But+first+the+Truth+must+be+set+Free,+Manamela,+YCLSA

YCLSA, ‘Bottom Line”, Issue 3, Volume 2, 5-11 September, 2005

 * National Secretary, Political Notes**

=‘But first the Truth must be set Free!’=

'THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE? MAYBE. But first the Truth must be set free'. These are the words of Wole Sonyika, the renowned Nigerian writer, in his Introduction to the 1999 The Burden of Memory, the mouse of Forgiveness!

This challenge of setting the truth free goes to those who dare to speak for the truth, and speak of the truth, or seek the truth to ensure that in the process of doing this, they should ensure that the truth itself should be set free.

Julius Caesar died not knowing that there was a prolonged plan by conspirators to kill him because of his ‘ambitions’. By the time Brutus met his painful death, he knew that his fellow conspirators who invited him into the conspiracy had other motives other than those of saving Rome from the ambitious Caesar.

The Soothsayer, who remarked to Caesar to ‘beware the Ides of March’, could not be remembered throughout the play for having warned Caesar of the fate that will befall upon him. The fact that the soothsayer could not prove the existence of a plot to assassinate Caesar did not mean that the plot of a conspiracy did not exist. But, interestingly, the fact that Caesar has played an important role in defeating Pompey and captured slaves for Rome, does not mean that his adoration and adulation from the masses means that he was a populist. Caesar was the victim of the successes of Rome, and the hatred harboured by its leaders towards him.

Cassius, Cinna and the lot of conspirators have ensured that none other than them knows of their intentions to assassinate Caesar. How then, do we prove that there was indeed a conspiracy to assassinate Caesar, other than when the conspirators themselves speak of what their plans are and what ill intentions they have.

These verses written by William Shakespeare were revived when those who seek the truth challenged all that we need to go deeper into the allegation that there is a political conspiracy. Without equating the characters of medieval Rome to our situation, some of our leaders don the costumes and enter the theatre to emulate what Shakespeare wrote.

We have the advantage of the wisdom that the Romans never had, the advantage of knowledge production that they never had in that we are able to assess the modus operandi, the manner within which events talk to each other and decisions relates to one another are able to enlighten us that, as they play themselves out, they are being written elsewhere except in the constitutional meetings of the Alliance structures.

The President of the ANC, Thabo Mbeki, in ANC TODAY of 26 August 2005—1 September 2005 titled ‘The truth shall be heard’ has proposed that there be a Commission of Enquiry which will look into whether there indeed is a political conspiracy against the Deputy President of the ANC or not, and whether, as President of the country and of the ANC he is leading the gang of conspirators to ensure that the political future of the Deputy President is destroyed and thereby he ultimately does not become President of the ANC and of the country in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

The President has been informed that, reliably or unreliably, ‘some within our broad movement, who believe that Deputy President Zuma is a victim of a counter revolutionary, capitalist and neo-liberal offensive, are convinced that as President of the ANC and of the Republic, I occupy the leading position in the political onslaught against Deputy President Zuma’

‘I understand that these are spreading the story that, presumably for counter-revolutionary reasons, I am opposed to Comrade Zuma becoming President of the ANC and the Republic’

The reason why the Alliance meeting took place on the day was as a reaction to the fact that there is a political agenda that seeks to ultimately ensure that Deputy President Zuma does not receive a fair trial.

Those, including the YCL, who have suggested that there might be a political agenda to deal with the Deputy President of the ANC have indicated that these become visible in the manner within which the National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) and other institutions of the law has conducted itself towards the Deputy President of the ANC.

The reasons also included the fact that the Alliance needed to act in unity to ensure that the Deputy President of the ANC receives the support as committed to by the ANC National General Council, the SACP CC and the COSATU CC, without compromising the basic tenets of the law, or changing the law to suit the conditions that the Deputy President is confronted with.

None of the official communications of all the alliance partners have fingered the President of the ANC as a leader of a gang of conspirators, and this also does not come out from the Letter from the President.

The challenge that we face is not to prove whether the President leads a conspiracy or not, but the challenge, which is the task that unites all of us and as mandated by the National General Council of the ANC, is to ensure that the Deputy President of the ANC receives the fairest political trial without any victimisation.

This is what the alliance meeting agreed on and we need to focus our attention on what unites us, and not be harbouring behind an issue that misdirects the energies of the President and Deputy President of the ANC and the Alliance as a whole.

The charge by the President of the ANC has invited political analysts and commentators to run to the scene in high adrenalin and echo the words of the President of the ANC that there is a need for such a commission since it will clear the name of the President and calm the dust of a perceived conspiracy.

They have, like blood rushing to the head declared that this is the best move yet from the President of the ANC, and that he has locked his accusers into a corner. Others have donned the mask of Howard Barrel and borrowed his words, proclaiming “Vintage Mbeki”.

The leaders of the ANC are not involved in some games, competing against one another and laughing out loud after each game at the expense of the ANC, contrary to proclamation in verses of our newspapers ‘Vintage Mbeki’ and ‘Mbeki’s move locks Zuma supporters into a corner’.

The main problem with these so-called political analysts is that they have no first hand experience of how political organisations work. Because they do not lead political organisations, they do not understand the concept of collective decision-making and the onus of leaders to act on democratic mandates.

