The Ivorian flame of peace

July 2007 should register itself as an important month in the history of Côte d'Ivoire. During this month, the President, the Prime Minister and the Government of Côte d'Ivoire intend to host an important event in that country's return journey to peace, reunification, national reconciliation and democracy.

That important event will be the lighting of the Flame of Peace, especially in the northern city of Bouaké. Burning under that flame will be some of the guns that broke the peace of this sister African country in 2002, and set its people one against the other, with guns in their hands.

The weapons of war will be consumed by the Flame of Peace to mark and symbolise the irreversible advance of Côte d'Ivoire towards a stable peace. At the same time, the Flame of Peace will confirm the determined implementation of the agreed process of Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) of some of the combatants who have faced one another as belligerents, separated by the buffer "Zone of Confidence" which has divided the country into two over the last five years.

It is important that Bouake should host the Flame of Peace because for these five years, it has served as the Capital of the Forces Nouvelles, which took up arms in 2002 against the Government elected in 2000. It is also important that both the President of the Republic, Laurent Gbagbo and the Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, will both participate in the ceremonial lighting of the Flame of Peace. Coming together in Bouake and elsewhere in the country, to light the Flame of Peace, will thus be the two leaders who, for five years, have stood at the head of the two opposing forces, as enemies.

Joining them will be the current Chairperson of the African Union, President John Kuffuor of Ghana, and the current Chairperson of ECOWAS, facilitator of the Ivorian Peace Process and President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore. We will also be honoured to attend the ceremony as the former mediator.

The Ivorian Flame of Peace should have been lit soon after the conclusion of the 9th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, held in Accra, Ghana, across the border from Côte d'Ivoire. This would have served to highlight the resolve of the peoples of Africa to realise the goal of unity, starting with unity within our borders.

That this did not happen confirmed the challenges that still confront the Ivorian Peace Process. Not long before the AU Summit Meeting, Guillaume Soro visited Bouaké, this time as Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire rather than leader of the Forces Nouvelles. He came to Bouaké as a leader of all the Ivorian people, and as an emissary of peace, national reconciliation and national unity. He came as Leader of Government to help the country take yet another step towards its reunification under one administration.

Awaiting him, around the perimeter of the airport, were some who had other intentions, and still had guns in their hands, ready to shoot down the Prime Minister and his entourage, hoping thereby to destroy the hopes of the people of Côte d'Ivoire for the blessings of peace. Therefore they welcomed the Prime Minister's plane that brought a message of peace with rifles and rocket launchers, intent to perpetuate the curse of war that has already claimed many lives.

Fortunately, Prime Minister Soro escaped unhurt, while sadly, three Ivorian patriots lost their lives. When at last the Flame of Peace is lit, the date having been shifted because of the attempt on the Prime Minister's life, the people of Côte d'Ivoire will make the firm statement that while peace might be delayed, it will not be denied. They will make the unequivocal statement that they understood the call that was issued from Accra - that we must advance step by step towards unity in all our countries, and towards the unity of Africa.

But it was not only the guns that opened fire on peace in Bouake that emphasised the urgency of these tasks. As they sat in conference in Accra, the assembled African Heads of State and Government and Leaders of Delegation were challenged to answer a number of urgent questions. The leader of the delegation of Niger posed these pointed questions:

She reported that her country, her Government, her President, Mamadou Tandja, were confronting an armed rebellion in the northern part of the country, the southern end of the Sahara desert. She said this part of our world was a favourite haunt of bandits who traded in narcotics and engaged in other criminal activities.

But suddenly, in the same region, had emerged armed groups carrying sophisticated weapons. Where did the weapons come from? These armed groups were well resourced. Where did the money come from? They fought as disciplined military formations. Where was their rear base? If they were the habitual criminals of the Sahara, who had decided to dress them in the clothes of liberation fighters, and for what purpose?

Nobody answered these questions. But it cannot be that those who heard them asked could have forgotten them when they left the Accra International Conference Centre. It cannot be that those who heard them believed that the weapons of death that appeared in Northern Niger descended from the skies, as the locusts did a few years ago, to lay waste to the green food gardens of the Sahel.

