WHERE TO AFTER 50 YEARS OF EXISTENCE?

The 25 May 2013 marked the 50th Anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now renamed African Union (AU). Africa and Africans celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the existence of the founding of the Organisation that brought all African independent states together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the 25 May 1963. African leaders who gathered in Addis Ababa at that time were great leaders in stature, intellect and inspiration. They inspired and influenced their own people and those whose countries were still under colonialism, white minority rule and apartheid to stand up and intensify the struggles for their liberation and independence and this gave impetus to the spread of the wind of change. They established relevant organs such as the Co-ordination Committee for the Liberation of Africa, otherwise known as the Liberation Committee to support the struggles of the colonized, oppressed and exploited people still fighting for liberation. The Domino strategy of the OAU was implemented and this finally led to the total liberation of the continent with South Africa the last domino to fall hence the end of white minority rule and apartheid. The OAU played its role of assisting freedom fighters morally, politically, materially and financially to liberate the entire continent.

Why the renaming or change from OAU to the African Union? Where is the Union? How far is the Union or the United States of Africa? The change of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU) did not seem to take Africa closer to the ultimate goal of Pan Africanism – the United States of Africa or the Union of African States with a central administration, surrendering of sovereignty and the end of fragmentation. The leaders who were behind the idea of the African Union seem to have simply taken a shortcut by copying what Europe did in concept, structure and process, hence the choice of the African Union (AU from European Union (EU), maybe because it sounded nice and easy. There is however no doubt that a lot of efforts were made in bringing together the ideas from the OAU
Charter and the African Economic Community (AEC) document. In content the process was a reflection of what happened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity was founded. At that conference of heads of state and government, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and what was regarded as radicals from the Casablanca Group argued for the immediate establishment of the United States of Africa or the Union of African States with a central administration. Other key proposals Dr. Kwame Nkrumah made were the establishment an African High Command, a single currency, etc.

The other group regarded as moderates from what was called the Monrovia Group was more interested in the concept of a lose association of independent states bound together by a common desire to co-operate. The latter idea won the day and this is reflected in the African Union which has yet to seriously consider the idea of the United States of Africa except when this was raised by Muammar Gadaffi of Libya but simply brushed aside after he was replaced as the chair of the African Union. There is very little hope as to whether this will ever be seriously considered in future AU agendas because the current generation of African leaders have not shown interest and passion for African unity, let alone the pursuit of
the creation of the United States of Africa even within the framework of the sub-regional groupings such as ECOWAS, ECCAS, SADC, EAC, Magreb states, etc. What was the point of changing the OAU to the African Union if we do not transform to the Union by ending the fragments or so-called sovereign nation states and have one state with central administration?

The current generation of African leaders contend that the concept of the United States of Africa is complicated and impracticable and they prefer to talk about integration which we understand as simple cooperation while they are entrenching themselves and the strategies of their foreign masters whose songs they sing and dance to. This generation of leaders is more wedded to the perpetuation of the colonial created so-called sovereig nation states and continued fragmentation of Africa in the face of the new form of imperialism known as globalization or domination by transnational corporations of the developed and industrialized countries of the North and Japan supported by the IMF and the World Bank whose strategy is to ensure the continued exploitation of Africa’s natural and human resources in the name of democracy, good governance and within the framework of the free market economy guided by the neoliberal paradigm.

These leaders are averse to African unity and simply pay lip service to this concept and ideal. They are happy to remain chiefs in these small fiefs or villages which are politically and economically non-viable and depend on the developed economies for their survival and continued existence. These leaders also survive on the handouts from these developed economies. Their countries are client states or appendages of the big economies who dictate to these so-called leaders as seen in their behaviours and attitudes in their interaction with these leaders. They relate with leaders of developed economies with cap in hand and very apologetic and cringing. They are afraid to tell these leaders where to get off when it comes to Africa’s interests and that is why they can vote with these countries against an African country or against their own interests as we saw when the Security Council Resolution 1973 was adopted.

At the time when the OUA/AU is celebrating 50 years of existence, Africa is far from achieving the key and fundamental goal of the OAU/AU – African unity. Nowhere is this ideal achieved or about to be achieved even with the establishment of sub-regional groupings such as ECOWAS, ECCAS, SADC, EAC etc. The AU and these sub-regional groupings are talk shop platforms where African leaders are afforded the opportunity to pay lip service to African unity as well as take empty decisions or resolutions not backed by concrete action; hence the helplessness in the face of external interventions such as that in Cote d’Ivoire and in Mali by French troops to solve African problems; not to mention the destruction of Libya by NATO air power sanctioned by the vote of some African countries on the United Nations Security Council and support of the International Criminal Court (ICC) not supported by the self same powers that want to see African leaders arraigned before this court and African leaders accept this double standard or absurdity.

