A Response to Cde Thabo Masombuka diatribe entitled "Time to end Malema madness"
In a normal situation, a diatribe entitled "time to end Malema madness" (Polticsweb 11 March 2011) which was presented as a genuine warning - albeit it latter appeared that it's just a factionalist warning - to delegates to the National Congress of the Youth League in June 2011 requires no response for fear of giving it legitimacy. However, such diatribe must be challenged lest it goes down in history books as a true reflection of what President Malema and his collective achieved during their term of office.
It is therefore against this brief background that I, as a potential delegate to the 2011 National Congress and branch Secretary of the ANC Youth League, would like to write this short paper to remind the Cde Thabo Masombuka about some of the victories that the ANCYL scored under branch President Julius Malema term.
Perhaps before I remind cde Thabo about most of "the good things that the Youth League has done under Malema", I must mention that any person who claims to be a former member and leader of the ANC Youth League must understand the ANCYL basics. For instance elementary politics teaches us that the ANCYL, inter alia, elects leadership in congress and not conferences (see your Youth League Constitution). Another basic issue that must be understood is that individual leaders form part of the collective hence victories and setbacks must be equally attributed to the collective rather than singling out one individual leader.
Moreover, objective reading of the history of the ANC YL indicates that the young Mandela and other YL members were more militant than the current generation including President Malema to a point that they (Mandela) disrupted meetings and punching some Communists. Obviously, this does not mean unruliness and violence is permissible but it's important that we remind one another about this since the theory of unity of opposites/dialectics argues that there is always, although fragmented at times, a connection between the past, future and the present.
Hence, any comparison between the 1994 generation of the Youth League and the current one must be objective and holistic instead of being opportunistic and selective while noting that material conditions have changed significantly. However this is not the main point for pinning down this short paper. The point is to refute the main factionalist allegation made by Cde Thabo that "it's even difficult for one to remember the good things that the Youth League has done under Malema...(and that)...the ANC YL has engaged in no substantive, real and tangible political or even social campaigns".
Let me highlight some substantive, real and tangible political victories that have been recently scored by the ANC YL under Julius Malema and his collective: nationalization of mines is currently the agenda of the African National Congress; the principle of generational mix was reaffirmed by the 2010 ANC National General Council (no wonder that most if not all provincial secretaries of the ANC are formed Youth League leaders AND most ANC branches are led by Youth Leaguers; the government is to provide free sanitary towels and finally the cabinet was reshuffled just as the ANCYL had argued.
Morever, President Julius Malema has revived one of the historical missions of the Youth League which is to reinforce the ANC through ensuring that we do not only bring about new ideas and volunteers to the ANC but also the YL has a duty to remind the ANC about the content of our struggle hence the call for economic freedom in our life. In other words, President Julius Malema, just like we are also doing so at branch level, has undermined the power of patronage by ensuring that the ANCYL speaks out against the growing tendency to use the organization to benefit those who are closer to us whether politically, romantically or biologically.
The fact that President Malema was vocal in bringing about the current political leadership of the ANC has not made him to keep quite whenever un-ANC tendencies show their ugly heads. President Malema and his collective's practical understanding of the principle of compliment and contradict and self-criticism etc. President Malema and his collective understands that the struggle for a better life cannot be about political power but at some point it requires the translation of the latter into economic freedom which can bring food on the table.
President Malema himself is a classic example that despite being failed by the legacy of Bantu education South Africa is alive with possibilities. It is therefore for this and many other reasons that I am prepared "to shoot to kill" for President Malema particularly because he can speak truth to power and in him, I see myself.
On this and other basis, it's clear that that Julius Malema and his collective has scored many victories during their term of office and that those who do not recognize this are either blinded by hatred for President Malema or are suffering from "a media-constructed line of reasoning" and a pompous mentality of being super-revolutionary than the revolution itself. As an economic freedom fighter, I will do everything in my power to defend leaders who agree to economic freedom in our lifetime.
Thembinkosi "Guerrilla" Zondi, a UKZN-PMB Political Philosophy postgraduate student and KZ221 ward 3 ANC YL and ANC branch Secretary writing in his own personal capacity.
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