"NW is @ (sic) Free State colony....but the sons and daughters of NW shall FREE NW from this colonisation of the special type for the sake of generations to come....'no surrender no retreat'....our blood is black, green & gold, our heritage, our future. WE BELONG [forward to 20]."
Usually, one should dismiss such anonymous SMS messages as a hoax, but not when a local publication in Mafikeng had earlier ran an article with similar sentiments, in which the ANC PTT Coordinator, Saki Mofokeng, was allegedly referred to as "a Free State reject" among certain ANC members in the province. Nonetheless, certain phrases in this message are worth closer scrutiny, if only to try and establish the dangerous attitudes which could inform such a campaign.
"Colonisation of the special type"
In general, this phrase suggests that the majority - in this case, Batswana - have little say in the running of the province. However, these words were probably popularised by former President, Thabo Mbeki, during his delivery of the 2nd OR Tambo lecture (11 Aug 2000), when he quoted a passage from Amilcar Cabral which discussed the concept of "foreign domination". Mbeki said: "In our progressive literature this has been described as colonisation of a special type. Some specific features of this particular manifestation of colonialism are that our own ‘oppressor class' and ‘ruling class' ...became part of a multi-racial and multi-cultural South African population."
Further to that, Mbeki also made use of phrases like "destruction of a traditional society", "suppression of culture", "systematic diminution of indigenous languages", "social alienation and loss of identity", "slave population" etc. One then wonders: could all these unambiguous phrases truly characterise the state of politics in the ruling ANC of the North West province? Maybe, but I doubt.
Having said that, one could then assume - given the striking relevance and context - that the author of the above mentioned message is either a fan of the former president or his dialectical use of the Queen's language. The former would then confirm that the ‘Mbeki-ites' campaign for provincial leadership has taken a ‘tribalist' dimension, while the latter would also suggest an obsessive element of tribalism (Batswana vs. Basotho) within the NW ANC, similar to that which rocked COPE during its early days (as per Mlungisi Hlongwane - former COPE Election coordinator) and that which was the hallmark of Luca Mangope's fascist rule during the days of Bophuthatswana.
"No surrender no retreat"
‘No retreat, no surrender' is - among others - the title of a memoir by Tom Delay (former Republican House leader in the United States) who was also accused for misusing the party's campaign money. His predecessor and leader of the Democrats, Dick Armey, commented in an interview with National Public Radio (USA) that "in their 12 years of power in Congress", the Republicans "had lost their way, putting their interest in staying power over the good of the country." Armey's sentiments echo the decision of the ANC NEC when they decided to disband the former NW Provincial Executive Committee, claiming that they were "corrupt and practicing nepotism and micro-managing councils" (Growth Magazine; ‘Purging the Talibans', 2009).
But the phrase is also reminiscent of the Battle of Stalingrad (1942 - 43), in which the Germans - under the command of Adolf Hitler - engaged in a combat with the Russians, which they dubbed the ‘Rattenkrieg' (rat war), which involved intense street fighting. Hitler had informed General Franz Halder that there will be no retreating from the Russian from near Moscow, and said that "The will to hold out must be brought home to every unit". Halder was also informed that he could stay on as chief of the general army staff if he so chose, but only with the understanding that Hitler alone was in charge of the army's movements and strategies. (History.com)
From this perspective, this phrase points to a certain obsession with power and a burning desire to maintain and centralise it, by certain members within the ruling party. Such was Thabo Mbeki's desire to stay on as president of the ANC after the 52nd National Conference (2007), and it would be unfortunate if certain leaders in the province still fail to grasp the lessons of Polokwane.
On the other hand, one could no longer doubt that the legacy of Bophuthatswana and the demons of tribalism (as entrenched and promoted by Mangope and the apartheid regime), are still lurking and tormenting the people of North West.
Setumo Stone is a writer, social commentator and youth activist.
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