The Democratic Republic of Congo continue to be destabilised with the colaboration of neighbouring African states that benefit from the chaos and anarchy they create so as to continue with the looting of the mineral resources of that vast and rich country which has never known peace and stability since independence from Belgium on the 30 June 1960 under the leadership of Patrice Emery Lumumba who was killed because he was against the plunderers and their agents. Somali remains an intractable challenge and a threat to peace and security and Africa has not been able to tackle and end the anarchy, chaos, destruction and mayhem that have been going on for the last over 20 years and have become the order of the day in this East African country. This is an example of a failed state – the consequence of the continued fragmentation or balkanization of Africa aided and facilitated by the greed, selfishness and parochialism of the leaders of these countries.

Africa is in need of a new type of leadership which can take the objectives of the OAU/AU forward. The current generation of leaders cannot drive this process because bogged down by its lack of political will, narrow selfish interests but also puppets of the developed and industrialised countries of the North and Japan. These leaders are clinging to the outdated colonial created so-called sovereign nation states whose boundaries are bursting at the seams as people cross these artificial borders flocking to countries that offer better opportunities and security. This phenomenon of external migration means nothing to these leaders but its impact is felt by the local people whose reaction is expressed in violence as they compete for scarce resources with these immigrants.

The conflict in Cote d’Ivoire is an example of this movement of people searching for better opportunities and security. The flow of people into South Africa will continue for as long as the uneven development remains on the continent and can only be stopped the day Africa will be united, free movement of people and goods normalised with the obliteration of existing colonial created boundaries and the end of the so-called sovereign nation states – the cause of conflict, civil wars, mayhem, destruction and misery on the African continent.

With Dr. Kwame Nkrumah we say Africa Must Unite because the salvation of Africa and the African people lies in continental unity or the United States of Africa, regionally or sub-regionally. This state could start as a confederation, a federation or even a unitary state or led by two states or more with others joining as benefits of a bigger unit becomes obvious. Integration or co-operation is not enough; Africa must unite or perish. This responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the youth of Africa and the PAC has a leading role to play in this connection as the champion of Africanism and Pan Africanism in this part of the continent. The PAC youth must take the lead now or never.

Izwe Lethu!

Molefe Ike Mafole
The writer is a Member of APLA Military Veterans Association (APLA MVA) and Member of the PAC of Azania in the Tshwane Region. He can be contacted 072 630 2206 or mmafole@gmail.com

 

AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AFTER FORMATION OF THE OAU!

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is one of the chief advocates of the idea of One African Government

On the 25th May 1963 the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now known as the African Union(AU) was founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 32 African governments as signatories.

The aims of the OAU were to:
* Promote the unity and solidarity of the African states and act as a collective voice for the African continent (This was important to secure Africa’s long term economic and political future);
* Coordinate and intensify the cooperation of African states in order to achieve a better life for the people of Africa; and
* Defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of African states.

The OAU was also dedicated to the eradication of all forms of colonialism, as, at the time of its establishment, there were several states that had not yet won their independence or were under minority rule.

The question we need to ask is have all those objectives been achieved, fifty years later? Did anybody think that fifty years after these declarations were made and adopted, three African countries – South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon – would vote alongside the United States and former colonial powers to impose a no-fly zone over Libya which eventually led to the overthrow of that country’s leader Moammar Gaddafi and his ultimate assassination?

In his 1959 inaugural speech, four years before the founding of the OAU, the Pan Africanist Congress founding President Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe said, “Our relation to the States in Afrika may be stated precisely and briefly by quoting from George Padmore’s book, ‘Pan Africanism or Communism’. Discussing the future of Afrika, Padmore observes that “there is a growing feeling among politically conscious Africans throughout the continent that their destiny is one, that what happens in one part of Afrika to Africans must affect Africans living in other parts”. We honour Ghana as the first independent state in modern Afrika which, under the courageous nationalist leadership of Dr. Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party, actively interested itself in the liberation of the whole continent from White domination, and has held out the vision of a democratic United States of Afrika. We regard it as the sacred duty of every African state to strive ceaselessly and energetically for the creation of a United States of Afrika, stretching from Cape to Cairo, Morocco to Madagascar”.

Padmore’s book, from which Sobukwe quoted was published around 1957, referred to politically conscious Africans. Yet in 2013 we still have African heads of state that lack political consciousness, who have sold out Libya and Ivory Coast for a mesh of pottage. There are African countries that are hosting foreign military bases in the form of the United States of America’s Africom.