To answer the questions that were posed by the Delegation of Niger at the AU Summit Meeting, correctly, accurately, and as a matter of urgency, will be to make a critical contribution to the important cause of the unity of Niger and Africa. To extend a hand of friendship to the Government and people of Niger, and a helping hand to the Government and people of Côte d'Ivoire, will be to join them in the quest for the blessings of peace and national unity. It will be to lay yet other foundation stones as we strive, step by step, to advance towards the achievement of the goal of African unity.

It may be that as each one of us, including ourselves, works within our national borders, each confronted by many urgent problems, including problems of national unity and social cohesion, and the challenges of the struggle to defeat poverty and underdevelopment, we may come to think that Bouaké and Northern Niger are far away places that should only interest us as any other item of news. It may be that we may speak, but only speak, of African solidarity and unity.

But I am certain that all of us should listen to the voices of our own African scribes. Even if for reasons we may decline to explain why we only listen and do nothing, at least we must hear what they say, as we heard the questions posed in Accra by the delegation of Niger.

One of these, the Ghanaian novelist, writer and thinker, Ayi Kwei Armah, has spoken to us through his important book, "The Eloquence of the Scribes": (Published by Per Ankh: Popenguine, Senegal. 2006). Here is what he says:

"Africans who, like me, grew up under a colonial educational system were encouraged to embrace a type of identity that was supposedly quintessential in Africa - a tribal identity. For individuals born into mono-ethnic families, this may be fine.

"But millions of Africans start life endowed with a more complex identity. I am one of those millions. My father came from a patrilineal background, my mother from a matrilineal one. Both groups supposed I belonged to them. For me there was no sense in thinking I belonged to any particular group.

"My parents had met and bonded across ethnic lines. They had given me a life that made it easy for me to think of a wide range of individuals as closer to me than my blood kin. Blood could not be the only factor determining my identity; it could not even be a determining factor unless I wanted it to be, and I did not.

"Thinking was for me as important as blood, perhaps more important. I had no intention of being a tribal being or a colonial being. I wanted to be an African, to think as an African, to live as an African.

"When I looked into my psyche, what I saw was a consciousness desiring first of all to bond with all Africans, to live out that desirable bond, thinking of the most creative ways in which Africans might be brought together, and bending my work deliberately, consciously, toward that aim. Such an aim is easily reduced to nothing by the realities of a status quo designed to make it seem impossible."

To be an African in a deeper and more meaningful sense than merely attaching to the lapels of our garments an identity label describing a geographic place of birth must surely mean consciously to confront the status quo designed to make it seem impossible to bond with the masses of the African people.

It must surely mean that whatever our own challenges, and despite the constraints imposed by the status quo, we will extend a hand of solidarity and friendship to all Africans, including those in the Diaspora, as all Africans, including those in the Diaspora, extended a hand of solidarity and friendship to us as we fought to defeat the apartheid crime against humanity.

A civil war broke out in Côte d'Ivoire in 2002 because some felt they were being subjected to the practice of exclusion, and denied their citizenship and their Ivorian nationality. Those who are illegally bearing weapons in Northern Niger, whoever they may be, claim that they are fighting against exclusion.

During the month of July, the people of Côte d'Ivoire will join together to light the Flame of Peace, to destroy the weapons of war that only represent and result in the death of Africans. As that Flame of Peace illuminates the Ivorian landscape, it will make the statement that the Ivorian people have made the determination that they are not tribal beings, or colonial ones. It will make the statement that they are resolved to bond together as Africans.

From this fire of peace Africa should seize the burning butt of the now silent gun to ignite the Flame of Peace in Niger and in Chad, in Darfur and in Somalia, and in all of Africa, to enable the Flame of Peace to light the way to the peace and national unity that will be the building blocks to that unity of the African masses that will enable all of us to be Africans, to think as Africans, to live as Africans.

