Letter from the President
Local protests should encourage us to work harder
The protests highlight weaknesses within the ANC structures and the broader democratic movement. The ANC is a people’s organisation, and is supposed to be with and among the people.If people are experiencing problems with service delivery or are not being taken seriously by councillors, it is the ANC branch that should be taking up these issues.. >>> MORE

Nelson Mandela Day
Happy birthday and many happy returns to a dear Comrade and Friend
By Denis Goldberg

What is amazing is that despite the adulation you suffered, you have remained true and principled. You grew up with a sense of duty and obligation to the people and you have remained true to that upbringing. I wish you a Happy Birthday and many more to come so that the principles you have lived by will continue to inspire new generations to build our new South Africa. >>> MORE

Letter from the President

Local protests should encourage us to work harder

Over the last two weeks, the country has seen protests action in a number of different areas. These have generally been referred to as ‘service delivery' protests, although the exact reasons for the protests differ from place to place.

Although we have witnessed such protests in the past, a number of commentators have sought to present South Africa as a country seized with unrest. This is particularly true of reporting in some of the international media outlets. This clearly isn't the case.

We should not claim these events to be more than they are. At the same time, it would be unwise to dismiss them, because they do raise important issues and they do pose particular challenges for the country.

From the outset, we must make the point that in a democratic society, all people have the right to assemble, to demonstrate, and to protest. These rights are enshrined in our Constitution, and we are committed to defend them. However, in a Constitutional democracy there are no grievances, no matter how genuine, that justify violence or destruction of property.

If people want to exercise their democratic rights, they must be prepared to respect the democratic rights of others. There should be no excuses and no exceptions. Where the law is broken, perpetrators must be brought to book.

We therefore call on all South Africans, no matter what concerns they may have, to respect the law and to respect the rights of others. We also call on the security agencies to do everything they can to maintain public order and uphold the law.

As the African National Congress, however, we cannot hope to adequately respond to these events by simply calling for the law to be upheld. We need to look at the circumstances that gave rise to these protests, and work to address them.

We have to start by acknowledging that these protests are not all the same. The issues which give rise to them are often unique to a specific area. Some may reflect genuine community concerns, while others may be driven by turf battles among business people, local political contests, or manipulation by criminal elements. Some may be a combination of all or some of these.

We should therefore be cautious about making generalisations about these events, and we should be wary about making sweeping claims about the state of the country on the basis of these events.

But there are some common things that we need to recognise. There are some weaknesses in our society, in the structures of government, and within the democratic movement that such protests reveal.

There is something wrong in our society if there are people - even if it is a small minority - who think that it is acceptable in a democracy to stone cars, loot shops and burn people's houses. It suggests that we have not done enough to ensure that all South Africans accept and internalise the values and principles that underpin our Constitution. It also means that we have not done enough to repair the social dislocation and destruction of family life caused by the apartheid system.

These protests also highlight weaknesses in government institutions. There is no doubt that residents in some of these areas have genuine grievances. There may indeed be corruption and incompetence in the structures that are supposed to manage their areas. We know that there are areas that have not been developed to the extent that they should have. There are areas where people are justifiably upset about the pace of delivery.

We have recognised that though progress has been made in many areas, there are still many areas where government is falling short. Local government is an obvious area. There are severe problems of lack of capacity, resources and skills. But the other spheres of government - provincial and national - should not be let off the hook. They too must accept responsibility for the shortcomings.

It is for this reason that the new administration has placed particular emphasis on the need to strengthen public institutions, to reinforce a culture of service, and to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of all state officials.

Another problem is the social distance and lack of effective communication between public representatives and communities. In at least one instance, violence broke out as a result of the circulation of rumours that proved to be untrue. It is also clear that residents in many areas are frustrated by the lack of information coming forth from their elected representatives, and have a strong sense that their representatives are not listening to them. This suggests, among other things, that many ward committees are not functioning properly.

It is therefore critical that public representatives of all parties are visible and pay urgent attention to improving their engagement with their constituencies. This is true of local government councillors in particular. It also means that MPs and MPLs need to pay more attention to their constituency work.

Among other things, we need to ensure that the audit of ANC councillors be undertaken as a priority. This should be seen not as a way to punish councillors, but to identify problems and take corrective action to ensure that councillors work more effectively to improve the lives of our people.

These protests also highlight weaknesses within the ANC structures and the broader democratic movement. The ANC is a people's organisation, and is supposed to be with and among the people. All branches of the organisation are expected to be engaged in the daily life of their communities, mobilising and organising people to address the challenges they face.

If people are experiencing problems with service delivery or are not being taken seriously by councillors, it is the ANC branch that should be taking up these issues. The protests that have taken place suggest that many ANC branches are failing in this respect. This is an organisational weakness that needs to be addressed.

There are some people who will seize on these unfortunate events to portray the country in a negative light.

In the face of efforts by some people to seize on these protests to portray South Africa as a country in trouble, those who know better may be tempted to dismiss these protests as insignificant. We should not do so.

Though we cannot agree with the picture that others may be trying to portray, we should nevertheless see these events as a challenge to work harder and more effectively to respond to the needs of our people. We must be prepared to see the weaknesses that they reveal, and do everything we can to address them.

Working together we can do more!

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Nelson Mandela Day

Happy birthday and many happy returns to a dear Comrade and Friend

By Denis Goldberg

Today we celebrate MANDELA DAY. It seems to me, dear comrade Rolihlahla that if you live long enough they name a day after you. And the young man you used to call ‘Boy' is now 76 years old and deeply honoured to bring you birthday greetings.

You have to have done a few things in your life to be honoured in this way. I can think of sitting in prison for years and years as a reason to honour you. I can think of being principled in your political positions as a reason to honour you. You said, to paraphrase your words in the Rivonia Trial that you wished to live to see your ideal of a society where people could live together in harmony realized, and that you were prepared to die if needs be to achieve that ideal.