When Sobukwe speaks about white domination he means foreign domination such as colonialism and imperialism. In his August 1959 Heroes Day speech Sobukwe opened his speech thus: “Mr. Speaker Sir, Sons and Daughters of Afrika. Just over three months ago, on the 6th April, we met in the Communal Hall in Orlando, Johannesburg, to launch the ship of freedom, the Pan Africanist Congress. On that historic day the African people declared total war against white domination, not only in South Africa but throughout the continent.” He continued to say, “Throughout the continent of Afrika the struggle is being relentlessly waged against the historical anachronisms of imperialism, colonialism and white supremacy”.

The existence of Africom bases on the African continent 54 years after Sobukwe denounced imperialism and colonialism is indicative of the fact that Africa is retrogressing. That is why members of the ruling ANC elite are trying to expunge the name of this great African thinker and revolutionary from South African history books and from the collective consciousness of the African people. That is why when Nigerian head of state Goodluck Jonathan addressed the South African parliament in May this year he omitted the name of Sobukwe among those he regarded as South Africa’s liberation heroes. How can this Nigerian President mention Steve Biko, Sobukwe’s protégé and ignore Sobukwe, his mentor? How can this Nigerian President overlook Sobukwe who in his 1959 inaugural speech mentioned Nnamdi Azikiwe, one of the Nigerian nationalist leaders who was in the forefront of the anti-colonialist struggle in Nigeria and was that country’s first President? It is because of leaders such as these that Africa is where it is after 50 years of independence. It is these leaders who deliberately overlook or do not understand the importance of culture in national liberation.

As Amilcar Cabral said in his 1970 paper on National Liberation Culture, “The objective of national liberation is, therefore, to reclaim the right usurped by imperialist domination, namely: the liberation of the process of development of national productive forces. Therefore, national liberation takes place when, and only when, national productive forces are completely free of all kinds of foreign domination. The liberation of productive forces and consequently the ability to determine the mode of production most appropriate to the evolution of the liberated people necessarily opens up new prospects for the cultural development of the society in question, by returning to that society all its capacity to create progress”.

Today Africa is not experiencing progress because the continent’s productive forces have not been liberated from foreign domination. African countries still follow an inappropriate mode of production which will not result in returning to Africans societies their capacity to create progress.

It is clear from what Cabral said that anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist African leaders like Sobukwe and Kwame Nkrumah understood that for Africa to realize progress they needed to fight against imperialism and colonialism. They spoke about the central role of the masses in the struggle and spoke against divisions based on ethnic/tribal affiliations and class stratification. Cabral went on to say that the experience of colonial domination shows that the colonizers not only creates a system to repress the cultural life of the colonized people but he also provokes and develops the cultural alienation of a part of the population, either by so-called assimilation of indigenous people, or by creating a social gap between the indigenous elites and the popular masses. As a result of this process of dividing or of deepening the divisions in the society, it happens that a considerable part of the population, notably the urban or peasant petite bourgeoisie, assimilates the colonizer’s mentality, considers itself culturally superior to its own people and ignores or looks down upon their cultural values. This situation, characteristic of the majority of colonized intellectuals, is consolidated by increases in the social privileges of the assimilated or alienated group with direct implications for the behavior of individuals in this group in relation to the liberation movement.

One of the challenges facing Africa today is the dichotomy between the masses and the ruling elite. An example is the top-down approach of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). There was no input from the masses. The elite enjoy the fruits of freedom alone. In South Africa the ruling ANC has created “the black middle class” through tender rigging and the so-called Black Economic Empowerment which benefits friends and relatives of members of the ruling ANC. For example, President Jacob Zuma and his family are in a dubious relationship with an Indian family, the Guptas, whose family chartered airbus recently landed at an air force base. This family enjoys the largesse of the ANC government. When this blatantly parasitic relationship raises the ire of the South African people, the ruling elite just does not get it, in American parlance. The ANC’s investment outfit Chancellor House benefits from doing business with the ANC government. There is conflation between the ruling party and government. There is clearly this disconnect between the masses and the ruling elite who seem to live in cloud cuckoo land.

African countries must develop legitimate and independent governance institutions. The abuse of state power for personal gain or for the benefit of the ruling parties must be stopped. Colonial constitutions must be done away with and be replaced by constitutions in which citizens have had input. Leadership in Africa, as the late Dr Cheikh Anta Diop said, is a problem.

Opposition parties and civil society organizations should not be regarded as the enemy or seen to be against African governments. Finally, Africa must fight against imperialism and neocolonialism by providing political education and ideological reorientation to the African people and their leaders.

HAPPY FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY TO THE AFRICAN MASSES!

By Sam Ditshego
The writer is a Senior Researcher at the Pan Africanist Research Institute (PARI).

 

HOW FAR ARE WE FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA?

Henry Sylvester Williams, the organiser of the first Pan African Congress

The 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU), the successor to the African Organisation of African Unity (OAU) is upon the African people this 25th May 2013. Both Organisations were formed with the main objective of ultimately bringing about the United States of Africa.