On July 21, we will commemorate the untimely death of a great African patriot and President of the ANC, Inkosi A.J. Luthuli, 40 years ago in 1967. As we continue to work for the peace, prosperity and unity of our Continent, we must recall the task he enunciated in 1956, 11 years before his death:

"In the present state of development of the African people, (the African National Congress) feels this is its major duty and a necessary contribution to the building up of a broader African outlook - the united democratic nation of South Africa and eventually the United States of Africa."

Address by the Secretary-General of the ANC, Cde Kgalema Motlanthe to the 12th Congress of the SACP, July 12 2007, Port Elizabeth

Comrade Chairperson,
Comrade General Secretary
Leaders and Cadres of the South African Communist Party
International Guests
Comrades and Friends,

Thank you for inviting the African National Congress to make its contribution to your debates at this historic 12th National Congress.

Allow me to apologise on behalf of the President of the African National Congress who is unable to attend this watershed National Congress of the SACP. We bring you revolutionary greetings and best wishes from the National Executive Committee and the entire membership of the African National Congress. We sincerely hope that this 12th National Congress will build an even stronger Communist Party in South Africa.

Communists have always been in the forward trenches with our fighters for national liberation. The SACP remains a tried and tested ally of the African National Congress. Your Congress takes place in this friendly city of Port Elizabeth, in the Nelson Mandela Metro, which has been a cradle of countless worker leaders who joined the front ranks of the people's struggle for liberty. The soil of this great city serves as a shroud to many of our heroes including Vuyisile Mini, oom Gov and oom Ray.

Comrade Vuyisile Mini was a leader of workers in a South Africa where workers were denied the right to strike, could not choose where to live, had no right to vote, and no representatives in Parliament. The brutal and frequent interventions of the apartheid state on the factory floor exposed comrade Vuyisile Mini to the profound link between the exploitation of black workers, national oppression and patriarchy. He became the secretary of the Cape ANC and later led the Eastern Cape command of uMkhonto we Sizwe. Together with his comrades Wilson Khayingo and Sinakile Mkaba he was executed by the regime in November 1964.

Comrades Khayingo and Mkaba were buried in one unmarked grave, together with two common law criminals in the Mamelodi cemetery. Comrade Vuyisile Mini's remains were buried in a cemetery reserved exclusively for whites in Pretoria with his headstone treacherously marked only with the words 'V. Mini' so that none could suspect that he was black. For more than thirty years the families of these brave warriors did not know where the graves of their fallen loved-ones were. It was not until 1998 that their remains were exhumed and reburied with dignity in the soil of this friendly city of Port Elizabeth.

Leaders like these - Mini, Mkaba, Khayingo, Mbeki, Mhlaba - had one thing in common. They were dedicated members, cadres and leaders of the ANC, SACTU and the SACP. Our alliance is embodied in these comrades and countless others. The graves of these comrades and many more others are the foundation stones of our alliance. The recommendations we made at the policy conference of the ANC last month confirm once again that there is no fundamental divergence between the Alliance partners on the nature of the National Democratic Revolution and the most immediate tasks we face.

This is why the SACP is more than just an ally to the ANC. We regard cadres of the SACP as part of the most reliable detachments of the builders of our movement. Our experience in the ANC is that time and again, the party has been able to provide theoretical guidance to our whole movement. The 1962 programme of the SACP, The Road to South African Freedom, is an example of this. Like a bright flare fired into the dark night sky, the Road to South African Freedom illuminated the terrain of struggle for miles around. As it said:

"In this Programme, the South African Communist Party states its fundamental principles. It surveys the vast changes, which are transforming the world and the continent we live in. It analyzes the historical roots and the underlying realities of South African society. It puts forward its answers to the problems facing the people of our country today."

The approach set out in the Road to South African Freedom served to guide the thinking and practice not only of party cadres, but also of the whole liberation movement.

Dear comrades,

This 12th National Congress takes place six months ahead of the 52nd National Conference of the ANC, where vital discussions will include our strategy and tactics, organisational review and our approach to economic and social transformation. We will therefore listen with keen interest to your deliberations, and study the outcomes thereof in great detail.

