By Tiisetso Makhele
“Ours is not merely a paper alliance, created at conference tables and formalised through the signing of documents and representing only an agreement of leaders. Our alliance is a living organism, borne out of struggle” – Late President Oliver Tambo on the tripartite alliance of the ANC, SACP and COSATU.
On 20 June 2024, the ANC Youth League in the Free State released a statement which states, amongst others, that the League “welcomes the EXCO as announced by Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae”, and finds the structure to be “well-structured with a sizeable number of committed workaholics who will help the Premier in fulfilling the commitments” made during the campaign trail.
In an exceedingly ludicrous, and yet not unexpected, turn of events, the same structure called a medium briefing on 06 July 2024, where some of the comedic remarks were made, in clear contradiction to the ideals of the revolution.
In their effort to show some empty commitment to “inclusion of youth in governance”, they called for MEC for Health, Comrade Monyatso Mahlatsi to be removed from the EXCO. The reasons why the latter is the only MEC who must be removed, according to the YL, is because he is the Provincial Secretary of COSATU and because the federation was “nowhere to be found during the elections”.
Not only is this statement unscientific, but it is probably the most senseless, nonsensical ever made in the course of our revolution. Members of COSATU, both as workers and as members of the ANC, have always been part of our elections. The federation is represented in all election structures of the movement, and is also able to mount its own campaign to support the ANC.
An attack on Cde Mahlatsi and on COSATU is reckless and must be addressed politically. Despite the myriad of challenges faced by the workers, from the conduct of some deployed as Mayors in local government, unpaid salaries, failure by the state to respect collective agreements, to the liberal austerity measures, COSATU leaders had the courage to encourage workers to vote for the ANC.
They did this knowing very well that they could be rewarded as traitors. I have no doubt in my mind that, had COSATU not openly supported the ANC, our electoral performance would have been far worse.
Cde Mahlatsi is capable to lead in the state. It is unfair that he must be isolated. He is a professional health worker, and grounded organic intellectual and a servant of the people. The revolution has trained him sufficiently to be the MEC.
Cde Zama Sigwebela is a good Comrade. I wholly support the call for him to be given a role to play, but such a call must not be at the expense of another activist. In fact, the Youth League is diminishing the chances of Cde Zama to emerge with their recklessness.
I advise the leadership of the Youth League to withdraw this nonsensical statement, apologize to COSATU and Cde Mahlatsi, reconvene another PEC meeting, and use the first day of the PEC meeting to be lectured on Tools of Analysis and then issue another sober statement.
Such a statement must first acknowledge that they have failed the youth, and table a strategy they will deploy to better represent the toiling youth. They must also find a way to mobilize young workers, in both the private and public sectors, in the interest of the revolution.
Makhele is an African Marxist who writes what he likes
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