Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU General Secretary's tribute to Chris Hani, 10 April 2013, Boksburg

We will never forget the day when racists and anti-communists connived to rob our country of one of the finest revolutionaries our struggle for justice and democracy has produced. The bullet of Walus killed our future, as the Russian ambassador to South Africa in those years correctly said. They killed the Che Guevara of Africa and robbed the poor and workers of a potent weapon, whom they used not only to highlight their plight but to fight their deprivation and suffering.

Twenty years down the line we return to his grave with mixed feelings. On one hand we join his family, wife Limpho and Lindi, to share their pain, which we know is much deeper than we can ever understand. They were robbed of a husband, father, brother and breadwinner. The Hani family is acutely aware however that millions of South Africans and other admirers of Chris Hani throughout the world share their pain; in a way their pain is our pain.

On the other hand we are returning here to once again make a proclamation that we will not allow Chris Hani to die. Through his profound exemplary leadership he continues to inspire new generations of cadres.

As we return to this sacred place where his mortal remain are buried, we recall that this month we also commemorate what our movement has historically referred to as the "the heroes month".

We recall that one of the bravest sons of our people - Solomon Mahlangu - was hanged on 6 April in 1979. His last words as he was to be hanged remain an epitome of the best traditions our movement. He said: "My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruit of freedom. Tell my people I love them; they must continue the fight". 

We remember countless other cadres who defied death, joined the people's army Umkhonto Wesizwe and took up arms against the evil deeds which apartheid committed against our people.

We remember the engine of our struggle for more than three decades, the phenomenal statesman who, through all seasons, tirelessly campaigned across the globe and represented our silent voices. We are speaking about Oliver Tambo who too should never be allowed to die.

Today, standing not very far from where he was buried, we recall his undying words that should remain our vision of a society we seek to build: We have a vision of South Africa in which black and white shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity"

We return to this grave today at a time when our movement is grappling with many challenges that, if not attended to, threaten to destroy its very foundations.

Chris Hani lived only the finest traditions of our movement. The most celebrated example is the "Hani memorandum" which he wrote on behalf of comrades in exile who were frustrated by the leadership lack of urgency to step up the military offensive. He denounced the then leadership's lack of accountability, draconian discipline, nepotism, corruption and favouritism, which he believed could have destroyed the movement.

Chris Hani was the most loyal and active cadre but was also an independent thinker, who analysed and debated problems and never shied away from controversy. He castigated more senior cadres who either ignored problems, or were themselves implicated. For this he was even imprisoned for a time by his own leaders. Much of that statement is still highly relevant today.

While he was mainly involved in the military arena, he also used the legal knowledge he acquired as a law student to speak on behalf of those who were in the trenches with him, and his political knowledge to help formulate strategy and tactics.

In that memorandum, Chris Hani in practice reinforced Mao Tse Tung's address to Chinese Communist Party on 7 September 1937, when he said: 

"We stand for active ideological struggle because it is the weapon for ensuring unity within the Party and the revolutionary organizations in the interest of our fight. Every Communist and revolutionary should take up this weapon.

"But liberalism rejects ideological struggle and stands for unprincipled peace, thus giving rise to a decadent, Philistine attitude and bringing about political degeneration in certain units and individuals in the Party and the revolutionary organizations.

"Liberalism manifests itself in various ways.

"To let things slide for the sake of peace and friendship when a person has clearly gone wrong, and refrain from principled argument because he is an old acquaintance, a fellow townsman, a schoolmate, a close friend, a loved one, an old colleague or old subordinate. Or to touch on the matter lightly instead of going into it thoroughly, so as to keep on good terms. The result is that both the organization and the individual are harmed. This is one type of liberalism.

"To indulge in irresponsible criticism in private instead of actively putting forward one's suggestions to the organization. To say nothing to people to their faces but to gossip behind their backs, or to say nothing at a meeting but to gossip afterwards. To show no regard at all for the principles of collective life but to follow one's own inclination. This is a second type.

"To let things drift if they do not affect one personally; to say as little as possible while knowing perfectly well what is wrong, to be worldly wise and play safe and seek only to avoid blame. This is a third type.

"Not to obey orders but to give pride of place to one's own opinions. To demand special consideration from the organization but to reject its discipline. This is a fourth type.

"To indulge in personal attacks, pick quarrels, vent personal spite or seek revenge instead of entering into an argument and struggling against incorrect views for the sake of unity or progress or getting the work done properly. This is a fifth type.

"To hear incorrect views without rebutting them and even to hear counter-revolutionary remarks without reporting them, but instead to take them calmly as if nothing had happened. This is a sixth type.

"To be among the masses and fail to conduct propaganda and agitation or speak at meetings or conduct investigations and inquiries among them, and instead to be indifferent to them and show no concern for their well-being, forgetting that one is a Communist and behaving as if one were an ordinary non-Communist. This is a seventh type.

"To see someone harming the interests of the masses and yet not feel indignant, or dissuade or stop him or reason with him, but to allow him to continue. This is an eighth type.

"To work half-heartedly without a definite plan or direction; to work perfunctorily and muddle along -- "So long as one remains a monk, one goes on tolling the bell." This is a ninth type.

"To regard oneself as having rendered great service to the revolution, to pride oneself on being a veteran, to disdain minor assignments while being quite unequal to major tasks, to be slipshod in work and slack in study. This is a tenth type.

"To be aware of one's own mistakes and yet make no attempt to correct them, taking a liberal attitude towards oneself. This is an eleventh type.

