ANCWL : a cosmetic face of patriarchy

Marching downtown Pretoria in 1956, 20 000 women from all walks of life armed with their pass-books, chanted Wathinda Abafazi, wathind' imbokodo, uzakufa wena Strijdom (You strike a woman, you strike a rock-you will die Strijdom).

Those were domestic workers, farm labourers and factory workers who converged under the auspices of Federation of South African Women in a protest march to Union Buildings to present a petition to Prime Minister JG Strijdom.

Conspicuous by their presence were African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) members like Albertina Sisulu, Amina Cachalia, Bertha Gxowa and Caroline Motsoaledi.

Back then, women from within ANC ranks had one another's back and would stand in solidarity with others  across the country whenever any form of injustice was dispensed to the voiceless and vulnerable women.

They were united by common tribulations of marginalisation, victimisation and empoverishment that defined the course of women in the 1950s leading up to 1990s. That platoon of gallant women was metaphorically called imbokodos(grinding rocks) for their unrelenting resolve in the face of terror and patriarchy.

Sadly the same cannot be said about the current crop of ANCWL members. They have mastered the art of selective solidarity in matters that involve injustice against women. The post-democratic ANCWL members are patriarchs masquerading  in a black skirt with a green blouse. A case in point was when former Deputy President Jacob Zuma was facing rape charges against Fezeka "Khwezi" Khuzwayo.

A league that purports to champion women's interests, shunned the victim and stood in solidarity with a male perpetrator. Khwezi who grew up within ANC structures, was vilified by the same platoon of women that was supposed to offer a shoulder to cry on. Instead of a comforting mother's touch, Khwezi was pejoratively tormented by death threats. The modern-day mbokodos chose a patriarch over one of their own. Poor Khwezi was tossed and shoved around while a patriarch giggled "hee..he..he."

When Minister of Performance and Evaluation in the office of the President, Jeff Radebe admitted to soliciting nude pictures from junior female staff member at Union Buidings, ANCWL opted for silence in the midst of public consternation. They never even bothered to find out how the staff member's state of mind was. The patriarch was cocooned against public outcry and that was all that mattered.

ANC women cheered on when patriarchy vilified the only female Public Protector South Africa had ever seen. Thuli Madonsela was affronted and her life threatened while ANCWL opted for silence in the face of vilification against a woman. The same league that should have provided refuge for Public Protector, gave her a cold shoulder instead.

In the recent ANC National Policy Conference, ANCWL beefed up their delegation with six men because men are very analytical while women are too emotional as ANCWL President Bathabile Dlamini alluded. This is all the more proof that ANCWL is a breeding ground for patriarchy. Consistent with their patriarchal posture - women's league supports Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for ANC Presidency. This is the same woman who was married to current ANC and South African President who happens to be the worst patriarch who commands Union Buildings.

They advisedly ostracised Baleka Mbete who is the highest ranking female member at Luthuli House as ANC National Chairperson. Mbete is the same woman who acted as Acting President when former President Thabo Mbeki was unceremoniously re-called from office in 2008. She holds a record of having served as Speaker of Parliament under Mbeki and Zuma respectively.

Like true patriarchs in a black skirt with a green blouse, ANCWL vouched for Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who commands close proximity to patriarchy (Jacob Zuma).

In a bizzare turn of events, ANCWL came out guns blazing in solidarity with Higher- Education Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana who was caught on camera assaulting women at a night-club. Contrary to class of 1956 that marched to Union Buildings in exasperation, Dlamini and her acolytes never called for Manana's expulsion form public office.

The pseudo mbokodos blamed the female victims for provoking the "Honourable Member" and said Manana didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I am therefore justified to assert that ANCWL is impervious to harrowing cries of rape victims. They are never turbo-charged to stand by victims of gender-based violence.

ANCWL is an elite stokvel of women who get handsomely rewarded for keeping women's cries on silent-mode.Theirs is to give a cosmetic face to patriarchy while women and young girls are scarred for life. It's therefore my conclusion that Bathabile Dlamini is not a feminist - she is a microcosm of everything that doesn't make sense at Luthuli House, a cosmetic proxy of patriarchy in a black skirt.

We've been sold freedom without benefits

27 April 1994 was characterised by euphoria of black people in long queues to cast their votes for the first time. They had been disenfranchised for all their lives and were exhilarated by the realisation of the principle of " One man, one vote."

 It was at this time that Sarafina's hit song "Freedom is coming tomorrow" found resonance in black townships.

