Forward to peace in the Middle East!

Together with the rest of the world, we followed the process leading to the 25 January Palestine legislative elections with the greatest interest. This arose from the deep concern we have sustained for many decades to see the immensely talented peoples of Palestine and Israel living side by side in conditions of peace.

Over these long years we have entertained the hope that the Palestinians would realise their aspiration for the birth of their own independent state within acceptable boundaries, giving them the freedom to determine their destiny.

At the same time we hoped that this outcome would also entail the fulfilment of the prayers of the Israelis for their own security and the continued existence of an equally independent state of Israel within secure boundaries, at peace with Palestine and all its other neighbours.

As we observed the Middle East from afar, it had seemed clear that the 25 January Palestine legislative elections would mark an important milestone in the advance or otherwise towards the attainment of the outcome we have indicated, of an independent Palestine and an independent Israel, coexisting side-by-side in conditions of peace and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Equally, it had seemed clear that the Israeli legislative elections scheduled for 28 March would also mark a similar and obviously related landmark towards the achievement of a just and lasting peace for the Palestinians, the Israelis and the neighbouring countries.

The Palestinian and Israeli elections assumed particular poignancy because of what had happened to two towering warrior adversaries in the Middle East - Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon.

Yasser Arafat had died in a French hospital, with his very human body unable to respond to the best that the best French medical expertise could do to restore him to full health.

Ariel Sharon lies comatose in an Israeli hospital, with his equally very human body fighting to respond to the best that the best Israeli medical expertise can do to restore him to full health.

Given the history of these two antagonists and the way their paths had crossed in deadly confrontation over a number of decades, seeming to represent and perhaps representing irreconcilable opposites, necessarily the question would arise - what would happen when and if Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon were no longer there to continue a contest that seemed predetermined to rage on without end!

For what today seems to have been but a mere fleeting and all too short a moment of vibrant hope for a just and permanent peace, the protagonists in the Palestine-Israel conflict found themselves led by Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin.

Tragically, an assassin's bullet killed Yitzhak Rabin, because he had dared to sue for peace with the Palestinians, rather than seek their defeat and subjugation. Cruelly, Yitzhak Rabin was thus removed from what Yasser Arafat constantly and passionately referred to as a partnership committed to achieve "the peace of the brave".

A soldier as Yitzhak Rabin was a soldier, Yasser Arafat spoke of "the peace of the brave" to communicate the message that true Palestinian bravery and true Israeli bravery would be demonstrated not in a contest of arms, but in the extension of a genuine hand of peace by those who had seemed condemned to open fire upon each other in anger and a deliberate intention to kill, perpetually.

As preparations were made to lay the remains of the martyred Yitzhak Rabin to rest, Nelson Mandela agreed that we should take all necessary measures to travel to Jerusalem to ensure that democratic South Africa, with its government led by our movement, should be present when the Israeli people paid their last respects to a truly brave Israeli soldier.

A South African patriot lent us his plane to undertake a forced journey that could not but be a mournful dirge. Thus, like Yasser Arafat, we were able to join the Israeli people and the rest of the world in Jerusalem to honour Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

We intended that even without the presumed power of words spoken at or near the graveside, our mere presence in Jerusalem would convey the last farewell of the people of South Africa to a soldier killed by deadly bullets, simply because he had understood that the guns he had commanded had turned into an enemy of the peace of his own people, and therefore that the deadly dialogue of gunfire and bombs had to cease.

As South Africans and activists of the ANC we knew without doubt that we had to attend Yitzhak Rabin's funeral. This was because we too, like him, had understood, when the moment came, that the weapons of war we had taken up to attain our freedom and peace could turn into deadly instruments for the destruction of our people's hopes for freedom and peace.

This would surely happen if at a particular moment in a conflict that had raged for three-and-a-half centuries in our country, we did not seize the moment to progress from the armed battlefield to the negotiating table.

As our movement sat at that negotiating table, it understood clearly that we would have to enter into compromises with our erstwhile enemies, deliberately sacrificing the prospect of total victory, to save the many lives of the masses we led and lead, which would be lost in what would be a protracted struggle to achieve that total victory.

We understood too that whatever compromises we entered into or spurned, continued war would serve the interests of the oppressors. Peace could not but serve as a harbinger of freedom for the oppressed.

