MEDIA STATEMENT BY THE NATIONAL OFFICE BEARERS (NOB) OF MKMVA CONCERNING THE OUTCOME OF THE NATIONAL ELECTIVE CONFERENCE OF THE ANC, AS WELL AS RUMOURED PRESSURE TO RECALL PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA AS PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA AND OTHER MATTERS

Date: 8 January 2018

MKMVA wishes the African National Congress and all the members of the ANC a happy 106th birthday anniversary!

At the beginning of this New Year The Umkhonto We Size Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) wishes all our members, all ANC members, and indeed all South Africans a happy and blessed New Year in which their hopes for success and prosperity will prevail. We congratulate the Grade 12 Class of 2017 for the excellent pass rate that they have achieved. We are truly proud of them and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. MKMVA especially wants to congratulate all those students who received assistance from the Department of Military Veterans, and who have successfully passed their studies and made the  best of the opportunities that this assistance provided them with.

The National Office Bearers (NOB’s) of the Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) met today, the 8th of January 2018, for one of our regularly scheduled meetings. We noted that on this very day 106 years ago, on the 8th of January 1912, the African National Congress (ANC) was formed. The historical task of the ANC was right from its inception to unite the African people, and to ensure that the black oppressed were to be liberated from white colonial rule, and every other form of oppression – whether racist, sexist, or economic exploitation. These ideals found further expression in the Freedom Charter that was adopted on the 26th of June 1955 at Kliptown, and which states unequivocally that all South Africans shall share in the wealth of our country.

In our meeting today we noted that while the ANC has achieved much during the past 106 years to make these laudable objectives a reality, and greatly improved the living conditions of the majority of South Africans - especially during the past 24 years since the dawn of democracy with the ANC as the ruling party - much still needs to be done in order to fully liberate the black majority of South Africans (especially Africans) from the consequences of apartheid racism, especially with regards to the continuing control of our economy by White Monopoly Capital (WMC).

In this regard the National Office Bearers of MKMVA expressed our satisfaction with the clearly formulated resolutions in favour of Radical Economic Transformation (RET), that were passed at the National Conference of the ANC. We are especially happy with the resolutions committing the ANC to land expropriation without compensation, and for all private (and especially foreign) owned shares of the Reserve Bank to be nationalised and for the Reserve Bank to become fully owned by government.

We also welcomed the Conference’s resolution in favour of free quality education, and want to express our appreciation to President Jacob Zuma for the progressive announcement that he made on the 16th of December 2017 that poor and working class students with a combined income of up to R 350 000 will receive fully subsidised free higher education and training. While more progress  will have to be registered in order to fully achieve the ANC’s policy commitment to free education, the announcement by President Zuma goes a long way to address the objectives of the #feesmustfall campaign.

On behalf of MKMVA the National Office Bearers expressed our satisfaction with the successful National Conference. We noted that despite the many doomsayers who predicted that the Conference would not even be able to convene or that it would collapse, nothing of the kind happened and the ANC delegates from branches throughput the length and breadth of our country were able to make their voices heard – both with regards to the leadership that they elected and the progressive resolutions that they passed.

We have especially noted the strong commitment that delegates expressed with regards to the unity of the ANC, and MKMVA unequivocally shares in that commitment both in terms of its expression and its execution of principled unity.

MKMVA immediately after the new National Office Bearers of the ANC had been elected warmly congratulated our newly elected President, comrade Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as the other five officials who were elected, and pledged our full support to them. The MKMVA National Office Bearers would like to re-iterate that commitment also with regards to the full complement of NEC members that have been elected.

MKMVA also congratulates comrade Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on the effective and constructive campaign that she conducted as a candidate for the presidency of the ANC. It was indeed a huge achievement that for the first time in the 106 year long history of the ANC comrade Dlamini Zuma was as a woman on the ballot paper for the election of the President of the ANC. Her campaign greatly enriched the policy discussions in the ANC, and helped to bring the critical importance of Radical Economic Transformation to the fore. We commend comrade Dlamini Zuma for the disciplined and comradely manner in which she accepted the outcome of the elections. We welcome her re-election onto the NEC, and look forward to the ANC and our country still being able to benefit for many years from her wealth of experience and strong leadership.

The National Office Bearers of the ANC, together with the whole newly elected NEC, have their work cut out for themselves. Especially with regards to the very clear marching orders that they have received from the Conference to implement Radical Economic Transformation without fear or favour. It is our belief that the effective implementation of RET will go a long way to restore and strengthen the trust of the majority of South Africans in the ANC as pro-poor and the only political Movement in South Africa that can address their needs and hopes for a better life for all – it will also greatly contribute to unity.

We call on all members of the ANC, and also every South African who cares for the future of our country, to support the newly elected leadership of the ANC, and to give them the encouragement and space to do their work. One of the most critical tasks of the ANC is to prepare for the national elections due in 2019. We call on all the members of MKMVA to work tirelessly together with all other ANC structures to ensure a resounding victory.

It must be noted that the National Conference never discussed in any manner whatsoever the recall of President Jacob Zuma as President of the Republic. Instead, what the delegates at the Conference explicitly instructed the newly elected leadership to do was to work tirelessly for unity. We therefore, especially, call for unnecessary divisive pressure with regards to the future of President Jacob Zuma as President of the Republic of South Africa to be avoided. The National Executive Committee of the ANC must be given the opportunity to deal with this matter – as it should with regards to all the other issues that it needs to address – in a manner that will forge unity and the effective execution of policy.

In doing so there should be no place for personal vendettas and vindictiveness. It is our considered view that President Jacob Zuma deserves to be acknowledged and respected for the huge contribution that he made in the liberation struggle, and  for his many decades of dedicated service in the ANC as well as to the people of South Africa in the various senior positions in government that he held - including his service as President of the Republic. This was clearly also the sentiment of the National Conference when his opening address to the Conference was received  with acclamation.

A 20 member MKMVA delegation participated as non-voting delegates in the National Conference. We participated as the only officially recognised Association representing MK military veterans, and we warmly thank the ANC as our Mother body for having granted us that recognition. MKMVA utilised the opportunity to the fullest; and our delegation participated vigorously in all the activities of the Conference, especially in the various commissions. Foremost in this participation was our concern to raise the plight of our MK military veteran members, and to advance policy resolutions that would improve their lives and the plight of their families.

We share in the sentiments that were expressed at the Conference that unity in  the MK family should be pursued, and want to reiterate again that the doors of MKMVA remain open for all MK veterans to fully participate in our organisational structures. As we have said in the past, we remain prepared to participate in bona fide engagements driven by good will in order to achieve the laudable objective of unity. All MK veterans share a long history of sacrifice and engagement in the struggle for liberation. This history – and our continued commitment to the full realisation of the liberation ideals that we fought for – should always forge much stronger ties of unity than anything that can possibly divide us.