VC, There will always be a different analytical approach between academics and politicians. Academics are mainly occupied with written things than what is obtaining on the ground while politicians look deeply on material conditions than written texts. Friedman looked at the policies of government and concludes by reading the books, journals, acts of parliament etc that nothing has changed since Polokwane. The change in leadership will, even if documents remains unchanged, change approach on doing things. An example in this case is BBBEE. It has been there but the sharing of BBBEE deals is different from before. Another example is SABC, its operations now is totally different from the one that existed prior Polokwane. The third is the creation of certain National Departments to ensure better service delivery and some processes have begun to yield the benefits. So, to Friedman, GEAR or ASGISA should not exist, the 6% growth target should not be there, debates on reviewing inflation targeting should not be there, debates on labour brokering means nothing, debates on nationalization of mines means nothing, and so on. I am convinced VC that all these are but some of the things that created the existence of COPE. They reject the banning of labour-brokering because some of iyts funders are labour-brokers. They are scared of nationalisation of mines because they have shares in many mines and some are aware that the next call will be nationalisation of financial institutions (where some enjoys benefits). The list is endless. It was on the above basis that some will rejoin the glorious movement to have a dissenting view from within. They want to create a situation where all progressive views are delayed by internal debates. So, Friedman lives a life dependent on books not on conditions from the ground. The ground is fertile with left leanings and hence the marriage of convinience by DA and COPE. We should create our own writters and political analysts that will use both their organic and traditional intellectualism to analyze the terrain and assist society to see beyond books. There are global fears for a rebirth of socialism. No wonder, everyone - including Friedman - wants to deny the existence of change in South Africa. He wants to cry foul to patronage - how did he measure it? He wants to cry foul to global markets - who should run it? He wants to downplay the existence of left leaning - where is his ideological allegiance? I do not know VC, but in my opinion Friedman is but denialist of truth. A lot has changed since 20 December 2007. Lets engage.
>>> Loselo Segwe <[email protected]> 04/11/2009 15:49 >>> There is fundamental change in how the ANC approach developmental issues and engage broader stakeholders. Going into government, the ANC structured the Cabinet in such a way as to emphasise a focused priority on poverty eradication, Health and Education. The concept of developmental state has been defined and captured as well in the structuring of the Cabinet. L On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 3:36 PM, Dominic Tweedie <[email protected]> wrote: Cde Mduduzi and other comrades, In the light of what you have written, I wonder what you think of the article that I posted today as "Red scare is a red herring", by Steven Friedman? Friedman is saying that there is no strategic change in the two years since Polokwane. Do you think he is right? If he is correct, then the demise of COPE is irrelevant. The ANC is carrying on with business as usual, pre-Polokwane, according to Friedman. What do you think? Yours in struggle, VC Mduduzi H Vilakazi wrote: Cdes, It is not long that DA and COPE entered into a neo-liberal agreement to oppose anything that the glorious movement comes up with. There may be an opportunity that their in-fightings can affect DA and confuse its followers thus leaving the ANC with an opportunity to receive these political crosstitutes. Will this crosstitutes strengthen or weaken the ANC? What is happening in COPE today has always been correctly analyzed by scholars of MARX and LENIN. We are not surprised by the resignations in COPE, however we are worried that another plan may be in place to come and disturb progressive programs of the ANC from within. The "in-fighters" will always be on stand-by to interrupt the democratic progress. We should look at the situation and analyze the terrain because some still harbours the interests of seeing the ANC having internal conflicts. They are not happy with the united situation in the ANC and its Alliance. One thing they need is to be able to speak within the ANC enroute Mangaung 2012. Theirs is nothing else by a strategy meant to create woes within the ANC and its alliance partners. It will be naive of us to believe that only resignees from COPE will strengthen the ANC. Their in-fighting may be fictitious now so that in future they stand as united while their messengers divide the ANC and its alliance partners towards the historic centenary in 2012. Let us not celebrate but analyse the terrain so that we guard against such myopic tendencies as raised above. Aluta. >>> Sibusiso Mimi <[email protected]> ( mailto:[email protected] ) >>> 04/11/2009 13:20 >>> What opportunities and challenges does this instability in COPE present to our revolutionary movement? What does it mean especially for the ANC in the Western Cape? Its fine to use this for 'political scoring' but more importantly it is our opporunity to reverse the accidental take-over of the Western Cape by the DA. Let us therefore genuinely open our doors to comrade Boesak and his constituency! The main challenge is to consolidate our membership in areas where the ANC has traditionally not sustained support and let the aspirations