By Life Mokone
I woke up to a very bright day in Bloemfontein. The weather is good at 28°C with wind speed of 18km per hour. Not bad at all. Good for our ⚫️🟢🟡 beautiful short sleeves.
So before I went to vote in Ward 25, I was meditating.
It went like, working for the ANC requires a multifaceted type of a cadre. In recognition of the history of many brilliant leaders produced by the ANC over different epochs of struggle.
Epochs do not produce leaders in order for them to relish the perks of leading. Every epoch produces leaders whose leadership qualities are tested by the amount of solutions they provide to problems facing our people – that is “pushing back the frontiers of poverty.”
These leaders produce solutions to existing problems not because they decide to do so, but because of the reciprocal relationship between material conditions and consciousness.
The youth in every epoch have more responsibility than any sector of society. This is because of a simple fact, “the world is yours, as well as ours, but in the final analysis, it is yours.”
The youth must set different kinds of standards. A good cadre of the organisation must have unparalleled political and administrative acumen. A young person must, in order to be considered for huge responsibilities, tick all the boxes including but not limited to the following:
☑️Do not jump stages in the sphere of politics. Your activism must be traceable.
☑️Go to school. Gone are the days where it was understandable not to have matric.
☑️Love education in all its multifariousness. There are many alternatives to learn something new, to acquire training and recognised qualifications.
☑️Use your education to solve societal problems not to brag. Young engineers, accountants, pharmacists and other specialist fields must use their expertise for rightful purposes. We cannot be drinking dirty water when people who did water quality management at masters level are happy with being Chief Whips and Spokespersons. Refrain from using your qualifications to boast but to solve societal problems.
☑️Work for the people. Take efforts to understand your area. Solve their problems, if not refer them and demand feedback.
☑️Demand or ensure that the people who support you must undergo one or more particular development training or courses.
☑️Be impatient with mediocrity. Leaders, young and old who are by no means not supposed to be where they are, shouldn’t enjoy our attention. This point must not be overemphasised.
☑️The youth must stop being proxies of the old. They are the most affected by unemployment. This is a problem the old cannot resolve. Pressurise the ANC Women’s league to account for the % of young women on its list of councillors and so is the ANC and it’s alliance partners. After elections the ANC must remove some names on the ANCWL list, replace them with well rounded young women to create a balance.
☑️Understand that it is incorrect to expect the ANC to give an ANCYL representative a responsibility bigger than his capabilities. At all material times, we must insist that it be “from each according to his ability, and to each according to his needs.” Select only the best from your ranks.
As cited by Gwede Mantashe, when we talk of the principle of continuity in leading, it must be associated with the assessment of the period under review. If there are potholes everywhere, the city is dirty, sewerage spillage everywhere, we can’t talk about continuity. Continue to do what exactly?
If we do all these things religiously, people (oppressed) will not go to vote frequently as is the case now, merely “to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” But their vote will truly carry the fundamental meaning and value for the purpose of such an act.
It’s a long list of these principles, we must continue to engage. If you are not ready for these tasks and you can hardly tick all the boxes, say no! Make life easy for the ANC if you really love your movement. This way we will win, always with absolute majority. Our intellectual clarity will help justify why any other thing such as the land must be in the hands of the majority.
We have done what we could to ensure ANC Victory. But in the end, the outcome will be the true determinant of our hard work.
Regards
Life Mokone
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