Little did they know they were queuing up for a product with factory fault - freedom without benefits. Nithi sixole kanjani (how are we supposed to find peace) when our freedom begins and ends at the ballot box?

As South Africa celebrates April as freedom month - let me say without any measure of ambiguity that freedom is not liberation. I hold an iconoclastic view that South Africa is a "society" of free classified individuals therefore, not a liberated nation.

Suffice it to say, the freedom that dawned on 27 April 1994 was only academic. It was devoid of benefits as it failed to free the oppressed masses from the malaise of hunger, landlessness and unemployment. Econo-political matrix of the new dispensation failed to give freedom a discernible expression in the lives of mine workers, shack dwellers and farm labourers.

Nithi sixole kanjani when sate employees don't qualify for mortgage bonds and are not illegible for state subsidised houses?

From 1994 ANC has concocted a cocktail of economic policies that failed to radically transform lives of ordinary South Africans. First there was Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) which was aborted in 1996 with the advent of Growth Employment And Redistribution. In 2005 we were introduced to Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) which made way for New Growth Plan (NGP) in 2010.

Then came National Development Plan (NDP) amid much fanfare in 2013. Looking from a black man's eye view, however majestic these policies were, they were never realistic. They fell short of incubating emerging township entrepreneurs into full-scale industrialists. RDP failed to reconstruct the spatial patterns so as to herald black people into economic heartlands. Black masses are still condemned to the periphery of the economy in sync with tectonics of apartheid spatial planning.

GEAR also failed to redistribute state land into the hands of people for industrialisation, agagrarian economy and urbanisation. On the other hand, ASGISA could not accelerate growth of township economy and massive introduction of black women into mainstream economy. Considering all these chronicled failures to build an inclusive growth conducive for capital flow and cash fluidity, I have a feeling NDP is also on the high-way to nowhere.

23 years later, black people are still recipients of freedom without benefits. The freedom that Robert Sobukwe and Chris Hani went to prison and died for respectively, still doesn't allow for free higher-education. The same freedom that Ruth Mompati was exiled for, doesn't make free sanitary towels part of the education system to keep a girl child at school.

Nithi sixole kanjani when a destitute woman who cast her vote in 1994 is now a mother to a 23 year-old unemployed graduate? How are we supposed to find peace when the ruling ANC is oblivious to Amilcar Cabral's clarion call "Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, things in anyone's head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better  and in peace, to see their lives go forward to guarantee the future of their children."

The trivial gains of South African freedom are not commensurate with sacrifices made to attain it. People didn't fight for the right to vote, yet still go to bed hungry. They didn't fight against unfair labour practice only to be leased out to abusive employers in the name of outsourcing. The ability to shout " Viva Mandela" without being arrested is not freedom. For past 23 years we've been at the receiving end of liberal reform packaged as freedom. Nithi sixole kanjani when the economy of Africa's most industrialised country is in the hands of the minority while the majority are mere spectators?

Ravages of Zuma's apocalyptic giggle

Soon after election as ANC president at 2007 Polokwane conference, Jacob Zuma took to the podium and prefaced his speech with a giggle.

 The man affectionately known by his clan name "Msholozi," giggled "hehehe" before thanking delegates for their robust participation. Zuma sported the same giggle as he begrudgingly exchanged hugs with President Thabo Mbeki.

Needless to say, Zuma was part of the collective that unceremoniously recalled Mbeki from Union Buildings. The giggle that gained prominence in 2007 would go on to plunge ANC into reputational damage of cataclysmic proportions. After inauguration as South African President in 2009, the country bore the brunt of Zuma's apocalyptic giggle.

He resorted to this giggle to divert attention and trivialise matters of national importance. Zuma sought refuge behind his giggle to eschew accountability when opposition MPs grilled him for his wanton malfeasance.

In 2012 when former Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko enquired why he failed to provide Public Protector with proof of bond for his Nkandla homestead, the former Robben Island prisoner giggled before replying that he had obtained a loan from WesBank to finance renovations to his house.

After a protracted investigation, it was discovered that Head of State had deliberately misled parliament. While tabling presidential budget in 2015, the president famous for singing Umshini Wam' mocked Honourable members' pronunciation of " Nkandla" before exclaiming "Thixo Wase George Goch" ensued by trademark "hehehe" giggle.

It was the same condescending giggle that prompted firebrand opposition EFF MPs to intensify their "Pay Back The Money" campaign thereby rendering parliament an inhospitable terrain for Speaker Baleka Mbete.

