Brouhaha

The Alliance Secretariat met yesterday and issued a statement, in the wake of ANC President Thabo Mbeki’s leaked notes for the ANC NEC which say: “We must engage in a determined ideological and political campaign within the movement to educate our membership of the serious danger posed by the positions enunciated by (SACP GS) Nzimande. At all times, we must pose the question – whose interests do these positions serve?” See the link below for the Secretariat Statement. In the light of all this the Star’s Moshoeshoe Monare has discovered that there are a lot of problems for the SACP in Gauteng right now (see link). One of the problems is that the SACP Gauteng Provincial Council has failed at least four times during the year 2006 to elect new members of the Provincial Executive Council. The last occasion was last Sunday’s PC. Nobody can explain this continued postponement, but the consequences are clear. The incumbents are unrestrained and are incurring financial liabilities without fear of retribution. Whoever inherits this situation will be politically crippled by money debts and all the attendant embarrassments. This is the consequence of delayed democracy. In the first place the delay was caused by the incumbents in the PEC who did not want their majority diluted. It is understandable. It was overcome. But then followed an inexplicable further delay. In the mean time, the Monares of this world are circling in the darkness beyond the camp-fire light, scavenging for scraps. Who can be surprised? The SABC blacklisting of particular “analysts” such as Prof Sipho Seepe may be over for the time being. Seepe at least was on SAFM’s “AM Live” this morning. But it looks like no heads will roll. Instead, Dali Mpofu will most likely have to fall on his sword, as his predecessor had to do, and the Snuki-monster will live on in his impregnable lair, spreading fear and loathing and threatening the destruction of even more good people in the future. Read the full story, well covered in the Business Day (3 items in one document). E-Naledi is an electronic publication giving further links to resources such as in this case, Gwede Mantashe’s review of Karl von Holdt’s book “Transformation from below”. Click on the link for a stripped-down version of this publication (i.e. re-formatted to make it smaller as a file). Just to show the difference between a slightly more hostile newspaper and a slightly less hostile one, see the last linked item below. It is based on the same COSATU press release as the Star’s report yesterday, but the Star reported it as “Mboweni and Vavi still at odds over Chinese imports”. From this kind of comparison you can easily read what each paper wants, and what it wants you to believe. In today’s Business Day and Star there are articles from Mervyn Bennun and from Max du Preez respectively. They will be featured here tomorrow but are already on our web site. Compare them to see how much more you can trust an old revolutionary like Mervyn Bennun as compared with the liberal Max du Preez. Who ever could have thought that du Preez would be calling for an anti-communist witch-hunt? The Communist University could, actually, because liberals can't be trusted. Click on these links: Statement of Alliance Secretariat 11 October 2006 (325 words) Rift in Gauteng SACP over Mbeki award, Monare, The Star (498 words) Snuki Zikalala and the Analyst Blacklist, Business Day (1610 words) e-Naledi V2 Number 10, 09 October 2006 (e-publication) Cosatu, Mboweni closer on quotas, Mathabo le Roux, B Day (480 words)