Struggle icons recall spirit of Goniwe
ANC branches have a big role to play in reconnecting the ruling party with the country’s ordinary citizens, according to one of the party’s national executive committee members.
Delivering the Matthew Goniwe Memorial Lecture at Walter Sisulu University’s Nelson Mandela Drive Campus on Wednesday night, Obed Bapela said the recent local government elections in which the party lost control of the Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay metros, had shown how detached the party had become from the masses.
“We are talking about an R80-billion metro [Johannesburg]. Tshwane is about R47billion while Nelson Mandela is about R40-billion.
“Metros like Buffalo City are only about R4-billion [in terms of their budgets],” said Bapela, who is also the Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
“Those big monies should be in our hands so that we can continue transforming the lives of the black majority.”
The late Goniwe, a brilliant maths and science teacher, was one of the famous Cradock Four with Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli.
Bapela, who interacted with Goniwe, described him as a Lenin theorist, whose house in Cradock became a political centre.
“When we were going around setting up structures, we would go to his house. When the children went to bed at 9pm, we would take over the house and our meetings would end at 3am.”
He said among other things, they would spend hours analysing the politics of countries like Nicaragua, where the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front had lost power after members “started living it up”, drinking expensive whisky, smoking cigars and driving expensive cars.
As a result they became detached from the masses.
“This is what South Africa finds itself in. Currently we only run the ANC for control of resources and looting.
“We are no longer creating Matthew Goniwes.
“We need to go back to basics, go back to the road that we have travelled. The National Democratic Revolution is under threat.
“We need a strong ANC and Communist Party. We need progressive NGOs and society. Let’s take the values of Goniwe,” he said.
Struggle stalwart Reverend Ezra Sgwela, who also worked with Goniwe, said: “It was part of his personality [to understand] exactly what had to be done.” —