Cows were stolen under your watch
FORMER Minister of Sport, the Reverend Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile, is a revolutionary who died with his boots on… When we all sloganeer and cry “amandla” we all look the same. But in our movement as in everything else, there are different cadres. There are peacetime revolutionaries and there are true cadres: Zemk’ iinkomo magwala ndini* (cows were stolen under your watch, you cowards).
Ukufa kusembizeni maqabane (we must live with our choices), our setbacks are self-inflicted. We have ceded our moral high ground to the opponents. The president of our country takes every opportunity to show disdain and contempt for our constitution. We attack and show disdain for Chapter 9 institutions.
We are an ANC that can rightly claim we are champions of human rights and not because it’s a western concept. We were among the first to adopt the African and people’s rights, no one asked us to, that’s why you have a bill of rights in the constitution. But it must be a great shame that under our own government, we kill in cold blood, with horrific brutality, workers for going on strike.
Corruption
We say we are against corruption yet at every turn we are falling over each other trying to steal from the poor. When you drove here you drove past the village of Ngqele. When Rev Stofile was in office he did not give it special treatment. He did not build a palace worth over R200 million amidst a sea of poverty.
Accountability is an important measure of the respect you have for the people and for public office. You don’t, when you’re called to account, plunge Parliament into chaos. When the Constitutional Court makes a finding that you broke your oath of office, it means you’re honourable no longer, it means you are untrustworthy.
Today we call ourselves comrade without distinction. Cadres of Stof’s ilk were sidelined in favour of a different kind of cadre. A new cadre who sees in the ANC an opportunity to get the benefit, because it is rewarding to be associated with the ANC these days and the queue of the people who want to join is long, you don’t have to work hard. The fight for leadership positions is not for giving but for proximity to resources for yourself, your family and your cronies.
We must ask a question: do we have leaders of a revolution or do we have full-time thieves and looters? Our movement is captured and consequently our state is captured. Our revolutionary project is under threat. Unless drastic actions are taken, in 2019 we will be at less than 40% when it comes to elections.
It is time for new leadership... If the president was here I would have asked him as my leader, I would have have begged him, I would have pleaded with him, ndithi mkhuluwa wam, Msholozi, Nxamalala, nekezela iintambo, kunyembelekile (my elder brother, Msholozi, Nxamalala (Zuma’s clan names) it is time you handed over the baton.
The next battle cannot be led by a leader who has undermined everything we represent…
Comrade SG, I appreciate your presence, collective responsibility is not enough, a person who takes responsibility falls on their sword. I pray we find younger leaders. Those like us who are aged must play with their grandchildren. Those who have left to COPE, the EFF, United Front and did not vote, please come back, this battle is not over.
Zemki’inkomo magwala ndini...
This is an edited version of businessman and former foreign affairs director-general Pityana’s speech at Stofile’s funeral.
Every attempt has been made to capture the speech in its fullest but as with any translation, certain phrases cannot be captured in their fullest nuance.
* Zemk’ Inkoma Magwalandini (Defend Your Heritage, 1906) is an anthology of traditional epic poetry and essays on religion by Walter Rubusana (1858-1936).