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ANC, the Liberation Movement? Oh, Please!
"... and the objective of national liberation is to regain this right usurped by imperialism, that is to say, to free the process of development of the national productive forces.For this reason, in our opinion, any national liberation movement which does not take into consideration this basis and this objective may certainly struggle against imperialism, but will surely not be struggling for national liberation." Amilcar Cabral. (1)
The abject but resilient persistence by the African national Congress to ignore the rights of Afrikans that were taken away by the colonialists and oppressors of the Afrikans in this country seemingly denigrate the organisation to just a struggle organisations but not struggling for the liberation of the nation and its.
During the apartheid years we came to known of the ANC that was a liberation movement, concerned with the liberation of the people, a stance that seemingly changed suddenly after a visit by Nelson Mandela to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 1992 together with his trusted crew of ANC cadres. This was against the stance that Mandela took before leaving his luxurious stay at the Victor Verster farm prison when he issued a statement on the 15 of January 1990 and said: “The nationalisation of the mines, banks and monopoly industries is the policy of the ANC, and a change or modification of our views in this regard is inconceivable. Black economic empowerment is a goal we fully support and encourage, but in our situation state control of certain sectors of the economy is unavoidable.”(2)
This was iterated by COPE’s president Mosioua Lekota, who was the then United Democratic Front’s publicity secretary, when he said “when an ANC government takes power it will nationalise industries and sectors monopolised by capital but not the small shop owned by the ordinary man…Nationalisation of certain industrial sectors would realise the ANC’s aims of redistributing the wealth of the country in order to achieve the upliftment of the exploited.”(2)
The plans and the intentions of the ANC seemingly were to liberate the Afrikan people from the socio-economic conditions they found themselves under, however this was all change after Davos 1992 and the ANC started to speak in a different tongue and that of Freedom instead of Liberation. While freedom had always been the word used all along, people even used it when they drew up the People’s Freedom Demands of 1955, but it was liberation that they looked forward to.
-The land that People have been forcefully been removed from has not returned and the very same Afrikan people continue to till this land for a mere survival,-The livestock that was stolen from African farmers was never returned, -The mineral underneath the soil was sold and continues to be sold or given away to enrich Europeans and only a few of the ANC cadres. Today, the queen of the English continues to boast about a diamond that was formed by the belly of Afrika for Afrikans but was given away for free to for her and England’s pleasure.-And the bank monopolies that continue to rob our people daily are still a stigma that destroys the livelihood of the Afrikans in this country.
At which point is the ANC a liberation movement? What and who have they liberated and from what?
A friend of mine once said that the ANC has never been concerned about the poor and the Afrikans of this country. The ANC has been and always was a party of the middle class, chiefs and gentlemen who wanted a status at the Europeans’ table.
Afrikans cannot for love of it call themselves liberated; they can only fanaticize about the idea of liberation. Unless people stand up and realise that the ANC is a false promise and they stop holding on to the dead carcass called the ANC, the sooner we shall realise the dream of being liberated and attaining the statue of a beaming nation and self-development and prosperity for all in Afrika.
Bongani Mahlangu Writing on my own behalf
(1) The Weapon of Theory by Amilca Cabral, 1966(2) We will nationalise – Mandela, Mail & Guardian, 26 JAN 1990 06:00
"... and the objective of national liberation is to regain this right usurped by imperialism, that is to say, to free the process of development of the national productive forces.For this reason, in our opinion, any national liberation movement which does not take into consideration this basis and this objective may certainly struggle against imperialism, but will surely not be struggling for national liberation." Amilcar Cabral. (1)
The abject but resilient persistence by the African national Congress to ignore the rights of Afrikans that were taken away by the colonialists and oppressors of the Afrikans in this country seemingly denigrate the organisation to just a struggle organisations but not struggling for the liberation of the nation and its.
During the apartheid years we came to known of the ANC that was a liberation movement, concerned with the liberation of the people, a stance that seemingly changed suddenly after a visit by Nelson Mandela to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 1992 together with his trusted crew of ANC cadres. This was against the stance that Mandela took before leaving his luxurious stay at the Victor Verster farm prison when he issued a statement on the 15 of January 1990 and said: “The nationalisation of the mines, banks and monopoly industries is the policy of the ANC, and a change or modification of our views in this regard is inconceivable. Black economic empowerment is a goal we fully support and encourage, but in our situation state control of certain sectors of the economy is unavoidable.”(2)
This was iterated by COPE’s president Mosioua Lekota, who was the then United Democratic Front’s publicity secretary, when he said “when an ANC government takes power it will nationalise industries and sectors monopolised by capital but not the small shop owned by the ordinary man…Nationalisation of certain industrial sectors would realise the ANC’s aims of redistributing the wealth of the country in order to achieve the upliftment of the exploited.”(2)
The plans and the intentions of the ANC seemingly were to liberate the Afrikan people from the socio-economic conditions they found themselves under, however this was all change after Davos 1992 and the ANC started to speak in a different tongue and that of Freedom instead of Liberation. While freedom had always been the word used all along, people even used it when they drew up the People’s Freedom Demands of 1955, but it was liberation that they looked forward to.
-The land that People have been forcefully been removed from has not returned and the very same Afrikan people continue to till this land for a mere survival,-The livestock that was stolen from African farmers was never returned, -The mineral underneath the soil was sold and continues to be sold or given away to enrich Europeans and only a few of the ANC cadres. Today, the queen of the English continues to boast about a diamond that was formed by the belly of Afrika for Afrikans but was given away for free to for her and England’s pleasure.-And the bank monopolies that continue to rob our people daily are still a stigma that destroys the livelihood of the Afrikans in this country.
At which point is the ANC a liberation movement? What and who have they liberated and from what?
A friend of mine once said that the ANC has never been concerned about the poor and the Afrikans of this country. The ANC has been and always was a party of the middle class, chiefs and gentlemen who wanted a status at the Europeans’ table.
Afrikans cannot for love of it call themselves liberated; they can only fanaticize about the idea of liberation. Unless people stand up and realise that the ANC is a false promise and they stop holding on to the dead carcass called the ANC, the sooner we shall realise the dream of being liberated and attaining the statue of a beaming nation and self-development and prosperity for all in Afrika.
Bongani Mahlangu Writing on my own behalf
(1) The Weapon of Theory by Amilca Cabral, 1966(2) We will nationalise – Mandela, Mail & Guardian, 26 JAN 1990 06:00
