Over the hundred-and-twelve years of its existence, the African National Congress (ANC) has had to confront and defeat many counter-revolutionary schemes which sought to destroy the movement morally, politically, and organizationally, and ultimately derail the people’s struggle for fundamental socio-economic transformation. Sowing seeds of confusion as a basis to scatter the movement and derail the united action of our people has been the headway to counter the potency of the ANC, the Alliance, and the mass democratic movement.
Stealing the history, heritage and intellectual property assets of the organization is part of the counter revolution propaganda aimed at communicating a multiplicity of political outposts all claiming legitimacy from the proud history of the ANC. This is because the architects of these acts of counter revolution have realized that by themselves, they lack the moral integrity to present themselves to society as credible leaders unless the hide behind the history of the movement.
Like our forebearers, the ANC National Executive Committee has a dual responsibility to defend the organisational integrity and heritage of the ANC and to guarantee the continuity of the national project of fundamental socio-economic transformation.
Today, we are here at the Electoral Court in Mangaung to legally challenge the use of the name and symbols of Umkhonto weSizwe, by a new party led by one of the former leaders of the ANC.
It is a matter of historical record that MK was a military wing of the ANC, and it operated under the political direction of the National Executive Committee. It is an integral part of the history and heritage of the ANC.
The formation of break-away parties is part of the strategy and tactics of counter-revolution whose goal is to stop or derail the National Democratic Revolution. Some of the tactics employed by counter-revolution include “divide and conquer”; “co-opt and corrupt”; “capture and weaken the democratic state”, and “unleash violence and create instability”.
On the other hand, the anti-transformation forces are converging into coalitions whose primary focus is to reverse the transformation agenda led by the ANC. The same anti-transformation forces are encouraging and funding rebel break-away groupings and small parties with the hope that all these efforts will erode the support base of the ANC and force it into coalitions.
It is very disturbing to note that some of the parties that masquerade as radical and have revolutionary-sounding rhetoric have common cause with the right-wing forces: they all want to derail the National Democratic Revolution.
The formation of this new party that has hijacked the name, legacy and symbols of MK is not an accident. It is a deliberate attempt to sow confusion by using the proud history of armed struggle against the apartheid regime to lend credibility to what is a blatantly counter-revolutionary agenda.
The ultimate aim of the initiatives to form a myriad of small political parties is t chip away from all angles the popular electoral support base of the ANC. In this way, those forming these parties are doing so at the behest of their counter-revolution masters, who literally pay them to liquidate the ANC. morally, politically, and organisationally.
All this flows from the old-age narrative suggesting that the ANC is too big with the further argument that this in itself is not good for democracy. Essentially the size and political posture of the ANC is not good for those whose unjust material interests are threatened by the advent of freedom and democracy.
These are forces which over the years have been arrayed against the ANC, as the embodiment of the forces for change. Having failed in their various attempts to chip away from moral and political hegemony of the ANC, they have now concentrated themselves as stealing the assets of the ANC to create a new organisation at the direct expense of the ANC.
As the ANC we are not perturbed by the mushrooming of many political parties as that is partly an expression of democracy, even as we know the clandestine forces behind these various initiatives. However, what we will not tolerate is anyone stealing the assets of the organisation.
The main reason why these forces want to liquidate the ANC politically and organisationally is because of the progressive stances the organisation has taken on both domestic and international matters.
These forces have as a result adopted the idea that the ANC cannot be vanquishes or liquidated externally, but through counter revolution forces working from within, who claims to be members of the ANC whilst stealing its assets and leaving behind their trail of corruption as the basis of how the masses of the people must view the organisation.
That is why these protagonists of liquidating the ANC claim that they are members of the ANC, so as to hoodwink us hoping against hope that we will not realise they are in fact stealing the assets of the organisation.
The public posture and pronouncements of members and leaders of the party in question leave no doubt about its anti-constitutional, anti-democratic, ethno-populist, violent and insurrectionary intentions. The party also harbours views that some of the rights enshrined in our Constitution should be taken away. It has all the hallmarks of a rebel movement that would not hesitate to resort to insurrection and violence against the people as a bargaining tool, should the electoral outcome not favour them.
What is strange though, but perhaps not surprising, is that the so-called advocates of democracy and constitutionalism have been silent as those behind the so called MK Party threaten the very foundation of our democracy through violence, This in itself is revealing on the broad scope of counter revolution in South Africa.
Objectively, the leader of this party, Mr Jacob Zuma, is actively asserting himself as the figurehead of counterrevolution in South Africa today, standing in contrast and contradicting the façade of what he projected throughout his apparent struggle years. This in itself is revealing on the actual motive behind his political participation I the struggle, that it was ultimately about himself and not the masses of our people. And of course, he has historically abused the masses of the people, as he continues to seek to do so today, by pretending the his selfish needs are in fact the needs of the people. His activities and those of his party fit very well in the broader strategy of the rightwing forces of “cutting the ANC to size and bringing it below 50%”.
This party is spreading the untruth that, currently the ANC is supposedly controlled by white monopoly capital (WMC) and foreign forces. This is the same narrative the Guptas hired Bell Pottinger to propagate and cause serious divisions in the movement and in society. The ANC has adopted very principled positions on major issues here at home and abroad, and this has pit our movement against right-wing forces globally and domestically. The false accusations that the ANC has sold out only serves to reinforce the work of the global and domestic opponents of the NDR who are working tirelessly to ensure regime change in our country.
Mr. Jacob Zuma is telling the people that he was badly treated by the ANC. Nothing is further from the truth. The ANC became too ambivalent and accommodative of leaders whose ethical orientation was at odds with its own values. Renewal is setting the bar higher again to ensure that the ANC never ever allows an individual leader to lower its ethical bar to be accommodative.
The ANC will not allow any party to steal its legacy and trademarks – from that of MK to the uniform of the ANCWL.
Mr. Zuma’s reference to the ANC as “the ANC of Ramaphosa” was a cheap stunt to draw the President of the ANC into a personal tit-for-tat. He was effectively ignored.
This party wants to engage in electoral democratic contestation whilst lambasting the very democratic process. He seeks to commit electoral fraud, politically, morally, and legally speaking. Thus, whilst participating in electoral contestation it is a participation that goes only as far as it serves the leader’s needs.
This new party is a gathering largely of people who are either in trouble with the law or in trouble with renewal. What is common is anger, fear and hatred for the renewed ANC and loathing of rule of law – a renewed ANC must be out of power and an ethical, capable, and developmental State will be too dangerous for those in trouble with the law.
1. Narrow nationalism and populism Over the past decade, rightwing tea parties led by right-wing nationalists and reckless populists have become common place in politics:
1. All the leaders are either right-wing ultra-nationalists or populists.
2 They are all antiestablishment with anarchists and counterinsurgents,
3.They are anti democracy and anti-constitutionalist and anti the rule of law. 4. There personalities are bigger than their parties, they are charismatic 1 person show populist –
5. They all have dictatorial/ authoritarian big man syndrome tendencies.
6. They run fear-based mobilization and fear based negative campaigns which are racist, sexist, Afrophobic, homophobic, ethno-nationalists or tribalists from different national or religious groups who have not embraced the values of the Constitution.
7. They all run very powerful and effective propaganda campaigns based on what they term alternate truths, which in reality means fake news or falsehoods.
8.They all have disruption and rebellion built into the DNA of their parties and campaigns.
9.They project a capacity that threatens to disrupt and destabilize the government.
10.There is no ideological principles / coherence. There campaigns are all based on rhetoric.
END//
ISSUED BY THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri
NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON
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