POST LEADERSHIP ERA HANGOVER BY MTHANDENI DLUNGWANE, DEMONSTRATED IN HIS OPEN LETTER TO THE LOUD-MOUTHED JULIUS

As I read Mthandeni Dlungwane's (former KZN ANCYL chairperson) open letter to Julius, I also couldn't resist the obvious observation of desperation from the author, desperate to portray himself as a Messiah, who was just an innocent bystander that had nothing to do with the creation of the current crisis and instability in the ANCYL.

What he is failing to convey in his open letter is that he served as a very weak paramount dictator in KZN during their term of collective reign of terror with the now disgruntled Juju. It was under his watch and leadership, which mysteriously emerged, that we witnessed the stifling of debates, intimidation, threats of violence and actual violence in the ANCYL. This became the order of the day by the leadership of Anton Lembede's noble organisation.

I refer to their election as mysterious because of electoral fraud and rigging of the Howard College provincial conference of the ANCYL conference that was exposed. Also uncovered at that conference, were faceless, delegate voting tags and pseudo delegates who had been bussed into the conference to vote for Mthandeni and crew, heroically referred to as the resolute "Asijiki".

The Asijiki fraud which involves the printing of these tags was also intercepted at some office in town. This was an operation run by members of his PEC, a shame that he will undoubtedly endeavour to dispute. We saw this being done during the Limpopo ANC conference and we had warned that this modus operandi of the Asijiki project is destined to spread into the ANC from the ANCYL with a narrow intention of dreaming to hijack the ANC's Mangaung conference. Indeed we are witnessing that now.

We reported all these disconcerting activities to the NEC deployees who were present at the conference, in particular, to former SG, Cde Vuyiswa Tulelo, who simply downplayed the matter, responding that the 10 fraudulent tags were too few to affect the conference. This denial to reconfirm credentials effectively shifted the duty to investigate further fraud and rigging away from the deployees and the conference delegates.

I also feel duty bound to speak up amidst the unfortunate culture of not taking full responsibility for our actions. Real leaders must be bold enough to tell the truth. The same quote used by the Cde as advice to Julius warning him against claiming easy victories and telling lies, is the very advice I wish this comrade (cde) to be a proud custodian of.

Let us not be made to believe what is convenient. This Cde must not disown the role he played in launching a programme to attack the current leadership of the ANC and government through the "24th ANCYL congress class project". He led a KZN delegation that they had manufactured to predetermine outcomes of the ANCYL conference in Gallagher. It would be disingenuous of him to all of a sudden play innocent.

Let me explain how this manufacturing of delegates was created. In my own branch for example, an ANCYL Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) deployee was sent (an incomprehensible practice of Branch General Meetings (BGM) in the ANCYL being officiated by the PEC when the REC is present and in good standing) to ensure that certain Cdes who disagreed with the "24th YL congress class project" are isolated and blocked from becoming delegates. Regardless of the membership's views in the BGM, the deployee, acting on their (PEC) project tactics, would intimidate members with expulsion and change the constitutional practices in the BGM simply to advance their cause.  

When it came to the election of delegates, the deployee would say "the PEC has resolved that for this branch, a delegate will be someone who has been nominated and seconded and there will be no voting for delegates". So this effectively meant that a deployee would recognise an "Asijiki" recruitee to nominate another Asijiki, ask for a seconder, and naturally, the "Asijiki" would second, effectively making this person a delegate without testing the democratic will of membership in the BGM.

These "Asijiki economic freedom fighters" know each other in all branches, running this tyranny of anarchy throughout the province as their contribution to the success of their class project to please their masters who were formerly at Luthuli House.

It is under the leadership of Cde Mthandeni that I witnessed the undermining of the ANCYL's constitution in pursuit of these narrow interests. In my branch, for example, two Cdes who became delegates, were organised into a group of 5 (and I repeat 5) "Asijiki economic freedom fighters" in the BGM of more than 100 moderate sober members.

And this was easy because the deployee knew beforehand, the Asijikis that he or she would work with in the BGM since they were already part of their agenda having already been planted all over the branches.

If we are true to ourselves, why attribute this to Julius? These things happened in the province, within branches. Let us not be opportunistic and shift everything to this askari called Julius. Let us be genuine enough and take our fair share of the responsibility Mthandeni. I know it may be fashionable to return insults to Julius when he insults our leaders and the organisation that we have always stood by, but let us not do things that will make people ask where were you when all the anarchy was the order of the day.

When we appealed to the Regional Executive Committee (REC), against tactics of the "24th YL congress class project", we were told that our branches (those that were a challenge to the class project agenda) were taken away from the region and serviced directly by the PEC of Cde Mthandeni.

When we appealed to the PEC about the unconstitutionality of BGMs in the province, we were merely sent away and told to appeal nationally.  Of course, we did, knowing very well that the agenda had already been nationally set, to deal with dissent.

Nationally we were also thrown out. Furthermore, Cde Mthandeni's ally, a Cde we apparently inherited from the IFP, even mocked at us and said that we should appeal to Ban ki Moon at the UN. At least this newly found friend, who still resembles IFP warlordism tendencies, has since stopped insulting President Zuma and other ANC leaders he disliked. I would like to hope that this is a sign of growth and knowledge of ANC tradition on his side and may it last forever.

In addition to the intimidation these Cdes have been using to deal with voices of dissent, and their deliberate flouting of organisational processes, our appeal focused on the fact that deployees would not only run the AGM component which elects leadership, but would also conduct the BGM which elects delegates, a practice foreign to the ANCYL. So they stole both the AGMs and BGMs.

Therefore, we believe that we unfairly, unprocedurally, undemocratically and unconstitutionally lost both branch leadership and delegate status simply because we stood opposed to the class project agenda. However, we are still proud that we got the best deal under their anarchy, as despite it all, we are left with our political views intact.