"We could name more. But these eleven are the principal types. They are all manifestations of liberalism.

"Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the Party organizations from the masses which the Party leads. It is an extremely bad tendency.

"Liberalism stems from petty-bourgeois selfishness, it places personal interests first and the interests of the revolution second, and this gives rise to ideological, political and organizational liberalism.

"People who are liberals look upon the principles of Marxism as abstract dogma. They approve of Marxism, but are not prepared to practice it or to practice it in full; they are not prepared to replace their liberalism by Marxism. These people have their Marxism, but they have their liberalism as well -- they talk Marxism but practice liberalism; they apply Marxism to others but liberalism to themselves. They keep both kinds of goods in stock and find a use for each. This is how the minds of certain people work.

"Liberalism is a manifestation of opportunism and conflicts fundamentally with Marxism. It is negative and objectively has the effect of helping the enemy; that is why the enemy welcomes its preservation in our midst. Such being its nature, there should be no place for it in the ranks of the revolution.

"We must use Marxism, which is positive in spirit, to overcome liberalism, which is negative. A Communist should have largeness of mind and he should be staunch and active, looking upon the interests of the revolution as his very life and subordinating his personal interests to those of the revolution; always and everywhere he should adhere to principle and wage a tireless struggle against all incorrect ideas and actions, so as to consolidate the collective life of the Party and strengthen the ties between the Party and the masses; he should be more concerned about the Party and the masses than about any private person, and more concerned about others than about himself. Only thus can he be considered a Communist.

"All loyal, honest, active and upright Communists must unite to oppose the liberal tendencies shown by certain people among us, and set them on the right path. This is one of the tasks on our ideological front."

Chris Hani will always be remembered by both his former comrades, and a new generation of South Africans, as a unique example of a bold revolutionary leader, who embodied the great traditions of our liberation and socialist movement - selflessness, dedication, discipline, hard work, loyalty to the cause and commitment to the service of the people.

He led the joint MK/ZIPRA forces in the 1967 Wankie campaign in what was then Northern Rhodesia. He was the first member of the ANC NEC to enter South Africa from exile to get involved in the military resistance. Inevitably he became a key target of the apartheid state and survived several assassination attempts.

On his return to South Africa he inspired millions to join the liberation movement through his dazzling oratory at countless rallies. He had the ability to sum up exactly what his working-class and poor audiences were thinking and draw them into the struggle

Chris Hani's life epitomized the principle of selflessness. He was prepared to sacrifice all for what he believed in. At a time when many leaders were seeking jobs as government ministers or officials - with better salaries - Chris Hani took on the lowly paid, but politically crucial, position of General Secretary of the SACP.

We have made tremendous strides in building a better life for all South Africans. Basic services have been rolled out to millions of the poorest South Africans. The ANC government has invested millions of rands to improve the quality of health care, access to running water, sanitation, electricity, roads, housing and other necessities so that our children, especially the black majority, can have a better future than their parents and grandparents.

On the other hand we still have a long way to go before we can look at the ANC Morogoro Strategy and Tactics document and say we have attained full liberation. We have recently recognised the fact that our liberation is more limited to political freedom, while economically the ruling class remains the same as during the colonial and apartheid era.

That is why we have passed resolutions calling for the second phase of the transition - a radical economic transformation.

The apartheid wage structure has not fundamentally changed. And the racial differences have remained too. Most black workers, particularly in the private sector, continue to live in poverty, not only in the most vulnerable sectors, but also among most blue-collar workers.

Inequality in incomes is matched in inequality of service delivery. Despite the commendable improvements referred to above, the quality of service continues to reflect the two-tier model we inherited from apartheid.

In housing, education, healthcare and transport, there is a world-class private service for the still largely white, wealthy elite, but a wretched, under-staffed and under-resourced third-world service for the poor, overwhelmingly black, majority.

Aggravating the crisis of poverty and inequality is the catastrophic level of unemployment. The more realistic expanded definition of unemployment, including people who have stopped looking for work, was at 35.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Among Africans it is now above 40%, up from 38% in 1995. There is a particularly severe crisis among the youth, who constitute 63% of the working population, yet make 72% of the unemployed.

All these problems are made even worse by our failure to implement the fundamental transformation of the economy we inherited from the colonial and apartheid past, based on the export of raw materials rather than the development of manufacturing industry.

Chris Hani would surely be angry that we have moved so slowly to eradicate our racially skewed levels of inequality, and would sympathise with the increasingly angry protests in our workplaces and poor communities.

He would surely be appalled by the scale of greed and crass materialism of the new clique of tenderpreneurs, and all those who see access to political office as a ladder to personal wealth. He would never have tolerated the levels of corruption, fraud and squandering of public resources and been absolutely devastated at the assassination of political rivals over the spoils of office, and the factional battles and disunity that this has unleashed.

The best way to honour Chris Hani is to ensure that his ideals live on and that his sacrifices were not in vain. Let us honour him by committing and practicing his values. Let us all be like Chris Hani and let us set examples today that can inspire the younger generation.

Let us produce more Chris Hanis who will defend the true values of our movement by being shining examples today. Let us act in a manner that inspires confidence, in particular of the younger generation, who will be voting for the first time in the 2014 elections. Let us live selflessness, dedication, hard work, self-criticism, etc.

Let us focus all our energy to liberate the poor from capitalist barbarism and defeat it.

Issued by COSATU, April 10 2013

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