Chris Hani, Isithwalandwe/Seaparankoe

Using vivid material blogged from inside Swaziland, COSATU is in the forefront of solidarity for the revolutionary mass movement of the oppressed Swazi people. See COSATU’s timely press release below.

John Pampallis is a veteran who was a mainstay of the ANC’s revolutionary school in Tanzania, the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) almost from its founding the late 1970s. He is now the Director of the Centre for Education Policy Development. Comrade JP advocates a full period of discussion about the proposed “school pledge”.

Comrade JP writes of SOMAFCO: “When the school opened, we used to start every morning with an assembly at which we sang the national anthem (Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika). When the then ANC President, Oliver Tambo, visited the school, I remember that he was uncomfortable about this practice. While he obviously supported the singing of the anthem, he felt that singing it so frequently cheapened it. His counsel was that the anthem should be sung only once a week at school assemblies and on special occasions. The school followed his advice.” See the second link below.

Anthony Butler is a shrewd commentator from a liberal point of view, who adds considerably to the depth and breadth of South African political dialogue. Sometimes he can also be maddening and sometimes his compliments are more of the “back-handed” variety. In the third linked item below, Butler dissects the DA’s opportunistic post-Polokwane tactic of wooing the so-called “Mbeki-ites”. Even from a bourgeois point of view, Butler argues that this tactic is short-sighted, to say the least of it.

The fourth linked item is the full statement of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC). It contains much, and much that is of special interest to the youth. In particular the NEC “unanimously agreed to posthumously award the highest honour of our movement, Isithwalandwe Seaparankoe, to the late Chris Thembisile Hani.”

VIVA!!!!!!

This is not just any old award. This is an honour with real revolutionary content and meaning. Comrades must surely rise up and celebrate the unity of the ANC and the SACP in this act of honouring the late Cde Chris.

The SACP is entering a Congress discussion period. The Communist University will be discussing the forthcoming Special Congress on Tuesday, 1 April 2008, at which point we may have a draft resolution in front of us from the Johannesburg Central Branch. In the mean time, here linked below is the relevant resolution from the 12th SACP National Congress, of 2007. This is a big challenge for the Party. We must get this one right, and we need a real good discussion about it.

This evening we meet to discuss Rosa Luxemburg’s “The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions”. This work can help us considerably in our current conjuncture, as well as assisting towards the Special Congress discussion.
The Events Diary may not be working properly. Feedback about this would be appreciated.

Click on these links:

COSATU condemns Swazi police brutality (767 words)

Chance for ANC to commit to public discussion, John Pampallis, B Day (899 words)

Architecture of SA red peril flawed, Anthony Butler, Business Day (824 words)

ANC National Executive Committee Statement, March 2008 (1579 words)

SACP 12th National Congress, 2007, Party and State Power (722 words)

Events Diary