Procedurally, once leadership is elected in the AGM, the chairperson then runs the BGM. However, because these Cdes were pressured into delivering the KZN province to their then class allies they collaborated with, whether constitutional or otherwise, they were then hell-bent on contravening processes and used intimidation similar to AMCU tactics in Marikana, to force members into toeing the line.

They did this with some Sandiso Magaqa (whom they were supporting to become Secretary General of the ANCYL), who apparently claimed to have graduated from UKZN, until this university distanced itself from his fabricated dream. What a disaster! And yet Cde Mthandeni is conveniently forgetting in his PART 1 open letter to even mention him, let alone tell us what these qualities are that they had seen in the poor Magaqa to justify him in an SG position.

Perhaps the author knows him better since Magaqa was his deputy when he was chairperson of the province until Julius summarily disbanded them after a fall-out that, still today, we are told was over support for President Zuma and this ANC leadership collective. However, this is a fabricated version of events which must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves. If the author has decided to establish the habit of writing open letters, he must also give a true and complete account of events.

We know what Cdes in the PEC were saying in the regions about ANC leadership and leaders they wanted to remove in Mangaung. Their position is known in the ANCYL regional conferences where they were lobbying through insults against ANC leadership. We had better not indulge in this.

My final advice to the honourable member, writing in his personal capacity, is that:

- He must not try to rewrite history in order to conveniently polish it to suite his present position in relation to the views he messed the KZN ANCYL province for.

- He must not forget to count himself as a former ‘yes-man' of Julius

- Open letters have a tendency to close the author's mind

- He must not lie about the reasons why they wanted Julius to lead the YL in the 24th congress, since there is nothing new that Julius started doing after Gallagher which he had not already been doing.

Whatever they claim to have been a reason for their fallout long existed and that is what some of us stood opposed to with the late Cde Wandile Mkhize.

If the author has the courage to write an open letter, then he must also find his mettle by telling us what the pact with Gallagher was, that makes him so aggrieved today.

- There is something which I am made to believe the Cde knows: it is called plagiarism in academia. The Young Communist League (YCL) says "Socialism in our lifetime". The badly conceptualised and under-theorised "economic freedom in our lifetime" grand-narration is very bad copy of this YCL motto which has been stolen without acknowledgement.

What the Cde must understand before boasting that this flawed copy was their own program; is that in our revolutionary literature we don't have anything called "economic freedom". In the open letter he quotes Marx and then immediately contradicts himself by claiming loyalty to this capitalistic slogan. Our revolutionary literature talks about the political economy. So I hope that since the Cde has graduated to a position of leadership in the ANC (of which ideally he should have been like a "shining diamond" already before graduating, a fact I doubt very much), he should be able to identify the difference between the two.

- He should understand that consistency bears credibility

- We must avoid the temptation to behave like desperate people in want of any political home so long as it will assure them of their own political safety and comfort, regardless of whether they truly feel a sense of belonging.

Some Cdes today look around for a name they see to be strategic in advancing their selfish and narrow political career interests, throwing their questionable weight behind it. They perform U-turns along the way, depending on their shifting perception of strategic advancement. Izolo bebethuka uZuma beno Julius and today bathuka the very pathetic Julius. How convenient. They must just tell the truth or simply bury their heads forever!

- I don't know whether in listing his credentials, the Cde forgot to mention that he is the former provincial chairperson of the ANCYL who led the YL in KZN while Julius led it nationally. Was this an honest omission or a deliberate azuro or oligo-info to avoid uncomfortable questions?

If it is an honest omission, or if the Cde doesn't mention this because it is the position he no longer holds, then convenient selectivity has very quickly caught up to him. In this case it is relevant that he states this because he talks about an organisation in which he played such destructive role.

- Lastly, we must not disown our past beliefs and pretend as if we never held them. We must be honest enough to clarify what is it that we were promised, that made us work so hard for the forces of darkeness.

It is anarchy of the worst kind that this Cde and his friends left in the ANCYL before they graduated to the ANC. This is amongst the many things we will always remember them for. And sadly, they changed the politics and the culture of the YL. Where is the ANCYL that they inherited? The next generation deserves answers from them.

But what is to be done? I am now worried about a new "born-free", painfully-recruited member of the ANCYL who might have attended an ANCYL meeting for the first time and only to witness this type of anarchy and riotism that these Cdes enmeshed to membership of the organisation.

What does this member know about the ANC and the ANCYL? Would this member be voting ANC after seeing what the ANC is, as demonstrated by this leadership on the unfortunate day the class project was at work? This type of intimidation went beyond branches. It was rife even in regional conferences and Provincial General Council (PGC). Members were physically beaten up by the leadership of Cde "Mtha", so we affectionately call him. What's more, he allergedly even paid bail and negotiated for some in the leadership who were arrested for these beatings.

In the congress in Gallagher, he led a campaign of removing name tags from KZN delegates who had become sober and dumped the nonsensical Asijiki class project, unleashing threats of expulsion from the organisation to delegates who were not toeing his version of a "democratic" political line.

My response to the open letter is in the spirit of building our movement through promoting responsible leadership when we are elected to lead. We must understand that we will forever be accountable, answerable and responsible for the decisions we made while leading. It cannot be that we elect leaders and when they flounder in one structure, we then elect them onto another, divorcing their past from them.

And finally, as Cdes, we must avoid the temptation of political opportunism for self-serving convenience purposes and come with desperate PART 1s. That mampara demagogue called Julius is out and history, so Cdes must not try to resuscitate their own credibility through discrediting an already discredited lunatic, may his political soul rest in peace!

Lindelani Shezi is an ANCYL branch executive committee member of ward 86 in eThekwini Region, writing in his personal capacity

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