As happened to the Israeli people when Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, our own people's certainty about the correctness of their determination to achieve their liberation through peaceful means was put under severe test when Chris Hani, a soldier like Yitzhak Rabin, was murdered in cold blood, surrendering his life in a hail of bullets.

In our case, the armed enemies of liberation and peace could not stop our freedom train by provoking us to resume an armed conflict they knew very well would best serve their purpose of perpetuating our oppression and legitimising their repression.

They failed in their intentions because our movement took the deliberate decision that it would not allow the warmongers to decide the destiny of the millions that ANC had led for many decades, with reactionary violence persuading this same tried and tested representative of the people that the number of lives lost in pursuit of a total victory was of no consequence.

Perhaps wrongly, because, like us, they observe the Middle East from afar, our people have supported what we have tried to do to communicate their plea to the Israelis and Palestinians that, together, they should make the sovereign determination that their guns have turned into an enemy of peace, and therefore that the deadly dialogue of gunfire and bombs has to cease.

These masses have applauded the encounters that have taken place in our country in the "Spier process", when the Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers came together to talk about peace between their peoples.

They have welcomed what they saluted as a combined search for an equitable peace of the brave, without which neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians could realise their most beautiful, human and normal dreams, which dreaming would enable them together to escape from a shared nightmare.

They have done all this in the hope that what we did as a people to tame our own demons shows that there is no problem relating to human relations that cannot be solved peacefully.

They have nurtured the hope that surrounded by a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, which not so long ago managed to pull itself away from an apocalypse, the Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers would convince one another that they too are perfectly capable of holding hands across a seemingly unbridgeable abyss.

On 25 January, during the Palestine legislative elections, Hamas won a decisive victory. The international media has quoted one of the election observers of the European Parliament, Baibre de Brun, as saying:

"Whilst there will undoubtedly be much media focus and political interest in the electoral outcome in Palestine, the main focus of the EU election observers was to ascertain whether or not the elections were held in a free and fair manner.

"I want to pay tribute to those who worked so hard to ensure that the election was held in such a climate, including the Palestinian Central Elections Commission and both the domestic and international election observers. In spite of the Israeli-imposed restrictions in the run up to the poll, they have managed to hold a well organised and free election."

Former US President Jimmy Carter said the elections were "completely honest, completely fair, completely safe and without violence."

In the aftermath of the Hamas victory, the democratically elected President of the Palestine Authority and leader of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas, said "I urge all the parties to respect the law and accept the will of the people."

Saeb Erekat, who has served as the Palestinian chief negotiator for many years, said "Today we woke up and the sky was a different colour. We have entered a new era...We will be a loyal opposition and rebuild the party. The victors must assume their responsibilities towards our people in every field - political, security, economic and national."

The Palestinian people have spoken. They have freely chosen Hamas as their legislative representative in the same way that they chose Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as their President. In this context, the Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said, correctly, "We cannot promote democracy, then lament the results of democracy or object to the results."

Speaking for Hamas from Gaza, Ismail Hanniya said "The relationship between us and Abu Mazen is based on mutual respect, despite differences...We want to meet him to consult about the shape of the political partnership we can achieve...Don't be afraid. Hamas is a Palestinian movement. It is an aware and mature movement, one which is politically open in the Palestinian arena, and to its Arab and Islamic hinterland, and similarly open to the international arena."

The people of Palestine have elected Abu Mazen, leader of the PLO, as their President. They have elected Hamas as their majority legislative representatives. Democratically, they have constituted the legitimate authorities that must lead them in their continuing quest for an independent state of Palestine, for peace, democracy and development.

As before, we stand ready to work with the elected representatives of the sister people of Palestine to contribute to their effort to build on earlier advances, including the 1993 Oslo Agreement, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the four-party Road Map, to contribute what we can to a peaceful resolution of the immensely painful and complex Israel-Palestine conflict.

We await the holding of the Knesset Israeli parliamentary elections, committed to respect the democratic voice of the people of Israel in this regard, regardless of the results. We understand that together with the Palestinian parliamentary elections, the March elections in Israel will help to decide the question whether the important Israeli Gaza withdrawal will contribute to the implementation of the Road Map.

We salute the stance taken by Fatah, the PLO and the Palestine Authority, which ensured that the people of Palestine freely exercised their right to elect whoever they believed would best represent their interests in the Palestine legislature.