What an honour that was to sit beside you when you made that stirring heroic call to sacrifice. I am as delighted today as we were on June 12 1964 when the judge said he would not hang us but sentenced us to life imprisonment. How we smiled and laughed at the idea of life. Isn't it wonderful that we have lived and survived and seen the beginnings of the achievement of that society you spoke about.

I spoke about being principled and I recall the opening words of the Freedom Charter: "We declare for South Africa and the world to know that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white together". And that must surely mean all the people of South Africa and others who live in it our country. The Freedom Charter with its detailed clauses was our lodestone, our guiding principles in the struggle for freedom.

I recall the words of the uMkhonto we Sizwe Manifesto on June 16 1961 that the purpose of the armed struggle was to compel the apartheid government to negotiate a just political dispensation of equal rights for all. It took thirty years of sacrifice of lives and liberty to achieve that goal. And being principled, when they were ready to negotiate, you inside and the leadership outside, especially the late Comrade OR Tambo were ready to negotiate.

What amazes me dear Comrade is that despite the adulation you suffered, you have remained true and principled. You grew up with a sense of duty and obligation to the people and you have remained true to that upbringing. You have never relied on your Chiefly heritage but on your principled qualities that have made you the leader you are.

I heard you on the radio a few days ago when you said you are a leader but there were other leaders too. I once had a discussion with you about this. You said a leader must lead. I said a leader must lead together with others and you agreed with this but insisted that there are times when a leader must stand up and lead in a new direction if it is necessary to break a deadlock, for example.

That is what you did when you argued for the armed struggle to commence. You were very careful to make sure that people accepted the then new idea of armed struggle in South Africa when the ANC and the Congress alliance of the ANC, Indian Congress, Coloured People's Congress and Congress of Democrats plus South African Congress of Trade Unions (the forerunner of Congress of South African Trade Unions) had a long history of nearly 50 years of peaceful political struggle.

A lot of preparation had to be done to show people the necessity for the armed struggle. You, comrade Mandela, and Walter Sisulu travelled the country to discuss this new idea and to convince people that the growing repression needed an armed struggle to break the power and the will of the apartheid state to continue with apartheid.

One of the key people was of course Chief Albert Luthuli who had been removed from his Chieftainship by the apartheid government. But for us he remained the Chief and he was for us the President of the ANC, even though he was banned from holding office.

And when the decision was taken, Comrade OR Tambo was asked to go abroad to develop international solidarity for our struggle. He held the ANC and the liberation alliance together for 30 years in exile and guided our movement to freedom. Think of the role of Comrade Moses Kotane, Communist, African nationalist, the man Chief Luthuli always called the ‘workers'representative, in building our revolutionary alliance.

The essence of all this was the idea of ‘Unity in Action' that Comrade Walter Sisulu and others taught us. The basis of this was the simple idea that we must draw people to us, to our movement and not drive them away through divisive actions and words that make potential supporters feel they are rejected.

Earlier, you and Comrade Walter with Comrades OR Tambo, Mda and others pushed the ANC Youth League to challenge the old ANC leadership into action. There was the need to find new forms of struggle. Having found those ways, such as the defiance of unjust laws campaign of the 1950s the same turbulent leaders set about rebuilding unity until thousands and hundreds of thousands became active in the struggle. That is when Unity in Action became the watchword.

The Congress Alliance was the obvious sign of this policy. It drew people of different political views together, Capitalists and Communists, Religious people of various faiths, Black, White, Coloured and Indian, came together to defeat apartheid. It was the unity of purpose, namely, ‘defeat apartheid,' that enabled the liberation movement led by the ANC to success.

It needed unity in action in South Africa to defeat apartheid. It needed unity in action by anti apartheid movements, and the Socialist countries and Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, on a world wide scale to isolate apartheid South Africa from its international supporters in the west.

It took patience. It took intellectual courage and it took heroic acts by Comrades prepared to put their lives on the line and if not their lives as such, then their lives as prisoners, and their normal restful lives in their families. You Comrade Mandela had nearly 27 years inside. Others had not quite as much. I had only 22 years. Comrade Bram Fischer died in prison, as did some others. Men and women of all races and political persuasions risked their lives and their personal liberty for liberty for all.

I have to be critical of those in our movement, and those in government, in parliament and those in government service at municipal, provincial and national level who in the name of freedom claim the right to get rich by dishonest means of bribery and corruption and by the misappropriation of public funds. These fellow countrymen and women are stealing our freedom to build our country for all of us.

What is this nonsense that we have to get rich quick by any means of dishonest dealing in order to be someone?

Mandela Day is the opposite of this attitude. It says, ‘be of service to the people, to our country, to the memory of those who sacrificed so much, so that we may be free in our South Africa that belongs to all who live in it.' We cannot allow our people and our country to be sacrificed to the interests of the few.

You said in your autobiography that we must so live our lives that we respect and advance the freedom of others. That has been the underlying philosophy of your whole life and we admire it.

But really, an hour a year, 67 minutes once a year, is not enough. It needs lifelong commitment to freedom and equality to achieve our truly free South Africa.

We have to respect women, We have to act on the basis of political principles and not on ‘shoot from the lip' emotion.

Long live our struggle for freedom from hunger!
Long live our struggle for freedom from poverty!
Long live the struggle for unity in action to free us from exploitation!

So comrade, I wish you Happy Birthday and many more to come so that the principles you have lived by will continue to inspire new generations to build our new South Africa.

Long Live Nelson Mandela!

>> Denis Goldberg is a veteran anti-apartheid activist and one of the defendants in the Rivonia Trial