Why was there to be a United States of Africa? Let me remind you of this by quoting three African leaders on this important subject of deep concern to Pan Africanists. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana wrote, “If we [Africa's people], are to remain free, if we are to enjoy the full benefit of Africa’s resources, we must be united to plan for our total defence and the full exploitation of our material and human means in the full interest of all our people. To go it alone will limit our horizons, curtail our expectations and threaten our liberty.”

In the southern tip of Africa, Prof. Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe, that most feared leader by the apartheid colonialist regime in South Africa who was imprisoned on Robben Island without even a mock trial and a special law, called “Sobukwe Clause” made to silence him for his Pan Africanist outlook in politics, until he died, said in April 1959:

“We regard it as the sacred duty of every African state to strive ceaselessly and energetically for the creation of a United States of Africa from Cape to Cairo and Madagascar to Morocco. The days of small independent countries are gone. Today we have, on one hand, great powerful countries of the world. America and Russia covering huge tracts of land territorially and number millions of population. On the other hand [European] the small weak independent countries are beginning to form military and economic federations hence NATO and the European Economic Common Market.”

This Pan Africanist visionary concluded, “For the lasting peace of Africa and the solution of economic, social and political problems of the continent, there must be a democratic principle. This means that foreign domination under whatever disguise must be destroyed.”

How justified are the above statements by Nkrumah and Sobukwe today? In July 2OO8, Pope Benedict XVI spoke the truth that has been hidden in Western countries from the world for centuries. The Pope said, “Our Western way of life has stripped Africa’s people of their riches and continues to strip them.”

Corroborating this fact, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, Mark Ballad, declared, “Our relation with Africa is an exploitative one. The West no longer needs standing armies to strip Africa of its resources, because it can do it more effectively with multi-national companies.”

After his initial doubts about the absolute importance of a United States of Africa, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, first President of Tanzania proclaimed, “There is no time to waste. We must either unite now or perish. Political independence is only a prelude to a new and more involved struggle for the right to conduct our economic and social affairs, to construct our economic and social affairs, unhampered by crushing humiliating control and interference.”

Informed institutions and learned people outside Africa affirm that the economic power of Africa depends on a United States of Africa. According to the 2006 World Bank Data, if Africa was then a single country, it would have had a total gross income of nine hundred and seventy eight American billion dollars.

In his book, AFRICA RISING Prof. Vijay Mahajan, former dean of the Indian School of Business at the University of Texas in America has written that the figure of $978 billion for Africa would have placed Africa ahead of India as a total market. He points out that a United States of Africa would show up as the tenth top economy in the world. Only the economies of America, Japan, Germany, Britain, China, France, Italy, Spain and Canada would top Africa. A United States of Africa economy would top that of India which was $906.5 billion in 2006, that of Brazil which was $892.28 billion, Republic of Korea which was $856.6 billion, Russian Federation which was $822.4 billion and Mexico which was $820.3 billion.

This is not surprising to those who are knowledgeable about the enormous riches of Africa which as Pope Benedict XVI and other justice-loving people have observed, do not benefit Africans at present. Indeed, it was not a joke when Nkrumah told the founders of the OAU a long-while ago that, “We are today the richest of the continents and yet the poorest of continents. But in unity, our continent could begin to smile in a new era of prosperity and power.”

The West has fed Africa with the myth and poison of “Aid.” African leaders have developed a sickening dependency syndrome on this “Aid.” This “Aid” comes from people who are getting their own riches from Africa. This so-called “Aid” to Africa is in fact, a form of the disease called AIDS. It is indeed, the economic Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome inflicted on Africa under the cover of curing its African people of it. This incurable disease is sinking Africa deeper and deeper into “foreign debts” that compromise African governments and force them to focus on “Aid” from their former colonial masters who under developed Africa through slavery and colonialism in the first instance.

Africans must not present themselves to the West in particular, as if they are bankrupt debtors with nothing to put on the international table. The West could not have produced its nuclear weapons without Africa’s uranium. Their cars would run dry without oil from Africa. All their industries would grind to a halt. It is Africa’s exploited raw materials by them, especially minerals that give these supposed “AID givers” their riches and their Western “first world economy.”

Hear this directly from the horse’s mouth. It is just one example from one of the African countries. Not long ago, an American Senator Jesse Helms reminded his people. “South Africa is the source of over 80% of American mineral supply and 86% of Platinum resources….South Africa has 96% of the world’s chrome reserves. As you know, there is no substitute for chrome in our military and industrial manufacturing. Without South African chrome, no engines for modern jet aircraft, cruise missiles or armaments could be built. The United States would be grounded. Our military would be unarmed. Without South African chrome, surgical equipment and utensils could not be produced. Our hospitals and doctors would be helpless.”

