Fun With Letters

One subscriber was not pleased yesterday’s post. Therefore some clarification may be in order. The SACP does not support Jacob Zuma for President. Nor does it oppose him. The same applies to Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. The choice of one of these two or of another candidate is a matter for the ANC to decide, in the manner prescribed in its constitution. The Saturday Star today is trying to boost Terror Lekota for president. They have that right, but the ANC will decide who its candidate is. Yesterday’s remarks referred to the “Hollywood” days of the NPA/Scorpions. The term “Hollywood” was used boastfully by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s husband Mr Bulelani Ngcuka when he was the head of that notorious institution. It referred to the Scorpions’ technique of arresting a person in front of pre-arranged television news cameras, only to release the person later once he had been well and truly smeared. These and similar things happened many times. This is what was referred to by COSATU in its CEC report of 25 May, as follows: “the main concern of the CEC centres on signs that we may be drifting towards dictatorship. This appears in the use of state institutions in narrow factional fights. We see it in the use of sections of the media to assassinate the character of individuals through off-the-record briefings and the leaking of sensitive information in the hands of those charged to investigate crimes.” The problem of Ngcuka was not that he pursued Jacob Zuma in particular, but that he used a state institution, and frequently, on behalf of his faction. Under Ngcuka the NPA was being used to crush and eliminate people who might stand in the way of Ngcuka’s political ambitions, and those of his friends. What was being destroyed was more than any individual. It was democracy itself. Zuma bravely resisted, and is still resisting. Without him standing up to the bullying it is hard to imagine how the rot was going to stop. Which does not make this a “Zuma affair”, or guarantee that Zuma will be president. It is much more than that. It is a test of our ability to defend South Africa’s democracy from a well-disguised surprise attack, launched from right inside the state apparatus. The significance of the opinion poll that says that Jacob Zuma is expected to be the next President by 51% of the people, as opposed to a much smaller number for Mrs Ngcuka, is primarily that it shows that most of the people are not fooled by the ambitious anti-democratic manoeuvres of Mr and Mrs Ngcuka and their hidden friends. Ngcuka has not disappeared. This lawyer and sometime government official has quickly popped up again in the guise of a multi-millionaire haute bourgeois. How he made the transition is not clear. No doubt it was a variation of the “javelin” technique. As a big businessman now, Ngcuka is sometimes in the news, even if he hides behind his personal spokesperson. When these stories come out, we must pay attention as students of politics and as citizens of South Africa. Hence yesterday’s post. The first two linked items today are a little bit lighter in tone, for once. The letters columns of the papers are open to all, and sometimes they give rise to good-humoured exchanges (see first two linked items). Mark Malloch Brown is a Deputy General Secretary of the United Nations. He is a British citizen and somewhat liberal. Yet the inoffensive statement he made a few days ago caused the US “Mr Angry” at the United Nations, John Bolton, to go completely potty once again. See the link. Also from the USA, from Counterpunch, here is an article by the military theorist William Lind, who explains the “power of weakness” in military campaigns. See the link. Click on these links: Swarpofs unite, Roger Southall, HSRC, Business Day (207 words) The DA and the ghost of Joe Orton, Bryan Rostron, Business Day (917 words) Mark Malloch Brown, Deputy UN SG, Power and Super-Power (2615 words) The Power of Weakness, William Lind, Counterpunch (798 words)