We pay especial tribute to Fatah and the PLO of Yasser Arafat, with whom we have shared the same trench of struggle for many years, for their principled respect for the freely expressed voice of the people of Palestine they have led for many decades during extraordinarily difficult times, enabling them readily to accept the democratic victory of Hamas.

We congratulate Hamas on its decisive victory and fully appreciate its historic responsibility, working with President Mahmoud Abbas, as explained in the comments made by Ismail Hanniya, when he said "Hamas is a Palestinian movement. It is an aware and mature movement, one which is politically open in the Palestinian arena, and to its Arab and Islamic hinterland, and similarly open to the international arena."

NEC Lekgotla

Programme aims to strengthen participation in local development

Half a century after the ANC formally adopted the Freedom Charter as its basic policy statement, the ANC has dedicated its programme for 2006 to deepening popular participation in local government, giving further expression to the principle contained in the Charter that the people shall govern.

This was among the key outcomes of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) lekgotla held in Gauteng last weekend. Taking place just six weeks before the country's third democratic local government elections, the lekgotla highlighted the central challenge of making local government a more powerful instrument of the will of the people, and a more effective vehicle for meeting their needs.

Being at the forefront of service delivery and development, local government has a pivotal role in the effective implementation of the ANC vision of halving unemployment and poverty by 2014. As the movement and its Alliance partners intensifies the all-round effort to meet these targets, local government needs to be able to fulfil this function.

Local government is also the sphere of government where community members have the greatest opportunity to input directly into the identification of needs and priorities, the development of plans and the allocation of resources. It is the sphere of government where participatory democracy can most effectively be realised, and through which individuals and communities can have a direct impact on the decisions affecting their lives.

These tasks were among those identified in the ANC's January 8th Statement released earlier this month, which declared 2006 the year of mobilisation for people's power through democratic local government. The lekgotla had the responsibility of developing these tasks into a detailed programme for implementation by the structures of the ANC in the year ahead.

Alongside the task of deepening popular participation in local government is the challenge of improving the capacity of local government to fulfil its role in providing services to communities, stimulating economic development and tackling poverty.

The lekgotla therefore reaffirmed the central responsibility of the branches and cadres of the ANC to mobilise communities to participate more meaningfully in the identification of local priorities and programmes. This will be a central campaign of the ANC, not only during the course of the local government election campaign, but also after the election, as the new local councils begin their important work.

The lekgotla also paid attention to the work that needs to be done by national and provincial governments to give direct, hands-on support to local government, and to ensure that there is effective coordination and coherence between the development programmes of all three spheres of government.

Work in this respect is already advanced, with the launch of Project Consolidate, providing targeted assistance to those municipalities that have not had the capacity to adequately perform some of their necessary functions.

The meeting reviewed preparations across the Alliance and democratic movement for the local government poll on 1 March, including the finalisation last week of the ANC's list of candidates for the election.

The meeting noted the exacting approach that had been taken to the selection of candidates, and welcomed the broad-based democratic involvement of all ANC branches. There have however been a number of instances in which the ANC's list guidelines have not been properly followed, and even instances of behaviour alien to the culture and traditions of the movement. The lekgotla agreed that such areas of weakness needed to be addressed through focused organisational work.

The lekgotla was nevertheless satisfied that in the overwhelming majority of cases, branches and structures of the ANC met the requirements of the guidelines for democratic process and fair representation. This included the requirement, satisfied by all provinces, that at least 50% of ANC local government candidates are women.

The NEC extended its appreciation to all outgoing councillors of the ANC - including those who had not been returned as candidates for the 2006 election - for their dedicated service over the course of the last five years. The achievements that have been recorded in the first five years of democratic local government are to a large extent due to the consistent contribution of these councillors.

The lekgotla resolved that ANC, the Alliance and the broader democratic movement should dedicate the remaining five weeks until the election to an intensive and widespread programme of mobilisation to ensure that every registered voter in South Africa turns out to cast their ballot on Wednesday, 1 March.

Accelerated and shared growth

Complementing the programme to strengthen popular participation in governance, particularly at a local level, the lekgotla addressed the issue of strengthening the meaningful participation of the majority of South Africans in the economy. To this end, the lekgotla held in-depth discussion around the task of ensuring accelerated economic growth and development which brings tangible and sustainable benefits to the country's poor and unemployed.