Africa has subsidised the economies of Western Europe and America for centuries through its riches and labour at gunpoint. Even in their war against Adolf Hitler, Africa’s riches were simply seized and used in the interest of Europe. The Colonial Secretary of the Belgian government in exile, Godding boasting about this, said “During the war, the Congo was able to finance all the expenditure of the Belgian government in exile in London, including the diplomatic service as well as the cost of armed forces in Europe and America…the Belgian gold reserve could be left intact.”

It is this kind of criminal exploitation and looting of African resources by imperialists that Pan Africanist leaders such as Nkrumah, Lumumba and Sobukwe wanted destroyed. It is dehumanising Africans. No single African country can stop this vile system of economic exploitation of Africa alone. All African countries must stand up together and destroy it. It affects them all. Africa is a house with 54 rooms in it.

When one room catches fire, other rooms are endangered. The problem of Mali, the problem of Somalia, the problem of DRC, the problem of Central African Republic – the problem of any African country is the problem of Africa. It is the problem of brothers and sisters. It is the problem of the African family. You can’t ignore it without being the next to be injured in imperialist agendas such as “regime change,” withdrawal of Western “Aid” or imposition of economic sanctions.

The truth is that when Africans were enslaved or colonised or discriminated against because of their black colour, the perpetrators of these barbaric acts never cared whether you are Congolese, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Azanian, Malawian, Zimbabwean, Motswana, South African or Swazi; they just inflected their atrocities, whether in Jamaica or America. To not act Pan Africanly is African national suicide.

Why is the African Union failing on the main objective for which it was founded? The United States of Africa cannot be brought about by leaders who are not Pan Africanists. The propeller of the United States of Africa is Pan Africanism. The United States of Africa was a Pan African vision. This vision began many years ago, but was formalised in 1900 in the Diaspora through Pan Africanists such as Henry Sylvester Williams.

It is Pan Africanism that from its 5th Pan African Congress in 1945, intensified Africa’s independence movement that destroyed classical colonialism in Africa. It is this Pan Africanism that must now destroy neo-colonialism, the last stage of imperialism. The essence of neo-colonialism is that the State which is subordinated to a foreign imperialist power has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. But in reality its economy and foreign policy are controlled by foreign powers. The value of such a State lies in being used to create new economic, social and cultural conditions for its former colonial master. Genuine national independence is more than just flying a country’s flag, having a parliament and a President.

How many such states are members of the African Union? How did some member states of the African Union vote in the Security Council in 2011 for a Resolution that led to the killing of Muammar Gaddafi? Libya is today the most bombed African country by NATO and America in their bid to access and control of the Libyan oil wealth for their own countries.

Of course, leaders who are rulers of South Africa long denounced Africanism and Pan Africanism as “anti-white” and “racist.” This was in 1955 when white neo-liberals of the pseudo-communist brand imposed on the ANC what they called the “Freedom Charter.” This programme cheated the dispossessed Africans on the return of their land. Today, South Africa is a “two nations” syndrome, one extremely rich and white minority and the other extremely poor and 80 % African majority.

With regard to the African Union, there are many people who now perceive South Africa as “a sub-imperialist” agent serving the interests of former colonial countries than those of Africa. Statements by its President such as a “decisive intervention” and a “Standby Force,” on the Continent does not allay fears that this is not the American “Africom” under cover to protect the continued Western looting of African raw materials, especially minerals. This does great harm to the African Union and will hinder its mission to bring about a United States of Africa. The African Union should not have members that hunt with the hunters, but run with the rabbit and making sure that the rabbit is not caught. There has been too much suffering by Africans for their leaders to be untrustworthy in serving African interests truthfully. In South Africa, there are still colonial and apartheid public holidays. But May 25 – Africa Liberation Day, for which the whole Continent sweated blood, there is no room. It is not a statutory public day here. Time does not allow me to expand this point any further.

Let me close by reminding all Sons and Daughters of Africa, this 50th anniversary of the African Union, the words of that shining star of Pan Africanism, Kwame Nkrumah. A day before the 25th May 1963, he addressed African Heads of State and Government on the formation of the OAU, the predecessor of African Union.

He declared, “No sporadic act or pious resolutions, can resolve our present problems….As a continent we have emerged into independence in a difficult age with imperialism grown stronger, more ruthless and experienced, and more dangerous in its international associations. Our economic advancement demands the end of colonial and neo-colonial domination of Africa.”

