Strengthening the culture of participatory democracy in our country

On the weekend of 8-9 November the Independent Electoral Commission opened all the voting stations for the people of South Africa to register to vote in next year's national and provincial general elections.

We are proud and inspired by the huge turnout of our people during the registration period. This is a demonstration that fears of an apathetic electorate are unfounded. It indicates that the culture of participatory democracy is well grounded and solid in our country.

This huge turn out especially amongst the youth is a welcome development that needs to be celebrated. We congratulate the people of South Africa for their vigilance and dedication to our democracy. We are confident that through their actions and cooperation and acting in partnership with their organisation, the ANC, they are always ready to defend and advance their hard won freedom and democratic gains.

The registration process is not yet over. People who were unable to register can still to do so at the offices of municipal electoral officers until the President of the Republic of South Africa has announced the election date. We encourage those who had moved since the last election and those who were unable to register to do so. We say do not be left behind, have your say and be part of shaping your future.

In the true nature and character of the ANC, as a movement of the people, guided by the values and principles of the Freedom Charter which declared that "The People Shall Govern", we have gone back to the people at the grassroot, the basic unit of our organisation.

We are taking note of our people's appraisal of the performance of the ANC's 15 years in government. We are consulting our people about the matters that affect them and on how they would work together with the ANC to improve them. We are reporting back about the implementation of our programme of action and resolutions and our efforts to build unity and organisational cohesion within the ANC.

For sometime now, I have been involved in an extensive public engagement programme. Together with ANC officials and National Executive Committee deployees in provinces, we have gone on a concerted campaign to visit all ANC structures in the provinces, regions and sub regions, and including with both the Women and Youth Leagues. We have also met with our Alliance partners COSATU, SACP and SANCO.

We have also paid a special attention to meeting with various stake holders in communities including, traditional leaders, church leaders of various denominations, business people, entrepreneurs, small and big farmers, workers in the mines and other sectors, the unemployed, professionals, as well as young and old people and students. In the six provinces that we have visited - Gauteng, North West, Free State, Northern Cape, Kwa Zulu-Natal and the Western Cape - the feedback and response from our people has been heart warming and encouraging.

It has been an overwhelming vote of confidence to the leadership of the ANC, its vision and direction. It has shown that the people have full confidence in the ANC, what it stands for, its capacity to deliver, its experience and its leadership role in our society.

These public engagements have proven without a shadow of doubt that the ANC is solidly rooted amongst the people. They have proved that our presence on the ground is solid and unshakeable, and that the ANC remains the most popular, strong and united organisation for social transformation.

During our engagements we were warmly received by people in their homes as we conducted the door-to-door visits and public meetings. We have been met by multitudes of our people in halls, stadiums and public gatherings. In all these interactions our people have honestly and openly raised their concerns and feelings about the state that our country finds itself in.

They have expressed and confirmed once more that crime is one of the fundamental challenges that face our country. They have raised issues of education and skills. They have confirmed that unemployment and poverty deeply affect them. The people indicated that our system of local governance needs to be improved drastically so that it can better respond to the needs of their communities, and that the delivery of services, especially basic services like housing, water, electricity and sanitation needs to be accelerated.

They have raised all these matters openly to us because they know and believe that only the ANC has the will, the experience, the capacity and commitment to work together with them to make their life better. We are going to Mpumalanga Province from the 15-16 November and to Limpopo on the 18-19 November. We will end this round of our engagement in the Eastern Cape Province.

We can confidently say that our assessment so far of our public engagement process has been a success. It has helped us to better understand the concrete conditions and realities that face our movement and our people. It has helped the ANC to come to terms with its mass base character and content.

Most importantly it has assisted us in the ANC to hear the unmediated views, feelings and perceptions of the ordinary masses of our people. It has been a necessary and a useful process, that we will continue to practice and to strengthen at all times.

Because the ANC is a democratic organisation, steeped in democratic ethos we are taking all the comments, recommendations and proposals that our people have raised to enrich our Manifesto.

These views will inform our approach and grasp on issues as we move towards the Manifesto Conference that will take place towards the end of the month. I must also say that I have received many letters and emails from ordinary South Africans who have came with various suggestions about what the ANC should do between now and the elections.

We are taking those suggestions very seriously with a view of incorporating them to our Manifesto formulation process. Although we are only launching the public participation process today, people have already started sending contributions to my office, unprompted.

I greatly appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I am also humbled by the words of encouragement and by the understanding of the challenges that our movement faces that is shared by all in recognition that the ANC is the glue that keeps the society together. If it disintegrates so does the society.

I am humbled by your contributions and commitment that you have shown us as the leadership and your constructive criticism. I assure you that our leadership is committed to building a strong, united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society that the ANC believes in.

We remain committed to the principle that for democracy to thrive and prosper within the ANC and South Africa your active participation is not only welcome, it is also critical.

Tribute to Miriam Makeba

A great loss to South African music and cultural life!