of the people of the WC find expression in our inclusive campaigns and programmes. Amndla! On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 5:25 PM, mj mafahla <[email protected]> wrote: truly speaking, i find it hard not to laugh at these people. i have always said COPE is full of "in-fighters" that do not want to be ruled by other people. their entire relationship was started on a fight and they have been fighting ever since. i guess its hard to say i told u so to a group of people u held so close to your heart at some point cde. but i guess thats how the cookie crumbles. and believe you me cde, this cookie is crumbling. me personally, i dont blame Boesak for doing what he did...........fighting that is....... after all, when in Rome, you do what the Romans do, until you can't take it any more From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, November 3, 2009 4:09:13 PM Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] Re: Allan Boesak resigns from Cope Comrades, Please do not laugh at this person or this organisation. we recall all their statements when they were excited about forming the new "Tuck Shop" refered to as COPE. It is very sad when the history of reality prove to people that there is nothing better than the movement led by the ANC. My advice to Allan Boesak is that he must concentrate on the church building and preaching the word of God and never part participate directly in politics (it is not his calling neither sports nor hobby) The ANC is the only political home for the people of South Africa. This afford us more opportunity to build strong ANC in Western Cape. I have today informed the leadership of Cope that I am ending my membership of the party and that I have tendered my resignation as a member of the provincial legislature with immediate effect," Boesak said in a statement. His letter of resignation was sent to the speaker of the house today, said Boesak. From the very beginning the party structures, such as they were, were characterised by faction fighting, strife, pitched battles for political supremacy and duplicity...At this point the party structures continue to be in disarray.Boesak "expressly" said he did not want a leadership position in Cope when he joined it in December 2008. "It was only after the severest pressures that I conceded to assist the party in the elections. Deep resentment was caused within the party "by the irregularities with the list process and the interim leadership situation persisted and made normal work almost impossible," said Boesak. This is an apparent reference to reports of in-fighting between Mvume Dandala - elected as Cope's presidential candidate -and party leader Terror Lekota. Boesak said many "good, hard workers" in the party had been suspended because they dared to criticise the leadership. "It seems that the mud is rising. I have no desire to subject my family, myself or my calling to serve our people to these sorts of indignities and destructive politicking. Cope spokesman Phillip Dexter brushed aside Boesak's criticism, saying it was never going to be easy to launch a new political party. We've received his resignation with regret. He joined the party when we launched... so obviously people had high hopes for his involvement. The kind of challenges he pointed out... are ordinary challenges when you are dealing with a new organisation. We wish him the best in his future endeavours," Dexter told Boesak's resignation is not the first to hit the party that saw the light late last year under the leadership of ex-African National Congress veterans Lekota, Mluleki George and Mbhazima Shilowa. The trio were all vocal supporters of ex-president Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted by the ruling party's national executive committee. Two senior Cope leaders, Simon Grindrod and Lynda Odendaal, resigned in recent months,expressing disappointment with the way the party was being managed. Cope is the third-biggest party in Parliament and has been increasingly working together with the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance. Boesak promised to "continue with my work in the civil society, in the church and as extraordinary professor at the Univesirty of Stellenbotch. He said working for the integrity of this democracy of the people of South Africa is what I have always been called to do, adding that he would return to work for the "globalisation project" with churches in South Africa and Germany. Here, as before, I can work with dignity and purpose." In the meantime, he would continue to pray for Cope. My prayer is that Cope will find that hope and vision again and so fulfill the promise it had made to the people of South Africa now almost one year ago. Boesak, who was convicted of fraud in 1999 but later pardoned, recently released his autobiography, "Running with Horses: Reflections of an Accidental Politician", in which he maintains his innocence in the fraud case. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ South Africa's premier free email service - www.webmail.co.za ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For super low premiums, click here http://home.webmail.co.za/dd.pwm "I will think positively with my mind, speak positively with my mouth and act positively with my body I will think big and grow big I will think my way to success and prosperity!" Dr. John Tibane This message and any attachments relating to official business of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government (MPG)is proprietary to the MPGand intended for the original addressee only. The message may contain information that is confidential and subject to legal privilege. 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