By Dr. Motsoko Pheko
The writer is the author of several African liberation books including, The Hidden Side Of South African Politics, Towards Africa’s Authentic Liberation and Land Is Money And Power. He is also a former Member of the South African Parliament as well as former Representative of the victims of apartheid and colonialism at the United Nations in New York and at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

 

WE MUST ABIDE BY PRINCIPLES OF SELFLESSNESS AND TOTAL DEVOTION: A CALL TO PAC MEMBERS

The PAC of Azania

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) is not an abstract lifeless thing. The PAC is its members, cadres and leaders WORKING TOGETHER AND WINNING TOGETHER. By their behaviour, conduct and attitude towards life, they determine the success, progress and destiny of the PAC and the prosperous and happy future of the African nation in Azania and of the African Continent as a whole.

There are certain principles of life that PAC members must remember and embrace. We must not miss our potential to change our country and the world for the better. People in the world can be divided into two classes. Those “who are great” and those “who might have been great.” This is a fine line between those people who have fulfilled their potential and those who have failed to fulfill their potential.

Many people hold to a defeatist mentality. This is a passive and powerless philosophy. It is a defeated thinking which makes one believes that he or she has no control over his or her destiny. A person is rewarded in life according to what he or she believes about himself or herself. Man has an “inner” self that the wise call the soul or spirit. The “inner” self is the engine of a human being. It controls his or her destiny. The “inner” self that is defeated produces defeat. The “inner” self that is self-confident produces victory and success in whatever type of struggle. In life, we must live for a purpose and for the African cause to triumph and restore our people to their full dignity and essential humanity. They have been dehumanized and land dispossessed for over 35O years. We must live to succeed. We must live to achieve great things for our people and for ourselves. We must work to live a rich legacy for the coming generations.

One of the worst enemies against achievement is negativity. Negativity holds you well below your potential and demoralizes you. Victims of negativity have excuses such as “We can’t do it.” “It is hard.” “We will never make it”. “It is impossible.” Negativity reflects inner defeat. Victims of negativity are characterized by criticism of their own organisation or its leaders. They act recklessly and unconstitutionally in the media in violation of their Organisation’s Disciplinary Code. They delight in discussing personalities than discussing ideas. They fulfill what philosophers long observed when they wrote: “Small minds discuss personalities, but great minds discuss ideas.”        

Negative forces always paint themselves as “knowing-it all” and blame their own failures on others. They have sharp tongues that sink ships. Their tongues spit poison and death. Their mouths are a well of untruths and a swamp of defeat. They love great things, but they are not prepared to serve, suffer and sacrifice for them. They “cut corners” and betray national issues for their parochial ambitions and self interests. To defeat the forces of negativity, we need to have a vision and a clear mission of the cause we want to serve and advance. We need a dream that can breathe life into our existence, build our destiny and change the course of future generations for prosperity and happiness. But of course, we must watch out. We are going to need the will to stand firm because there are many volunteers that are determined to kill our dream or that of our organisation. They specialize in cynicism, malicious gossip and dubious activities. However, when challenge knocks at their doors, they shrink and manifest timidity worse than that of a rabbit. To mislead the less vigilant, they use the correct political jargon, but their social practice contradicts them and exposes them as charlatans.

PAC members must focus on our vision as laid down by Pan Africanist giants such as Sobukwe, Mothopeng, Nkrumah, Lumumba and Sekou Toure. We must have the will to succeed and the will to serve our organisation and people with distinction amidst confusion and conspiracies which border on political treachery and lunacy. Those who want to bring radical changes that benefit the poor and the powerless must remember this. The “reasonable” man adapts himself to the interests of others. The “unreasonable” man and woman persist in adapting others to the fundamental interests of his own people. “Therefore,” as the philosopher George Bernard Shaw put it, “All progress depends on the unreasonable man and woman.” This is true. Without “unreasonable” men and women, there would never have been Sharpeville Uprising, Robben Island, Armed struggle against apartheid, Soweto Uprising, Persistence On The Pan African Road, Demand for Free Education, Equitable Redistribution of Land and demand for the release of former freedom fighters in South Africa such as the Azanian Peoples’ Liberation Army (APLA), and the call for the abolition of “Floor-crossing” in Parliament. 

The struggles of life demand over-comers, not those who capitulate to what the Bible describes as “a dog returns to its vomit, and a pig that is washed goes back to its wallowing in the mud. Pan Africanists must be over-comers. Over-comers meet the challenges of life. Life is filled with good starters. But how many of them finish the race well? Or finish at all? We must not only start well. We must have the commitment and the iron determination to accomplish our mission and realise our vision. We must keep focus on our dream. That dream is the vision of a rejuvenated Africa and a country where no one will sleep in a cemetery as has been happening in some parts of “New South Africa” for many years now. We must focus on a vision where no one lives in shacks which often catch fire resulting in burning our people to death. We must create a nation where our people have skills and employment is not scarce for them. We must build a nation where all children of the poor shall received free education and can create jobs for themselves. Yes, where the minority shall not oppress the majority economically and dominate them technologically. Yes, where the people of this country shall not buy their water from the rich to whom it has been sold through the privatisation of strategic state assets.  

