No place for a private army in a democracy
SOUTH Africa is where it is today, as a free and democratic country, because of efforts by people from different walks of life. We are also here because of solidarity struggles and campaigns waged by people from across the board, some of them — especially in the southern African region — at great personal cost.
No one is single-handedly responsible for our freedom, not even the great Nelson Mandela.
It is therefore puzzling that members of Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association should behave in a manner that suggests they believe they “own” the country and its history, and the rest of the citizens should submit to their commands without questioning.
Even though Freedom Day came through a negotiated settlement — rather than armed and victorious guerillas marching down Church Street and taking over the Union Buildings — the role of those who decided to take up arms against the state can never be ignored.
However, this does not give Deputy Defence Minister Kebby Maphatsoe and his MKMVA comrades the right to behave like a private army whose sole purpose is to protect the interests of President Jacob Zuma and his associates.
In fact, the MKMVA has no business meddling in political affairs. The association was set up to look after the welfare of former guerillas, many of whom lived in abject poverty and were struggling to fully readjust to civilian life.
In its first few years of existence, the body did its work by lobbying the government to prioritise the repatriation of the remains of scores of freedom fighters buried outside our borders.
Because of the MKMVA’s efforts, the Defence Department began taking steps to ensure that veterans of nonstatutory armies — such as the ANC’s erstwhile armed wing and the PAC’s Azanian People’s Liberation Army — enjoyed the same pension benefits as those who had served in the old South African Defence Force.
But then Maphatsoe and his crew saw an opportunity to turn the association into a political enterprise they could use to bargain for positions in the government.
They were, by no means, the first people to do so. Just north of our borders, when Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe lost the support of his people, he turned to war veterans and used them as an instrument to silence dissent.
Judging by the MKMVA’s actions outside of Luthuli House on Monday — where uniformed members threatened violence against protesting ANC supporters who want Zuma to step down from office — Maphatsoe is turning the association into the local version of Zimbabwe’s war veterans. This could only spell trouble for our democracy. As a ruling party, it is high time the ANC took a critical look at the role the MKMVA is increasingly playing in shutting down the democratic space.
Is that the kind of South Africa the ANC would like to see, where paramilitary tactics are employed to shut down the democratic space?
If not, Luthuli House should contain the MKMVA to doing what it was set up for and force it out of the party political space.
As the deputy defence minister, Maphatsoe is responsible for the welfare of military veterans and should be using his post to help improve the lives of his former comrades-in-arms. He should not be exploiting and manipulating their desperation for his personal political interests and to curry favour with Zuma’s inner circle.