Legendary musical icon, Miriam Makeba's name had become synonymous with the world wide struggle against apartheid and for freedom in South Africa. For more than three decades, her music projected the African people's aspirations and hopes for a better world as no other musician had done.

It is with deep sorrow and a sense of loss that we have learnt of the death of this internationally renowned singer at the age of 76, in Italy on the morning of 10th November 2008.

In the language of her forefathers there is an expression: "The graves of the really brave are by the roadside". Like the courageous soul she was, Miriam Zenzile Makeba ended her life on the road, performing in the south of Italy in support of an Italian journalist who has done a damning expose of the Mafia.

We wish to offer our heartfelt condolences to her grandchildren, the rest of her family, her friends and to her fans, throughout the world.

At the time of her death, Sis Zenzi was doing what she lived for. She was on a tour of Italy acting as a cultural ambassador by taking African music to all the quarters of the globe. Miriam Makeba did not allow the glitter and glamour of the limelight in which she spent great part of her time all over the world, to blind her to her past and the problems of her home continent. She kept her eyes on the prize: creating one human family under one heaven. Although she was forced to leave her country in 1960, this neither crushed her resilience nor her commitment to the liberation of her people.

Miriam Zenzile Makeba, known variously as "die Nutbrown baby" and other nicknames in her youth, was born in 1932 near Pretoria. From her mother, who was a traditional healer from Swaziland, she learnt many of her traditional African songs and chants. By the time she was a teenager, her talent had won her a place in the famous "Manhattan Brothers". She also was the key figure in the "Skylarks" a womens' quartet.

When the famous musical "King Kong" was staged, she won the role of the female lead, playing opposite Nathan Mdledle. At the age of 26, she appeared in an anti-apartheid film titled 'Come Back Africa', shot inside South Africa by American film maker Lionel Rogosin, highlighting the degrading conditions under which her people were forced to live.

Her appearance in that film earned her an invitation to the Venice Film Festival in 1960. Because the film so damaged the international reputation of the Apartheid government, they seized her passport, compelling her to remain an exile for the next thirty years.

The vicious reaction of the racists however threw the gates of the international community open to her. In London, she met Harry Belafonte, who assisted her to move to the USA where he actively assisted in launching her international musical career.

The release of her first album, "Miriam Makeba" in 1961 was the commencement of a brilliant future as the musical ambassador of the African continent. Her second album, "The World of Miriam Makeba", where she employed the "wall of sound" techniques developed by rock musicians in the USA, saw her expanded her repertoire to include, Swahili, Indonesian, west Indian and Brazilian songs.

Collaborating with other South African musicians and students who began arriving in the USA after 1962, Miriam Makeba was instrumental in establishing scholarships for deserving Black South Africans and employed her music as much to entertain as to conscientise the US public to the plight of the oppressed in South Africa.

In 1965 she was invited to testify about the situation in South Africa before the United Nations. Her articulate presentation won the admiration of virtually every African ambassador and she was variously honoured with the citizenship of a number of newly independent countries.

A collaborative album with Belafonte, arranged by Jonas Gwangwa, titled "An Evening with Belafonte and Makeba", earned her a Grammy in 1966, the first African performer to win one.

Ever conscious of her African heritage, Miriam Makeba played a pivotal role in shaping the character of African-American identity through her hairstyles and the costumes she used on stage. This significant cultural contribution was heightened when she married the radical activist, Kwame Toure, formerly known as Stokely Carmichael.

As in her mother country, Makeba was subjected to political harassment and career threatening victimization for fusing her musical talent with political activism. Although she was not banned, she was evidently blacklisted by promoters in the USA and some of her concerts and recording contracts were cancelled.

In fact, she was embraced by the world for her unflinching stance. She moved back to the African continent, settling in Guinea which she used as her home base travelling to Europe, Latin America, other parts of the continent and the Carribean, espousing the African dream for a better world through her song.

In recognition of her efforts, she won the Dag Hammerskjold Peace Prize and was awarded the Unesco Grand Prix du Conseil International de la Musique.

Perhaps more than any other African singer, Miriam Zenzile Makeba was able to use her art as a weapon of the struggle. Her international stature contributed immensely to the worldwide campaign for sanctions and the isolation of the apartheid regime.

On the African continent Miriam Makeba distinguished herself as a patriot, advocating the just cause of the peoples of Southern Africa in the fight against colonialism and apartheid.

Her songs, " A Lutta Continua" and "Gauteng" spoke of her commitment to the liberation struggle and the cause of the African workers exploited in the gold mines of South Africa. Miriam Makeba returned to South Africa in December 1990. Though she often said she would, she never left the stage and stayed on the road as a performer till the end. She published two biographies in 1988 and 2004.

She leaves behind a discography in excess of thirty albums that extends from her days with "The Skylarks" to her last album "Reflections", recorded in South Africa in 2000.

The passing of this outstanding African performer is a great loss to South African music and the cultural life of our country.

Miriam Makeba was, essentially, an African creative who won a place in the global cultural village thanks to her talent and magnificent voice.

Hamba Kahle Sis' Zenzi!

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