A LOT can be said about Frank Chikane's response to questions posed by Sowetan political editor Moipone Malefane ("The roots of ANC instability" in the paper on March 13).
Asked where he thought the country was headed, Chikane said: "We are not in a healthy state. We need to normalise the politics in the country.
"We need a democracy where nothing is driven by fear. We can't have a country where people are (empowered) because they are (part of) a faction that is in power".
The question that begs an answer is, how to transform from a movement fighting for liberation to one that has taken over political power and is in the process of implementing a national democratic revolution?
In the interview, Chikane also condemns the election of leaders through slates.
It is interesting that he has waited so long to raise the issue of slate politics within the ANC.
He had all the time and platform to do so when Thabo Mbeki and his campaigners designed a slate that they took to Polokwane.
Slates are indeed wrong. But leaders must not wait until their slates lose to blame the slates.
On the issue of fear, I think Mbeki was the most feared ANC president post-1994.
I still do not know what prompted him to publicly push Winnie Madikizela-Mandela away from him.
I remember Willie Madisha, then Cosatu president, at a meeting where Numsa was attempting to ask him to behave like a Cosatu leader before he exited the union.
He talked unceasingly about the men in Pretoria who would have problems with him if he behaved as a unifier of Cosatu affiliates. He mentioned their names.
In Madisha I saw a man who feared the people in Pretoria.
Now, who fears President Jacob Zuma today?
People say all kinds of things about him and still carry on with their political lives as if they have not said a thing about our first citizen.
As for the faction in power, this rot started with the Mbeki presidency.
You can count the number of people who became powerful business people on the back of Mbeki.
Smuts Ngonyama even said that he did not struggle to be poor. At the time, Chikane was in the P residency.
I cannot recall the ANC president or the Presidency issuing a statement to correct the wrong impression created by Ngonyama.
I think he was speaking on behalf of a faction that was making money out of proximity to Mbeki.
What South Africans and many ANC members have ignored is that Zuma tried to heal the wounds in the ANC as early as the last day at Polokwane.
"We need to heal the ANC," Zuma said in his closing speech.
It is now history that people, some of whom were very close to Chikane, formed the Congress of the People.
We did not hear the wise words of the man of the cloth, that Zuma's be respected.
Who can then believe that Chikane's claim that he had told Mbeki that the slates were wrong?
Even after the 2009 elections, Zuma appointed some people to his first cabinet that ordinary members of the ANC never thought he would appoint.
Some had served under Mbeki and they had openly campaigned against Zuma.
Zuma reshuffled some ministers who thought they could not be reshuffled.
Sicelo Shiceka thought that because ministers were not reshuffled under Mbeki, it would not happen to him under Zuma.
Zuma surprised him and others by teaching them a lesson. This is despite the fact that Shiceka campaigned for Zuma.
This fact stands in contrast to insinuations about appointments not made on merit!
There is an inquiry on suspended p olice commissioner General Bheki Cele. We all know how the top cop campaigned for Zuma.
Chikane must tell us if a man who must develop our country's development plan , Trevor Manuel, is empowered because he is part of a faction.
Is Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla empowered because he is part of a faction?
The same question can be asked of Edna Molewa and Sbu Ndebele.
The reverend should just promote his book and stop making allegations that he cannot back up with facts.
lGina is the president of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
Many claims on Zuma that Chikane cannot back up with facts
A LOT can be said about Frank Chikane's response to questions posed by Sowetan political editor Moipone Malefane ("The roots of ANC instability" in the paper on March 13).
Asked where he thought the country was headed, Chikane said: "We are not in a healthy state. We need to normalise the politics in the country.
"We need a democracy where nothing is driven by fear. We can't have a country where people are (empowered) because they are (part of) a faction that is in power".
The question that begs an answer is, how to transform from a movement fighting for liberation to one that has taken over political power and is in the process of implementing a national democratic revolution?
In the interview, Chikane also condemns the election of leaders through slates.
It is interesting that he has waited so long to raise the issue of slate politics within the ANC.
He had all the time and platform to do so when Thabo Mbeki and his campaigners designed a slate that they took to Polokwane.
Slates are indeed wrong. But leaders must not wait until their slates lose to blame the slates.
On the issue of fear, I think Mbeki was the most feared ANC president post-1994.
I still do not know what prompted him to publicly push Winnie Madikizela-Mandela away from him.
I remember Willie Madisha, then Cosatu president, at a meeting where Numsa was attempting to ask him to behave like a Cosatu leader before he exited the union.
He talked unceasingly about the men in Pretoria who would have problems with him if he behaved as a unifier of Cosatu affiliates. He mentioned their names.
In Madisha I saw a man who feared the people in Pretoria.
Now, who fears President Jacob Zuma today?
People say all kinds of things about him and still carry on with their political lives as if they have not said a thing about our first citizen.
As for the faction in power, this rot started with the Mbeki presidency.
You can count the number of people who became powerful business people on the back of Mbeki.
Smuts Ngonyama even said that he did not struggle to be poor. At the time, Chikane was in the P residency.
I cannot recall the ANC president or the Presidency issuing a statement to correct the wrong impression created by Ngonyama.
I think he was speaking on behalf of a faction that was making money out of proximity to Mbeki.
What South Africans and many ANC members have ignored is that Zuma tried to heal the wounds in the ANC as early as the last day at Polokwane.
"We need to heal the ANC," Zuma said in his closing speech.
It is now history that people, some of whom were very close to Chikane, formed the Congress of the People.
We did not hear the wise words of the man of the cloth, that Zuma's be respected.
Who can then believe that Chikane's claim that he had told Mbeki that the slates were wrong?
Even after the 2009 elections, Zuma appointed some people to his first cabinet that ordinary members of the ANC never thought he would appoint.
Some had served under Mbeki and they had openly campaigned against Zuma.
Zuma reshuffled some ministers who thought they could not be reshuffled.
Sicelo Shiceka thought that because ministers were not reshuffled under Mbeki, it would not happen to him under Zuma.
Zuma surprised him and others by teaching them a lesson. This is despite the fact that Shiceka campaigned for Zuma.
This fact stands in contrast to insinuations about appointments not made on merit!
There is an inquiry on suspended p olice commissioner General Bheki Cele. We all know how the top cop campaigned for Zuma.
Chikane must tell us if a man who must develop our country's development plan , Trevor Manuel, is empowered because he is part of a faction.
Is Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla empowered because he is part of a faction?
The same question can be asked of Edna Molewa and Sbu Ndebele.
The reverend should just promote his book and stop making allegations that he cannot back up with facts.
lGina is the president of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos