Preserve Hani’s legacy

MOST South Africans can’t help noticing that while Chris Hani is still idolised and his name invoked in speeches and songs, the principles he stood for no longer seem relevant to the South African Communist Party and little or no effort has been made to protect his legacy.

To miss Hani is a natural reaction. He was viewed by many as being Nelson Mandela’s natural successor and was immensely popular.

At his funeral, Mandela called him “one of the greatest revolutionary leaders the country has ever seen”. Fidel Castro described him as one of South Africa’s “most valuable leaders”.

One of the things that singled him out as a natural leader was his independence and accountability. Examples include the famous 1969 memorandum where he criticised the exiled ANC leadership after the failure of the Wankie and Sipololo incursions by ANC soldiers and by 1990 having the courage to talk about the urgency of the HIV crisis when infection rates were still relatively low.

Tragically Hani was murdered on April 10, 1993 outside his home in Dawn Park, Boksburg.

His legacy needs to be honoured and remembered as he was one of the leaders at the forefront of national liberation, people’s power and socialism. Sadly this is not the case.

In January last year two people were shot dead at a meeting of the South African Communist Party in Inchanga.

The party continues to struggle with the deteriorating state of the tripartite alliance. The ANC deals with the alliance-agreed processes unilaterally and undermines the alliance components.

During the recent cabinet “reshuffle”, although members of the SACP for the most part emerged with their portfolios intact, and were unimpressed by how the shuffle unfolded, they appeared to be powerless to stop it.

The 7th Cosatu Congress, held in September 2000, passed a resolution which proposed the establishment of the Chris Hani Institute.

This institute was to be an “academy to provide education and training for selected youth, stewards and officials”.

After much fanfare the institute was launched in April 2003, only to find itself in trouble with a fraud investigation.

Sars investigated the institute for not registering as an employer and for deducting Paye tax and Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) contributions from employees without passing these on.

The SACP then paid Hani’s legacy the ultimate insult by refusing to purchase the internet domain names that could have been used to protect and secure his online legacy.

Perhaps the saddest thing of all is the Chris Hani, Johannesburg Facebook page which has been “liked” by just two people.

The SACP needs to make a concerted effort to secure and preserve Hani’s legacy before it is too late.