To accomplish the PAC mission and realise our Pan African vision, we need resources in the form of more members and supporters, finance, time, skills and commitment to our Pan African vision which stands on three legs, African Nationalism, Socialism and Democracy. We need to have hundreds of trained and ideologically clear cadres to be the core and cornerstone of the Azanian Revolution. Our victory for great things will not come cheap. It will be accomplished through our own sweat, sometimes tears and betrayal from within. The results of hard work and perseverance in struggle however, are sweet fruits of success, victory, prosperity and happiness for our people. We must intensify our work ethic. The secret of success in life is HARD WORK. We must return to the culture of hard work to our people, starting with us as individuals. Hard work is one of our African traditional values. There are many things that we can do without money.  We must learn and practise the principle of self-reliance seriously. Money from other sources comes with strings attached and destroys the genuine liberation of the African people, as is so obvious in Azania since 1994. If we are waiting for money to come not from us, but from “good Samaritans” then we shall wait until horses grow horns. Victory for great things does not come easily. It requires a lot of patience to turn things to our peoples’ advantage. Patience is not passive or weak thing. It is tenacious. It is courageous. It is focused. It holds on against the tide, against intimidating circumstances and against false accusations. Indeed, against all fearful odds.

Over-comers are doers. They know that the noble struggle for economic and social emancipation of the African people is not a dinner party or for “summer soldiers.”But for true sons and daughters of Africa that historical necessity has called upon to contend under the scorching sun of stern realities of life with its vicissitudes. Sowing and reaping are the law of life. We can’t reap if we do not sow. We must have a clear message and take it to the people day and night. Over-comers refuse to raise the flag of surrender. They refuse to quit. They refuse to negotiate with failure. They refuse to compromise the fundamental interests of the majority poor. Their purpose in life is bigger than themselves. They know that after every sunset there is a sunrise! Ours is the sunrise clause not the “sunset clause” of appeasing the powerful at the expense of the powerless and dispossessed.

Our African ancestors have taught us that there is only one way to eat an elephant. It must be bite by bite. Progress is a process. Many people want progress without a process. They want glory without work, victory without fighting. They want to walk to their destiny without the journey.  Of course, we can’t progress if we allow digression or regression in our noble cause. Let us take an oath to build on what we have. We shall acquire what we do not have as we move forward with our struggle for economic liberation and social emancipation of the poor and powerless, vast land dispossessed African majority in our country. We have lost very important political battles because of reckless actions of certain leaders. We have let down millions of our people and those who respect, love and have hope and confidence in our political mission. A divided army cannot win battles. But of course, true revolutions can succeed only on principled revolutionary unity in struggle. The Azanian Revolution from Sobukwe, Leballo, Mothopeng, Masemola to Sabelo Phama and Zeblon “Ojuku” Mokoena; was never about “leadership”. It was about service, sacrifice and suffering for the criminally economically oppressed Africans of this country and the overthrow of colonialism.

We have lost important battles. But we have not lost the war. Land dispossession of the African people must be resolved. African land was stolen through guns. Those who claim   they came to “civilize” Africans in Africa must be told that  “Civilised people do not steal other people’s land, let alone at gunpoint.” The “Rainbow Nation” and its “miracle” are a fake and a myth.  Our country has been sold to imperialism for 30 pieces of silver by new managers of “New South Africa.” The dispossessed and the workers must pick up the pieces and prepare themselves for the bitter coming liberation struggle and victory for repossession of the land of their ancestors and African control of its riches. African Workers must look forward to the day when they will dig the platinum in Marikana and gold and diamonds in other mines for themselves and their people. Africans have dug these minerals for Europeans for centuries and they still wallow in the quagmire of poverty. This must change. Azania must be free. As an African proverb puts it, “An ant-hill that is destined to be a giant-hill will ultimately come one, no matter how many times it is destroyed by elephants.” 

By Dr. Motsoko Pheko

 

THE ‘UNITED NATIONS’ AND THE MYTH OF WESTERN DEMOCRACY

UN Flag
Source:www.vector.us

Almost all the articles this writer submitted to this publication, Mayihlome News, have also been sent to other mainstream newspapers and were rejected with the exception of The Botswana Guardian newspaper. There are those articles which were first submitted to these mainstream newspapers, got rejected and then sent to this publication and were published. Perhaps editors of mainstream newspapers think the issues I raise in my personal capacity or as a member of the Pan Africanist Research Institute are too good to be true or are unbelievable.

In this article, which is also going to be sent to other newspapers, this writer is going to write about the United Nations and the façade called democracy in the West.