We hope - in a truly revolutionary sense - that the Party will once again offer us a coherent survey of the vast changes that are transforming the country, the continent of Africa and the world we live in. We will look forward to hearing how the party views the underlying realities of the South African society, and what responses it suggests to the challenges our people face. Challenges such as poverty, joblessness, homelessness, landlessness, poor quality education, lack of skills, disease and ignorance. We are confident that the work you do over the next four days will make our work in the ANC much easier.

We also have a keen interest in the discussions of your new programme, the South African Road to Socialism. In a 1961 leaflet of the SACP, the position was articulated as follows:

"We stand where Communists have always stood on the great question of ending capitalism and the exploitation of man by man. We believe that the best road for the future of our country is that of SOCIALISM. That is, a society where all the industries, farms, mines and other means of production are made public property; where living standards rise rapidly and progress is planned by a strong workers' and peasants' government"

The same leaflet stated the position of the Communist Party as follows:

"On the immediate problem of South Africa, we stand with all other patriots and democrats, irrespective of their views about socialism. We stand for a united front of national liberation. We stand together with the Congress movement for the Freedom Charter."

By saying these things, clearly the Party was developing its strategy by first understanding that this long journey to Socialism begins at the end. Strategically, we must start at the end. We must understand the end goal, and then identify the most direct path towards its attainment. The Party identified the implementation of the Freedom Charter as this most direct path.

As the President of the ANC said at the opening of our policy conference last month:

"The ANC would respect the right and duty of our ally, the South African Communist Party, to lead the struggle for the victory of the socialist revolution. Our movement has never stopped or discouraged the SACP from playing this role, and will not do so today or tomorrow."

The South African Road to Socialism once again places the question of the socialist revolution firmly on the agenda of the Party. The socialist revolution must necessarily place another key question on the agenda of this 12th National Congress: the question of political power. Proceeding from the understanding that all political parties exist in order to take power, the SACP said in its 1989 programme, the Path to Power, said:

"The fundamental question of any socialist revolution is the winning of political power by the working class, in alliance with other progressive elements among the people. The working class then sets out to eliminate exploitation by achieving public ownership and democratic control of the means of production."

All of these quotations from the past make it clear that the SACP has always been very clear about its ultimate goal of achieving socialism. Much ideological water has flowed under the bridge of revolutionary practice since 1989. The 12th National Congress of the SACP must reach a conclusion on whether the afore-stated position remains valid today, and if so, what the implications thereof are. Flowing from the answer to this question will arise the question of how the SACP will contribute towards consolidating the leadership role of the working class as the core and leading motive force in the National Democratic Revolution.

The leading class needs to know on which side of the fence it stands, and who else is there with it. This is a function of a clear understanding of revolutionary theory. But the leadership role of the working class is not something that can simply be proclaimed in the lofty formulations of strategic intentions. Rather, it must be won through practical leadership of the people, by working amongst the people in all of their struggles.

In simple terms, revolution means mobilising social forces. No revolution can succeed on a sectarian basis. No revolution can succeed where one class force is isolated from broader society.

In this the SACP can draw on the huge reservoir of its own experience, as exemplified by the work of comrades like Moses Kotane. It is well known that Chief Albert Luthuli would call upon Moses Kotane, the General Secretary of the SACP, for advice before taking any significant decision. He did so not because Moses Kotane was a Communist, but because it was known that Moses Kotane would apply his mind and consider any issue from all angles, and therefore arrive at the clearest understanding of what the next step forward would be.

This year, 21st July marks the 40th anniversary of the death of President Albert Luthuli. He too was an outstanding leader and a well-rounded human being. He was able to combine his work as a sports administrator, a traditional leader, a Christian preacher, a teacher and a leader of the African National Congress. In your deliberations we hope you will be inspired by the towering memory of comrades like Yusuf Dadoo, Dora Tamana, Lillian Ngoyi, Chris Hani, Moses Kotane, Rusty Bernstein, JB Marks, Braam Fischer, Moses Mabhida, Walter Sisulu, Ray Alexander, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba and Vuyisile Mini.