The lekgotla endorsed the intention and scope of government's initiative - the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGI-SA) - to identify and act on those areas of intervention which are most likely to contribute to the achievement of these goals.

The lekgotla welcomed the work already done by government to develop the initiative, and the steps taken to solicit contributions from various sectors. It highlighted the importance of ensuring broad social mobilisation around this initiative, to ensure that all sectors of society are able to play an active role in ensuring the success of this critical effort.

The lekgotla took the firm view that support for this initiative cannot be separated from the broader task of social mobilisation. The ANC will therefore, as part of its work to deepen popular participation, popularise the elements of the initiative among the people and mobilise communities to participate actively in its implementation.

South Africa has reached a point in its political, social and economic development where it is presented with unprecedented opportunities to decisively tackle the challenges of poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment. The NEC called on all sectors and all South Africans to be actively involved in this task.

A better Africa

The NEC Lekgotla acknowledged that the prospects of ensuring sustained economic and social development in South Africa is dependent on the progress made towards stability, democracy and development in Africa as a whole.

The meeting therefore identified some of the tasks which the ANC and the Alliance need to undertake to contribute to meaningful change on the continent. The lekgotla recognised the role that the progressive movement in South Africa has played since 1994 in contributing to conflict resolution and post-conflict development in a number of countries, as well as the expectations that exist in a number of quarters for the movement to continue playing such a role.

The NEC undertook to improve the capacity of the ANC and the democratic movement more broadly to provide whatever assistance may be needed. It also undertook to contribute to the strengthening of the various organs of the African Union as instruments of democracy, stability and development, and to engage more actively in the development of people-to-people relations across the continent.

Among other things, the lekgotla identified the need for the development of a basic progressive platform, which would underpin the international work of the democratic movement and contribute to the development of a broader progressive vision on the continent and across the globe.

The meeting agreed that for the ANC to fulfil its responsibilities on the continent it would need to strengthen its international relations capacity, and engage branches and members more directly in international solidarity work.

For all the tasks identified for 2006 to be effectively implemented, the ANC itself needs to be united, cohesive and an active agent for change within society. This challenge extends also to the Alliance and the democratic movement.

The ANC's programme for 2006 will therefore also focus on the tasks of organisation-building, cadre development and membership renewal. It will include deployment of national leadership to branches on an ongoing basis, and the engagement of all ANC branches and members in the year-long programme of mobilisation for people's power through democratic local government.

Message from the editor

A combatant in the ongoing struggle of ideas

This week marks five years since the launch of ANC TODAY, the country's first online political journal and host of the much-read 'Letter from the President' column.

Since its first edition in January 2001, ANC TODAY has grown in reach and significance. It has become an important source of information and views, and has made an important contribution to the public discourse. Importantly, it has provided the ANC with a voice that is unmediated by mainstream media institutions.

In his inaugural 'Letter from the President' column, President Thabo Mbeki wrote: "It is of critical importance that the ANC develops its own vehicles to communicate news, information and views to as many people as possible, at home and abroad."

"We are faced with the virtually unique situation that, among the democracies, the overwhelmingly dominant tendency in South African politics, represented by the ANC, has no representation whatsoever in the mass media."

The situation remains very much the same today. The considerations which motivated the launch of ANC TODAY are just as relevant after five years. The political perspectives represented by the ANC still struggle to find a clear, unmediated voice in the mainstream of South African media.

In describing the task of this new journal, Mbeki said: "The world of ideas is also a world of struggle. ANC TODAY must be a combatant for the truth, for the liberation of the minds of our people, for the eradication of the colonial and apartheid legacy, for democracy, non-racism, non-sexism, prosperity and progress."

It is encouraging therefore that ANC TODAY has continued to expand its readership over this period. At the end of its first year, the journal had 2,000 subscribers. Today, over 14,500 people receive ANC TODAY by e-mail each week. Each edition on the web receives an average of around 5,000 hits, and many more receive printed copies through ANC offices.

Extracts from ANC TODAY, and in particular the 'Letter from the President', are often published in other media, both traditional and online, both in South Africa and in other parts of the world.

As it marks five years of weekly online publishing, ANC TODAY extends its thanks to its thousands of readers for their support and encouragement. As it enters its next five years, the journal will continue to seek to meet the challenge posed by the President - to be a combatant for the truth and the liberation of the minds of the people.

Return to Index