Alliance makes ANC strong
LET me respond to former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe (“Alliance is dead, says Motlanthe”, November 2). He said Cosatu and the SACP were no longer independent parties working with the ANC in an alliance.
These organisations had lost their way and they existed in name only, he said.
He is just driven by emotions of cowardice and anger because he was unable to defeat President Jacob Zuma in the Mangaung ANC national conference.
This attitude by a former ANC senior leader has since tempted me to say all senior ANC leaders, when they are no longer leading structures, become enemy No 1 of this glorious ANC-led alliance.
It is clear that only revolutionaries at branch level enjoy promoting the norms and value of the movement entirely. In this regard, I wish to remind Motlanthe about the resolutions adopted in Polokwane, at the time he was secretary-general and elected to the position of ANC deputy president, on a need to develop creative ways of reconciling huge numbers of the membership with political qualities.
Yes, I can agree the ANC is not immune to weakness sometimes.
But reconciling quantity with quality requires that we understand basic political theories that hold sway in the ANC.
These include the history of the country and how it influenced the formation of the ANC and its alliance partners, the theory and practice that made the ANC today and development of society. The strategic challenge becomes the development of quality cadres for the survival of this alliance.
This criticism from Motlanthe must locate the ANC alliance at the epicentre of the struggle for transformation of South African society. Many political battles can be lost if our strategic focus is not informed by the objectives of social transformation.
The historical mandate of the ANC is elimination of all manifestations of national oppression without delay. But what does building the ANC alliance mean at this political juncture?
It means transforming the huge quantity into quality comrades empowered to deal with critical challenges of reaffirming the ANC as an agent of change.
Motlanthe should ask himself why the ANC enjoys support even after 20 years democracy. The ANC for now is unshakable because it is working with strong alliance partners.
I wish my leader, comrade Motlanthe, would reconsider his utterances and reflections because I still form part of those who respect him.
Thabang Maseko, EC Young Communist League SA spokesman, writing in his personal capacity