DELIVERED BY: CDE TONY DUBA (SANCO EC PROVINCIAL SECRETARY)
We are here gathered to celebrate the life and times of Cde Mzimkhulu ‘Scara’ Njadayi, a political giant of the times, whose political maturity superseded his given age. His love for his region and the manner in which he worked tirelessly to search for ways to improve his interaction with them, his line of thinking to be in tandem with those of his political convictions, which were left leaning, drinking from an intellectual well of his political and community forebears.
The ANC and the Revolutionary Alliance in the Sarah Baartman Region in particular, and the Eastern Cape Province in general have lost a character that would fend off the detractors of the revolution at night without breaking a sweat, defend the gains of the revolution we had waged against the right wing forces, and then in the morning would not brag about his effort but would advise where to strengthen our defences to fend off permanently those detractors, no matter which avenue they would emerge from.
As the leadership of SANCO in the Eastern Cape Province, we would engage with Cde Scara about the sub-regions in the Sarah Baartman Region and he would give us a status report on what was the reasons of the slow growth of SANCO in the region, which he would put as internal infighting amongst our membership in that region and would offer counsel on how to deal with such instances and how to guard against such instances so that they are not replicated or escalated.
I can report to this gathering of comrades here in celebration of the life and times of Cde Scara, that no ANC Regional Secretary (current or previous) can surpass the amount of time that I, as the Provincial Secretary of SANCO, has spent on the phone speaking about the revolution and the role that SANCO has to play in the advancement of the National Democratic Revolution and the central point that we must play in our communities in defending our people and safeguarding the gains of the revolution.
His mantra all the time was to trust the process and to always respect the decisions that have been taken by the structures and always subjecting oneself to decisions of the structures. This ensured that he put himself in good stead and exhibited a character of a leader that always put the interests of the people above his own.
We have lost a comrade that we always referred to, and who earned the moniker of the ‘’Sun Tszu of the former Albany Region’’. His political sharpness and his ability to put in the hours behind the objective which he would throw himself behind.
He never committed himself to something that had no prospects of success, but would only cause further fractures in the mass democratic movement. It is the belief of many, and I personally hold this view, that Cde Scara would have been a political prisoner if he had been born earlier, as he had fully committed himself to the cause of the liberation of the people of the country, especially those from his home district.
I find great comfort in the fact that Cde Scara was not a Fabiani and/or Gucci Revolutionary, as many of us are, a breed of comrades who are defined by a certain apparel they wear and the attitude that accompanies that somewhat special breed of comrades. His was a brand of politics that would seek to bring meaningful change to the lives of our people and change their lives structurally.
In the recent local government elections that were conducted by the country, the ANC took a bold step of not using external forces to woo our people, but to use our leaders and ordinary people to send the message of the journey we had traversed with them, and the successes we had incurred along the way and the mistakes that were committed, and how our path to renewal was going to safeguard the gains we had attained over the years.
We also learned from him that we must never cease to engage, keeping the lines of communication, even with those that we do not hold the same political views and not to treat each other as enemies but as comrades that hold different political outlooks. His unflinching belief on political engagement paid dividends in the end when we were faced with a political calamity in the Sarah Baartman District. He always had a positive mind-set, even in the face of huge adversity.
If we desire to carry on with Cde Scara’s legacy, let us continue with an unflinching conviction in the prescripts of the renewal programme of the ANC. I am reminded of a speech he gave when he was pressed for comment in the interviews that we conducted as the interviewing panel for Troikas of municipalities as the Revolutionary Alliance. He expressed his enthusiasm for the continuation of the renewal programme and ensuring that we never blink an eye in cleansing the ANC of the rot we were accustomed to previously.
The onus is now on us to deliver for our people and keep the legacy of Cde Scara alive. This will require a solid Revolutionary Alliance from braches up to the national level, a solid cadreship that will be preoccupied with only delivering for the masses of our people.
The ANC must come back to Bathurst and firmly entrench itself in the corridors of power and to change the lives of our people in the manner that would be consistent with the ideals that Cde Scara espoused.
Carrying on with his legacy would be to ensure that there are no qualified audit opinions from the AG, and that service delivery comes at an accelerated speed and the masses of our people are given the tools to liberate themselves, and for them to use the ANC as the vehicle for their liberation.
Lala ngoxolo, Thangana!!!!
Amandla!!!!