When put on the spot for his hire and fire rampage of three finance minsters in seven days in December 2015, Zuma unleashed his apocalyptic giggle. Despite his documented ineptitude, his acolytes continued to sing along to his self-choreographed "Inde Lendlela" chorus while the country was on a downward spiral.. This giggle is Zuma's "Ace" card in his unrelenting endeavour to defeat the ends of constitutional accountability.

During high-voltage parliamentary debates on matters of national significance, Zuma's first rule of engagement was a giggle followed by monotonous rhetoric of white monopoly capital. Noble men and women of impeccable character have been mesmerised by this giggle and stood idle as ANC's moral currency depreciated. An internationally renowned liberation movement has been turned into a failed project in which political patronage reigns supreme. A once broad church has rapidly narrowed down so that one man can keep his giggle.

The same president who took an oath of office in full glance of the multitudes to "oppose all that may harm the republic," confessed that he knew of individuals who stole from state coffers but, had since turned a blind eye. The president made this incriminating statement during ANC rally in KZN and unashamedly giggled "hehehe."

Zuma pulled a stunt of Shakespearan proportions when he re-called Finance minister Pravin Gordhan from overseas investor roadshow and later fired him at midnight. Gordhan was fired based on a well orchestrated smear campaign titled "Operation Check-Mate" while keeping Bathabile Dlamini as Social Development minister despite a damning Constitutional Court ruling against her in respect of SASSA fiasco. Consistent to his circus antics, a giggle was Zuma's only response.

Zuma fired ministers who remained loyal to their oath of office and showed unwavering loyalty to those who thrive under  mediocrity. The Rand developed Hay Fever while a Grade:4 drop-out giggled at the west wing of Union Buildings.

For as long as Zuma continues to giggle at Union Buildings at times when South Africa is fast becoming a Curry Republic - those ravaged by unemployment will continue to see no light at the end of the tunnel. Lack of clean water shall be our daily nightmare while, ANC is reduced to a senile stokvel that finds resonance in rural areas.

Biko: Lessons from the other side

A black body sjamboked, tossed around, chained to a window frame and  spat upon while apartheid police officers enjoyed brandy. A defenseless yet defiant body was driven naked at the back of a police van 1000 km from Port Elizabeth to Pretoria. The subject of this black body shaming was Stephen "Steve" Bantu Biko, the father of Black Consciousness Movement of Azania.

Though this organic black intellectual died 39 years ago, his name still finds fond resonance with many a black folk. There's a plethora of valuable lessons still to be learnt from Steve Biko even beyond the grave. In Biko's loving memory,

I have opted not to eulogise him, but retrospectively contextualise his philosophy and shed light  on his student activism vis-a-vis current black man's imbroglios and #FeesMustFall wave that has seen South Africa go up in smoke. I will attempt to imagine how Biko would have engaged a black nation pertaining to economic marginalisation and academic exclusion.

Biko's greatest forte was organising students across the country. He's accredited for grooming proteges like Onkgopotse Tiro, Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seatlholo. He realised from as early as the 60's that unlocking a young black mind from intellectual captivity was a potent catalyst for liberation of oppressed black nation. Though restricted to King Williams town, the former medical student was able to plant a "revolutionary seed"  that blossomed in 1976 student uprising.

Biko would have applauded #RhodesMustFall movement for taking the bull by its horns in refusal to kowtow to white-settler supremacy. Juxtaposed to current #FeesMustFall, he would advise students to apply presence of mind in identifying their common enemy and, not target centres meant for their cognitive development.

As a prolific author of his times, Biko would condemn setting study material on fire and wanton vandalism as recently witnessed at his alma mater, UZN. He would encourage students to develop their own study-funding models while intensifying their struggle for free-education.

If Biko was alive, he would denounce conspicuous absence of ANCYL president Collen Maine during #FeesMustFall protests. He would caution Maine to be hands-on in relation to struggles of young people, close leadership lacuna within youth ranks and maintain constant dialogue with young people via modern online publications and social media.His advice would be for Maine to prioritise youth and student struggles and refrain from being a micro-managed lackey for powerful individuals who harbour corrupt tendencies.

The acclaimed author of "I write what I like" would be exasperated with class fragmentation of a black nation. He would frown at proliferation of black bourgeoisie who have accrued luxuries through BEE and the ballot of the black poor. Biko would aptly call this bunch "White souls in black skin."

He would expect us to be vigilant against capitalist onslaught on our identity as a black nation like he famously said "The greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. So as a prelude, whites must be made to realise that they are only human - not superior. Same with blacks, they must be made to realise that they are also human - not inferior." He would lash out at those black leaders who drive around in tinted state-sponsored vehicles hiding away fro the very people who voted them into power.

