Opinion
Mashatile is a victim of DA‘s quest to capture and destroy the ANC
By: Mojaki Manoto
Recently Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen has been on a relentless mission to discredit, sully the good name and assassinate the character of ANC second-in-command Paul Mashatile. This has not been an individual quest but represents a concerted effort, from Stellenbosch and imperial forces to dislodge those ANC members who are in disagreement with the planned marriage between the ANC and the DA.
John Steenhuisen has been touted as the deputy president in an illusionary coalition with the ANC that has been concocted from Stellenbosch. He sees Paul Mashatile as an adversarial opponent who must be liquidated since they are competing for the “same position.”
The campaign to leak information about Paul Mashatile’s house and his association or friendship with businessman Edwin Sodi is all choreographed to result in Steenhuisen replacing Mashatile. Even the recent parliamentary questions are another chapter in that reactionary campaign episode.
One of the main reasons for the exodus of ANC members to join MK Party is as a result of their rejection of the plan to hand over the ANC to the DA under the guise of a coalition. Mashatile is seen as one person who stands in sharp and pointed contradiction to this sellout Stellenbosch deal that has been consummated with a few leaders in the ANC.
We have been treated to a spectacle of unprincipled flirtations and courtship between the ANC and the DA with sections of the ANC such as the Veteran’s League mouthing and displaying a romantic posture towards the DA. What is even strange is that such a planned marriage between the DA and the ANC is spoken about in dark corridors without any organisational resolution to that effect.
This plan is part of a quest to weaken the ANC and usher in a new multiracial and neo-liberal organisation. The imperialists and the Stellenbosch mafias’ desire to reconstitute the ANC as it is currently structured. They want to create their new ANC which will do away with its long culture, history and the tradition of resistance.
They want a centre-right ANC that will be an amalgam of all liberal leaders without any history in the resistance struggle. This new ANC will privatise and auction state assets to white DA investors. The failed Takatso deal is but one such a glaring example.
A section of the ANC has bought into this plan to hand over the ANC to the DA. This is the highest betrayal ever contemplated since the formation of the ANC in 1912. The purveyors of this real state and ANC capture will all be handsomely compensated for accomplishing this evil mission.
Imagine an ANC government that will be co-governing with Helen Zille whose social media posts about white supremacy are legendary? Imagine policies such as BBEE, the land, ownership of mines , nationalisation of the Reserve Bank will no longer see the light of day?
Imagine co-governing with the DA that has written a letter to the US effectively undermining our own sovereignty? Imagine co-governing with the DA that has given its unserved support to the racist state of Israel which is embroiled in genocidal crimes?
Mashatile ‘s sin is that he has refused to hand over the ANC and would rather opt to strengthen the alliance or front of the oppressed African organisations. Mashatile ‘s relations with EFF leader Julius Malema causes the Stellenbosch mafia sleepless nights. So the DA and Stellenbosch must dictate who we must be friends with.
That is why they are funding and handsomely sponsoring micky mouse parties that mushroom daily such as Rise Mzansi to reduce the ANC’s majority. They fear that an ANC with Mashatile at the helm in an alliance with African progressive organisations will bring back the land to our people since it will get a two-thirds majority. This unity will bring back the dignity of the African person.
The ANC is facing its most critical test in its entire history. The Fifth Column are operating with insidious determination to reverse the gains of our struggle. There is an internal ideological war that is brewing with a section of the organisation that have signed a fustian pact with the devil. On the other hand, there is a section that is resisting, kicking and screaming wanting to retain the real and genuine ANC. Mashatile ‘s sin is refusing to sell out the birth-right of our people under a new baaskap of the DA.
* Mojaki Manoto is an independent researcher
© Africa News Global
Dear Fellow South African,
Later this week, on 21 March, South Africa will celebrate Human Rights Day.
On that day we will recall the Sharpeville Massacre of 21 March 1960, when apartheid police shot dead 69 unarmed protesters who were taking a stand against the apartheid regime’s unjust and inhumane pass laws.
The events in Sharpeville on that day were one of the worst violations of human rights in our history and attracted worldwide condemnation. It was in the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre that in 1960, the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted its first resolution condemning violence perpetrated by the apartheid regime.
Six years later, the UN General Assembly would label apartheid a crime against humanity. It would also declare 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and an opportunity to draw attention to racial injustice everywhere.
Thirty years into democracy, all who live in South Africa continue to enjoy the shelter and protection of the Bill of Rights enshrined in our Constitution. Our forebears who took up the struggle in defence of liberty and human rights at Sharpeville enjoyed no such protection. As a result of their struggles we now enjoy these rights.
In addition to the dreaded pass laws, black South Africans were denied even the most basic rights. With a combination of unjust laws and brute force, the racist regime decided where black people could live, what schools their children could attend, who they could and could not marry, what occupations they could enter, and how much they could earn.
So petty and cruel was apartheid that there was even a law, the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, that segregated public facilities along racial lines. “Whites Only” or “Net Blankes” signs were put up in store entrances, on public benches, in playgrounds, and even on the country’s beaches.
For the generations born into freedom it is almost inconceivable that such systematic, deep-seated racism existed, making it all the more necessary for us to reflect on how far we have come in building a country that is non-racial, non-sexist, equal, prosperous and free.
Over the past three decades, we have worked together to undo the terrible legacy of apartheid. However the effects of apartheid persist across society – whether it is in health, educational and developmental outcomes, access to basic services and infrastructure, or in the racialised nature of poverty, unemployment, inequality and exclusion.
Human Rights Month is an opportunity to assess the progress we have made over the past three decades to advance the Bill of Rights set out in our Constitution, as well as to reflect honestly on where we have fallen short.
The results of Census 2022 released last year highlight the progress we have made as a country in giving effect to the rights contained in our Constitution.
The pro-poor policies of the democratic state have lifted millions out of absolute poverty, expanded access to basic services, improved educational and health outcomes for the country’s majority, and broadened participation in economic activity.
As we head into our country’s 7th democratic election this year, we are further reminded of the fundamental freedoms South Africans enjoy today. These include freedom of conscience and opinion, the right to assembly and demonstration, freedom of association, and wide-ranging political rights. We also have a free, independent media that plays a critical role in promoting transparency and accountability.
On the occasion of the adoption of our Constitution in 1996, we proclaimed to the world that we are a society committed to democracy, to the rule of law and to the protection of human rights.
This places a great responsibility on us as South Africans, whether as government, business, labour or civil society, to live up to the promise of our Bill of Rights.
We have to stand together united as we work for the realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. We should not be in denial about our shortcomings and strive to overcome them with urgency. For millions of South Africans, lack of access to basic services, unemployment and lack of opportunity affect the most fundamental of human rights – the right to dignity.
As we continue to work towards realising the basic human rights of all South Africans, we are reminded that these rights are universal. That all people, everywhere, have basic rights and should be free to exercise them.
We are reminded that we cannot truly be free until all people are free.
When we consider the deteriorating state of human rights and fundamental freedoms in many parts of the world today, we are mindful that we have a moral responsibility to strive for the achievement of human rights not just for our own people, but for all people across the world.
As we commemorate the tragic events that took place in Sharpeville in 1960, and recommit ourselves to the cause of human freedom, we stand firm in our position that human rights for only some are human rights for none. Let us all continue to advance and protect the human rights of all who live in South Africa.
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