The real counter-revolutionaries
It was curiously gratifying to be labelled a "counter-revolutionary" -
along with the Constitutional Court - by ANC Secretary-General Gwede
Mantashe last Friday. Being on the side of those who uphold the
Constitution is exactly where the DA and I should be. In fact, coming
as it does from Mantashe, it confirms that we must be doing something
right. After all, this is the same man who believes the Scorpions
should be disbanded because they are investigating ANC leaders in
corruption cases.
The great irony is that it is Mantashe – along with Jacob Zuma,
Zwelinzima Vavi and Julius Malema – who are the real
counter-revolutionaries. By consistently undermining our hard-won
Constitution and the liberties it enshrines, it is Zuma and his allies
who are taking us backwards. They want to return to an era in which a
few politicians held all power and decided which rights the rest of us
could exercise. The revolutionary change that came to South Africa was
a Constitution that guaranteed universal rights – and committed the
government to uphold and protect them, not to dispense them
selectively.
Zuma and Mantashe's ANC (just like the National Party under apartheid)
wants to control the media, the judiciary and every independent organ
of state. The former oppressed are emulating their erstwhile
oppressors and, when the "revolutionary vanguard" mimics the regime it
replaced, you know that the counter-revolution has begun. It is
straight out of George Orwell's Animal Farm.
The real counter-revolutionaries are also the wabenzis in the ANC
Youth League who are more preoccupied with their own enrichment than
serving the people. We got a clear idea of what they believe the
"revolution" to be about from the conspicuous consumption on display
at the ANCYL Conference last week.
Journalists at the ANCYL Conference reported "a shiny line of Hummers,
Audis, Beemers, Volvos and Mercedes-Benzes parked outside the
conference hall." Youth League Spokesperson Zizi Kodwa (who arrived in
an Audi worth half a million rand) protested that this parade of
wealth had nothing to do with the riches that have accrued to the
Youth League's empowerment arm, Lembede holdings. No, according to
Kodwa, the funds raised from Lembede are used for the running of the
league, rallies and what he refers to as other "revolutionary
programmes." One is left to guess exactly what these revolutionary
programmes entail.
The other real counter-revolutionaries are those in the ANC who
unashamedly plunder the state's resources for personal gain. This week
saw the publication of a leaked copy of the Pillay Report which found
that the Sports Minister, Makhenkesi Stofile, along with two other
senior ANC members, siphoned off almost R200 million from the Eastern
Cape Provincial Administration's public coffers through dubious deals
to their wives and relatives. According to the report, another R250
million is unaccounted for.
The ANC is redefining the "revolution" to mean undermining the
Constitution, conspicuous consumption and looting the people's money.
Under these circumstances I am proud to be called a
counter-revolutionary.
The South Africa that we worked and fought for was the one
encapsulated in Nelson Mandela's statement from the dock at his
Rivonia Trial in 1964, when he said:
"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against
black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free
society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.
But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
The ideal that Mandela articulated 44 years ago is captured in the
spirit and letter of our Constitution – our nation's founding document
and supreme law. Zuma believes the ANC is more important than this
Constitution, while Mantashe labels those of us who defend it as
"counter-revolutionary."
As Jacob Zuma's corruption trial looms, the battle lines are being
drawn between those who are prepared to undermine the Constitution in
word and deed and those who want to protect it. It is a contest
between those who value the Constitution and want to build an
inclusive society, pitted against those who want to create an
all-powerful party that perverts the institutions of state to serve a
small ruling elite.
On the side of the Constitution is ANC member and former Cabinet
Minister Kader Asmal who last week circulated a "Declaration against
the injunction to kill and in defence of the Constitution we must live
for." Referring to the recent utterances by Zuma's allies that they
would kill for Zuma, the declaration says: "This significant moment in
our history requires that all of us become activists in the service of
our Constitution." The Asmal Declaration reflects the anger and
concern among many democrats in the ANC who are appalled at the
assault on the Constitution being waged by Zuma and his acolytes.
This week I became a signatory to the Declaration and challenged Jacob
Zuma to join me. In response, Zuma told Business Day: "This is news to
me. It is for the very first time that the opposition has joined hands
with an ANC member on an issue". He said that he would not be in a
position to sign it until he had consulted with his party's
structures.
What Zuma fails to understand is that the defence of the Constitution
is not subject to any party political programme. It is the first
principle that any politician must adhere to, regardless of their
political affiliation. There should be no hesitation from any
politician to pledge their allegiance to the Constitution. If Ben
Turok, Ronnie Kasrils and Mosiuoa Lekota can sign the Declaration
without consulting party structures, then surely Zuma can too.
The truth is that Zuma cannot sign the Asmal Declaration because it
would mean defying his allies and condemning the rhetoric of Mantashe,
Vavi and Malema. He has not reined them in so far, and it is unlikely
he will do so now. He needs their support to remain the ANC's
Presidential Candidate for next year's election.
It is now left to opposition parties, the media, the judiciary and the
genuine democrats in the ANC to guard the democratic vision that
triumphed in 1994. If this means that the DA is labelled
"counter-revolutionary", then so be it. We are in good company.
Best Wishes
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