The ardent follower of Frantz Fanon would have conferred accolades to young Zulaikha Patel for keeping her Afro at Eurocentric Pretoria High School for Girls. He would have spurred her not to apply European standards to measure her black beauty nor trade her blackness for anything European. If he was still in our midst, Biko would scold Kwaito star Mshoza for bleaching her black skin white. He would remind Mshoza "Black is beautiful."

His peers described him as "The authentic voice of the people, not afraid to say openly what othe blacks think but, are frightened to say." I define him as a metaphorical expression of black resistance against apartheid - an unrelenting black intellectual whose time had come. He would expect us to re-calibrate the consciousness of our blackness while being appreciative of other races that co-exist with us.

Absence of nascent black economy coupled with exploitative anti-black labour regulations, would be an affront to his emancipatory philosophy. He wouldn't want black consciousness to be restricted to academic corridors  only but, permeate to slums, informal settlements and rural areas where raw black poverty is the order of the day. He would question why the country still bears the name South Africa which came about as a result of 1909 British Act of Parliament. He would caution, Black man you are on your own.

SA trapped in quagmire of Zumacracy

Corridors of Turfloop University reverberated with ululation when it was announced that Jacob Zuma had won the race to become ANC president in December 2007. The sound of liberation songs ricocheted from one wall to the other. There he was in a brown leather jacket with a giggle that would later haunt South Africa. The same giggle that has made mockery of constitutional democracy.

I don't have luxury of time to chronicle all of President Jacob Zuma's misdemeanours as South Africa's Head of State. Let me however highlight a few that replaced our hard-earned constitutional democracy with Nkandla made concoction of Zumacracy.

First he stood in Parliament looking condescendingly at DA MP Lindiwe Mazibuko telling her he had obtained a loan from Wesbank to upgrade his homestead at Nkandla. Well, it later turned out that the man affectionately known as Msholozi had lied.

Lying to parliament alone, should have had Zuma removed as Head of State. Then he facilitated the landing of a private jet carrying 200 passengers at SA Airforce Waterkloof base. The jet was from India and belonged to his affluent family friend Atul Gupta. Needless to say the jet landed at national key-point area without guests being vetted.

Chief of state protocol Bruce Kholoane was made the fall-guy and was "punished" by Zuma with a high profile ambassadorial post in Amsterdam. Once again Zuma survived the chop, The rot continued full-blast while Zumacracy was eroding democracy enforcement institutions.

Then Zuma defied Public Protector's findings against him in relation to Nkandla upgrades. He unleashed a litany of cover-ups using every state apparatus at his disposal to eschew accountability. National Assembly Speaker and Ministers Nathi Nhleko and Naledi Pandor featured prominently in his arsenal.

Constitutional court affirmed Thuli Madonsela's report that Zuma and his family were "Secure in comfort" at the expense of poor South Africans. I was under illusion that constitutional democracy had finally won when Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said "The president thus failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution." He said the president broke his oath of office.

Like any other object, I thought Zuma had succumbed to dictates of gravity. I was proven wrong. ANC MPs thwarted impeachment efforts against Zuma. Constitutional democracy was dealt a low blow and democratic accountability became a foreign jargon. Zumacracy permeated through the hearts of 233 men and women of "impeccable character."

Learned Professors and PhD graduates like Naledi Pandor, Angie Motshekga and Makhosi Khoza sold their souls to shield a giggling Grade: 4 drop-out. They wouldn't wipe the giggle off Zuma's face. As if Zuma and his acolytes had not brought South Africa enough damage - he had the gumption to interdict the release of Public Protector's report on State Capture. This is the report that contained graphic evidence of how Zuma was "siphoning public purse" through Gupta family.

Once again, Zuma survived this damning report and continued to giggle in Parliament when asked questions of national importance. This made me come to a conclusion that ANC's moral-currency had depreciated to an all time low.

The less I say about him costing South African economy R500bn by firing Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene and replacing him with a man who couldn't run a minuscule municipality in Merafong the better. Zuma will go down history books as a suspect who faced 783 charges but, still managed to share a table with leading world presidents at G20 summits.

I woke up to a poignant reality that Zuma is beyond redemption - he is a product with defects that we can't send back to store for refund. Zuma is a costly liability that the poor masses can't afford to maintain. The only logical reason why Zuma has survived seven motions of " No Confidence" is that
Zumacracy is a deadly virus for which there is no antidote. Zuma is a run-away train without brakes and will crash into every democracy enforcement institution. Zuma's political mortality is an idea whose time has come.