Will the commission yield any results? We ask!

The ANC has lived for 93 years - 82 of those not being in government and not enjoying the spoils and advantages of being a ruling party. Thirty years of its existence were under conditions of illegality and in exile. In only a few and extreme situations did it enlist the services of few and trusted comrades to preside over a commission to find out what the problems are in the movement.

This is mainly because the ANC, and the Alliance, had the confidence to resolve crises after crises, which threatened to divide and finally bury it. The ANC and the broad movement have had various options in resolving crises, and we believe that a Commission should be the very last resort in resolving the current issue.

Under the current circumstance why should the ANC and the Alliance go to the last option when we can still engage about the problem and collectively find solutions to those problems rather than dismissing them into a side-show, which we are not in control of? Besides, such a commission has the potential to further divide and polarize us rather than allowing honest and frank discussion around the problems that we face in the movement and in the Alliance.

Our view, as aptly described in a Somali proverb, is that ‘in order to resolve a conflict we need to talk about it’

After all the years fighting in unity against colonialism and Apartheid, and through the many problems that it confronted with internally and having survived them, the ANC has developed traditions and ways of rooting out such problems and emerging much more stronger.

Without resorting to technical institutions to resolve our problems, we need to retain the traditions of the ANC to resolve any form of conflict, no matter who it involves and what their positions are in the ANC.

Although most of the traditions of the ANC were developed as a result of the conditions faced at the time, they became rooted within the ANC either as emotional attachment, articulation of principle or management of contradictions met with operating in foreign land. Those were kept, fixed like a constitutional stipulation and adhered to as a matter of faith rather than obligation.

Not only do we have the confidence of the ANC itself, but we also have confidence in the President of the ANC and of the country whom as a person who carried out the ANC in a difficult transitional period, and how his skills both nationally and internationally have become a prototype in resolving conflict. Opting for the Pontus Pilate option, and trying to outmanoeuvre one another is no solution to a deepening political crisis!

As indicated in the ANC National General Council 2005 Discussion Document that:

“These potential and actual points of tension within the ANC led Alliance and within its own ranks are not new to the movements’ experience. Except in the most intractable instances, as in the case of the G8 of the 1970 who constituted themselves into a political faction that pursued itself as a faction in opposition to that movement, the ANC has fallen back on its traditions and tried and tested practices, avoiding expulsion, exclusion, or suspension of dissident voices. The ethos of the ANC is that we debate and argue about contesting political positions, but once a majority view has emerged, the minority view submits to the majority.” Taken from Unity and Diversity of the Movement

This is vintage ANC, and how it has located itself in dealing with periodic moments and ensuring that those do not tear it apart.

The changing in the ANC for the last 10 years with what we perceive as a reliance on the state machinery to resolve our problems runs the risk of replacing organisational ethos, organisational traditions and organisational beliefs. The fact that most times we avoid discussing problems and issues that affects us because we believe that the law should take its course is quite problematic! In as much as the law should take its course as it relates to whether Deputy President Zuma is corrupt or not, the ANC itself and the broad movement has a responsibility to discuss the political implications of the situation that Deputy President Zuma faces. We cannot, as one journalist remarked, allow the political issues affecting the ANC to the fate of the rule of law. Even if the rule of law takes its course, the ANC still has a political responsibility over its cadres, and not to leave them to the judgement of the law.

The protocols of government have become so embedded in the ANC and the broad movement in that they have replaced genuine ANC protocols and traditions with compliance to the requirements of government. Many comrades argue that, because we fought for and created this new government, we should leave everything into its fate and we shall follow.

When there were allegations that Bulelani Ngcuka was investigated by the ANC for being an Apartheid spy, and that he abused his powers as the Head of the National Prosecution Authority (NPA), a Commission of Enquiry known as the Hefer Commission, was established probe to them.

These allegations were not necessarily wholly legal, but had political connotations and implications and thus required further political discussions. Ngcuka had to be cleared, therefore, both politically and legally but, because of the spoils of the new dispensation, we thought that a commission will clear him and then the rest will take care of itself.

The Hefer Commission might have found that Ngcuka was “probably not” a spy, based on the evidence before it, but politically, we are still dealing with the allegations. In many respects, is still related to the ‘political agenda’ that is spoken of. The relations between Ngcuka and some of his comrades have soured politically because there was no political discussion to oversee the resolution of those allegations. This signifies the problems of commissions - it has the potential of bringing out winners and losers, and widen the division within the movement.

The unity in action of the Alliance depends on the confidence of all the alliance partners and their leaders in the processes set by the alliance. We cannot have a process that alliance partners do not have trust in. This is clear from the responses that COSATU and the SACP have given to the Commission, let alone the fact that we are yet to have an official submission by the ANC.

The challenge that we face is to concentrate on what unites us. We need to ensure that we focus on the outcomes of the Alliance 10 Aside resolutions and the processes agreed to. We also need to meet the challenge of ensuring that we confront problems that we are faced with engage in them in a frank and honest manner. The Commission may come, clear any idea that there is a political conspiracy against the Deputy President, and go, but the political crises will remain.

Beware the Ides of March. That’s the Bottomline, cos the YCL said so!


 * Buti Manamela

From: http://www.sacp.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=275&Itemid=93