As we meet, two of our most outstanding cadres, comrades Billy Nair and Brian Bunting, are engaged in a fierce struggle against ill health. Both are stalwarts of our revolution who have remained in harness throughout their lives.

The ANC will continue to deeply appreciate the fact that over the decades the SACP has defined itself, both in theory and in practice, as an integral part of the national liberation movement. The ANC will continue to draw on the theoretical insights that the SACP develops, which illuminates the terrain of the struggle that we share. The ANC will continue to value and support the SACP's role in the struggle for socialism.

Dear delegates,

It is our firm belief that the everlasting legacy of clarity of vision, courage and selflessness of countless Communist cadres who came before us will continue to enthuse all our deliberations during this 12th National Congress. We are certain that, inspired by their example, we will emerge from this Congress with resolutions, which will continue to mould the Party into a potent instrument of revolution.

Amandla!

Maatla!

Article by Cde Smuts Ngonyama, ANC Head of the Presidency, published in the Financial Mail dated July 6, 2007

Maintaining course

The national policy indaba of the ruling African National Congress has yet again reaffirmed our movement's commitment to improving the living conditions of the people of our nation.

The ANC emerged imbued with new life and vitality to intensify our fight against the many challenges that our people continue to grapple with. Indeed, the thousands of delegates who converged on Gallagher Estate over the four wintry days confirmed the ANC as a true agent for change.

Members of the ANC from all walks of life engaged in robust debates in a quest for ideas that would ensure that this movement of the people delivers on its promise of a better life for all. In doing so, they testified that the abiding strength of the ANC is that robust debates bring more wisdom to those who participate in them. Instead of causing divisions, debates help us clarify our ideas, and listen to and learn from one another. Collectively, we have become wiser.

In his opening address, President Thabo Mbeki told delegates: "The task is to try to define what the quality of life of the masses of our people will be when we celebrate the historic 100th birthday of the ANC [in 2012]."

Dividing into 12 commissions, delegates vigorously debated policy interventions that would ensure that as we celebrate the ANC's 100 years of existence, we do this with millions of our people joining us in acknowledgement of the milestones achieved since the dawn of democracy. These disciplined members of our movement resisted the temptation to jump onto the bandwagon of those prophets of doom who had long reduced our important meeting to nothing but a battlefield for the leadership of the movement.

True to the character of the ANC as a disciplined force, they discussed issues pertaining to leadership at the appropriate time and platform. After deliberating on this matter, they generally agreed that it would be preferable to have the ANC president as the organisation's candidate for the presidency of the Republic of SA. But there was also a strong view that this should not be made a principle. They resolved that the right of any member to elect or be elected to any position in the movement should be upheld. They agreed that the term of office of all ANC leaders should remain as stipulated in the constitution. This means there is no need for a term limit on the leadership of the ANC.

Another key development was the confirmation of the ANC as the key strategic centre of power. This resolution put paid to concerns over what some called "a two centres of power scenario".

On economic policy issues, members of the ANC once again drew wisdom from the Freedom Charter as they discussed the important task of transforming our economy to ensure that it better responds to the needs of our people. There was general concurrence that the ANC's is a process of economic transformation which aims to realise, among other things, a thriving and integrated economy that draws on the creativity and skills that our whole population can offer, building on SA's economic endowments to create decent work for all and eliminate poverty.

The conference agreed that the ANC would continue to advocate a mixed economy where the state, private capital, co-operative and other forms of social ownership complement each other in an integrated way in order to eliminate poverty and foster economic growth. In this process the state must play a central and strategic role by directly investing in underdeveloped areas and directing private-sector investment.

Members of the ANC have once more confirmed that our movement remains ready to honour its responsibilities to the people of SA.

It was a true festival of ideas.

** Smuts Ngonyama is ANC head of the presidency.

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