SO IT BEGINS: MALEMA SETS THE WHEELS OF CHANGE IN MOTION

AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF is influencing former ANC youth chief, Julius Malema. On the eve of Zimbabwe’s polls on Wednesday, Mantashe said while he loved Zanu PF, "we have to accept the fact the party had destroyed the economy". 

Malema’s newly launched "protest movement", the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), recently released its manifesto, which it says is based on the Freedom Charter. The manifesto calls for the nationalisation of the mines and banks, and land expropriation without compensation. On Monday, however, Mantashe said the EFF’s policies owed more to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF than to the Freedom Charter. "To me EFF has nothing to do with the Freedom Charter; it has everything to do with the influence of Zanu PF, that’s what it’s all about." 

He said the ANC was aware that there had been "active engagement" between Zanu PF and the former youth league leaders who formed the EFF. Malema was a frequent visitor to Zimbabwe during his time at the helm of the league and after he was sacked last year. Part of the battle between the ANC and its youth league, during Malema’s tenure, was the "influence of Zanu PF over them and using them to destabilise us from across Limpopo", Mantashe said. 

"So it has nothing to do with the Freedom Charter, it has everything to do with what Zanu PF has done." Mantashe said he always told young ANC activists the fact that Zimbabwe’s ruling party had destroyed that country’s economy had to be acknowledged. "We must say so. They destroyed the economy. In 1980 the Zimbabwean dollar was R1.50, today it has no value. "They have caused a massive destruction to the (Zimbabwean) economy and I have an issue with that. I will not voluntarily do what Zanu PF does (just) because they are my comrades, because I don’t want the South African economy to collapse in the same way. 

"We must do things that are sustainable, that can continue keeping the economy alive." The calls made by the EFF, based on the Freedom Charter, were hugely distorted in their "articulation". Land grabs without compensation, for instance, were a distortion of the Freedom Charter, Mantashe said. The charter speaks about sharing land among those who work it. "If you want to create farmers, you are not going to succeed, farmers are not created, farmers are like entrepreneurs, you don’t create them, it’s something you are going to have passion and love for," Mantashe said. "Once you want to create them by force or by hook or by crook, you will see farming as a place for weekend braais." 

Similarly, the call for nationalisation by the EFF was a distortion. The charter was explicit that minerals belonged to the people as a whole, but the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act already gave ownership of mineral wealth to the government on behalf of the country’s citizens. Mantashe said the ANC would take every party in the political space seriously in the run-up to the national elections next year. The ANC never bandied numbers about ahead of an election, but aimed to win convincingly and everywhere. "We want to govern everywhere ... the reality for us is that we want a three-thirds majority," Mantashe said. To do so the ANC aimed to tell the "true South African story".
 
The true story was currently being told through a focus on mistakes that the ruling party had committed. Zimbabwe has denied allegations it was funding the EFF. Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has dismissed the alleged link between Zanu PF and Malema’s EFF as "nonsense".

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE RUTHLESS ZIMBABWEAN 5TH BRIGADE

Image
The Fifth Brigade was an elite unit of specially trained Zimbabwean soldiers. The Fifth Brigade was formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1988 after allegations of brutality and murder during the Brigade's occupation of Matabeleland. It was reformed later and was active in 2006 at least. In October 1980, President Robert Mugabe signed an agreement with the North Korean President, Kim Il Sung, that they would train and equip a brigade for the Zimbabwe National Army. In August 1981, 106 North Koreans arrived to train the new brigade. The members of the Fifth Brigade were drawn from 3500 ex-ZANLA troops, including two unintegrated ZANLA battalions, at Tongogara Assembly Point. There were a few ZIPRA troops in the unit initially, but they were withdrawn before the end of the training. It has been reported that there were also some foreigners in the unit, possibly Tanzanians. The training of Fifth Brigade lasted until September 1982, when Minister Sekeramayi announced training was complete
Read more

ZUMA: ZIM ELECTIONS WERE NOT FAIR OR CREDIBLE!!!

Image
“We did not say Zim elections were fair”—Zuma’s Minister Upon realization that ZUMA had not adequately applied his mind to the evidence pointing to vote rigging in Zimbabwe, the South African President, was forced to take back his former statement, which had indicated the vote was FREE & FAIR. Additionally, the revelations that ZUMA was bribed by ZANU PF are definitely not working in his favour. Compounded by the fact, that blessing a MUGABE victory, would only help Malema`s Project of Economic empowerment the ZANU PF way, must have caused some collywobbles within South African political elite.   Someone must have opened ZUMA`s eyes to the impending dangers to South Africa by declaring the Zimbabwean Election as FREE & FAIR. ZUMA would have had a tough time in selling Mugabe`s legitimacy   to the World, now that he realizes that he is alone in congratulating Mugabe, now he has been forced to take back his self-indulgent statement. Let’s hope it’s soon he returns the mo
Read more

NOTHING TO FEAR IN MUGABE

Mugabe will be removed by politicians who will surmount the fear of death and breathe courage to the population. Leaders, who will, with their trusted people power and large numbers, demolish Mugabe’s thin fortresses of violence and extract freedom and justice from the sinking regime. In his lifetime, Mugabe must see the colour of defeat, taste the bitter cup of justice and smell the freedom of his victims. The many Zanu PF hardliners who continue to show fanatical and near cultic support for Mugabe are not Zimbabweans who love and honour “a dear leader.” It is a collection of fearful beneficiaries of Mugabe’s violence, corruption, patronage and pillage who stand to lose their freedom, wealth and even lives in the case of his departure. These are Mugabe’s zealots who have raped, murdered, robbed and stolen in the name of Mugabe and are most likely to be thrown into extremism upon Mugabe’s death and run down Zimbabwe in a bloody civil war if not managed strategically by the politic
Read more