Pussyfooting pretenders to presidency must go

Rallying point for widespread protest is to defend the constitution

AT THE height of the civil rights movement Martin Luther King jr warned his followers that “the hottest part of hell is reserved for those who stand and stare when there is a moral crisis”. This is what inspired him and his followers to pray, march and even face death for the sake of freedom. They spoke truth to power.

The cumulative effect of thousands of freedom marchers was a new awareness of the evils of racism and white monopoly capital. While King, the Black Panthers and a host of militant groups black and white, may not have achieved their ideal goals, the US was never going to be the same again.

Fast-forward to the height of apartheid dictatorship from 1960 to 1990. The oppressed masses decided enough was enough. While the armed wings of the liberation movements and political leaders on Robben Island made a significant contribution to the fight against apartheid it was ultimately the uprising of millions of patriots who dealt the coup de grace to apartheid.

They operated under the tag “rolling mass action”. The majority were black because they were the most oppressed. They were supported by a small but significant number of white people, mostly liberals, intellectuals, students, white left, religious leaders and a sprinkling of radical loonies.

This year may well be described as the beginning of our own Arab Spring, with a difference. The revolutionary rebellion in the Arab countries was against naked fascism and dictatorship. In contrast, we have a constitution that is described as the most progressive in the world.

The rallying point for our militants is that we must defend the constitution at all costs. The marches which have taken place so far have common objectives. They are racially mixed and involve the young, middle aged, educated, workers, intellectuals, business leaders, angry young people most of whom are not affiliated to any political party.

Housewives and thousands of faithbased adherents are sickened by rampant and arrogant corruption, poverty, unemployment, degeneration of our country to junk status, public scandals and looting of state resources.

Unless a resolution is found soon, there are ominous signs that the situation will get worse before it improves. Some groups and individuals are already beating war drums, creating no-go areas, threatening violence against perceived dissenting individuals.

The constitutional mechanism to force President Zuma to vacate his office is to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections. The second alternative is for the ANC to recall Zuma from the position of state president as well as president of the ANC. To succeed, both options would require the support of or condonation by