner in which the Vavi and Madisha have dealt with the Zuma issue, need to be hailed and motivated to galvanise other workers to stand up and oppose the reactionary tendencies of these narrow-minded leaders who are bent on destroying the alliance.

The general conduct of the Cosatu leadership regarding this matter, particularly their irresponsible populist calls for demonstrations during the court appearances of Msholozi (Zuma), is a direct attack on the independence of the judiciary and our constitution at large. This is a blatant display of a lack of political maturity that is dragging South Africa into becoming a banana republic where the “anarchy of the proletariat” and mob justice would reign.

Their fixation with the Zuma issue, a matter that has no bearing on the workers’ struggle, just shows how Cosatu has relegated to a secondary level the bread-and-butter issues that form the basic tenets of the workers’ struggle.

The Zuma issue has now assumed the primary agenda at the expense of the poor working class.

This clearly exposes the long-held belief and suspicions that the Cosatu leadership, commanded by Vavi and Madisha, is furthering its political ambitions through the sweat and blood of the working class – something they have failed to advance under President Mbeki’s tenure.

The revolutionary proletariat and the politically mature and toiling working class, whose sweat and blood cemented the political foundation upon which our forefathers and veterans of our movement formed this alliance, in pursuit of a united and non-racial democratic South Africa, need to openly express themselves against the threat to political unity in the movement and stability in the country in general, posed by this politically immature leadership.

The ANC cannot be held to ransom over the Zuma saga – a matter that is surely not bigger than the movement and the alliance at large. Committed and dedicated cadres of the alliance who are in the Cosatu fold must rise against this sycophancy, which seeks to sow seeds of division and destruction of our tried and tested vanguard of the masses.

To paraphrase Tambo, the alliance has “been fertilised by the blood of the countless heroes; many of them are unnamed and unsung.

“It has been reinforced by a common determination to destroy the enemy and by our shared belief in the certainty of victory.”

Those who seek to destroy this hard-won unity and victory must be challenged and vehemently opposed at all cost.

 Luphumzo Kebeni is manager of media relations at parliament. This article is written in his personal capacity.


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=225&fArticleId=2877526