The UN was established by powerful individuals for their own interests and to create a new world economic, political and social order. The UN is a global management system which is used to control our minds and undermine the sovereignty of other nations. The aim of the founders of the UN has been to control the global economy and mainstream media and to establish a uniform worldwide education system. Civil societies, businesses and churches have been used to achieve the objectives of the founders of the UN. It has been reported that in early 1942, six years before the World Council of Churches was formally launched, its organisers within the Federal Council of Churches [renamed National Council of Churches] held a National Study conference at Wesleyan University in Ohio. Among the 30 delegates were 15 bishops, seven seminary presidents, and eight college and university presidents. John Foster Dulles, who later became Secretary of State in the Eisenhower administration, chaired the conference. As head of the Federal Council’s inter-Church “Commission to Study the Bases of a Just and Durable Peace,” Dulles submitted the conference report. It recommended: a world government of delegated powers immediate limitations of national sovereignty, international control of all armies and navies, a universal system of money, worldwide freedom of immigration, a democratically controlled international bank and the even distribution of the world’s natural wealth.

In one of my articles I differed with Professor Tinyiko Maluleke who portrayed the World Council of Churches as an independent body. I don’t have space to mention who John Foster Dulles is; readers can google for themselves what type of a character was instrumental in founding the World Council of Churches. All I can say is that the Dulles brothers, Allen Dulles and John Foster were bad news. They are associated with the Office of Strategic Services, the CIA’s predecessor, and the CIA itself. They masterminded the 1953 coup in Iran which toppled Mossadeq and the 1954 coup in Guatemala which toppled Arbenz Guzman. John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State and his brother Allen Welsh Dulles was director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). John Foster Dulles was unwilling to cut off business relationship with the Nazis. That’s in a nutshell the background of the Dulles brothers for the reader.

By the same token that is why I disagreed with Dr Xolela Mangcu when he suggested that American Presidents are held accountable by some institutions. Quite the contrary, in the US elected officials come and go but the unelected leaders behind the scenes continue their reign. The same applies to the European Union’s unelected commission. Just like the US Congress, the EU parliament is designed to create an illusion of accountable democracy.

An Anglophile network was set up in 1914 after the First World War which led to the establishment of the League of Nations, the United Nations’ forerunner, in 1919. Front organizations were set up and one such organization is the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) in Great Britain. In New York, it is known as the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and it was a front for Morgan and Company. In South Africa there is the South African Institute of International Affairs. Banks and tax-exempt foundations were essential to this global vision. That is why a Canadian activist in the 1990′s, Glen Kealey, said the United Nations was created by bankers for banks. The UN is used to collect debts on behalf of these international bankers and it has nothing to do with world peace. In fact, the UN (and its founders) has created many wars than it has made peace. The two world wars were deliberately created to first establish the League of Nations and then the United Nations. This is a transparent scheme.

The UN is now using the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a western military alliance, to achieve its nefarious objectives. We have seen what they have done in Libya, Iraq and many other developing countries. African students should know and understand the UN for what it is and not what it is made out to be by propagandists.

By Sam Ditshego
The writer is a Senior Researcher at the Pan Africanist Research Institute (PARI)

 

FAREWELL TO “OOM GQOBS”!

Mfanasekhaya Gqobose
Picture: Xola Tyamzashe

Comrade Mfanasekhaya Pearce Gqobose has joined the class of Makana, Bambatha and Sobukwe. As a spirit now, he is there to awaken us from our political slumber and inspire us to the spirit of 6th April 1959, where he was, when the spark of the Azanian revolution was lit.

Cde Gqobose was no ordinary man. He had qualities of an extra-ordinary person. He was brave, wise, humble and a true revolutionary. He had great perseverance in the struggle for the genuine liberation of our country. He never lost sight of the fact that colonialists took our land from us through terrorist militarism. He never deviated from the fact that the primary contradiction of our liberation struggle was over our usurped land – umhlaba. He never conveniently closed his mind to the fact that land is the trophy over which our Kings and all patriots of this country fought. Food, water, decent homes, clothes, cattle, gold, platinum, diamonds, and money come from land. Land provides means for education and employment. Churches themselves are built on the land, not in the sky. A nation without land is no nation. A king without land is no king. Land is the basic national asset of a people. Cde Gqobose departed from this planet in peace knowing that he never betrayed the land question for the politics of the stomach that is destroying the African people in this country today.

I met “Gqobs”, as he was affectionately called for the first time in Maseru, Lesotho in March 1963. It was at night time! He was with comrades like T.M. Ntantala, P.K. Leballo, Gason Ndlovu and Elliot Mfaxa. They had formed the first military wing of a liberation movement in this country since the Bambatha Rebellion in 1905. I was then myself Chairman of an underground branch at Dobsonville as well as Managing Editor of a publication known as OUR AFRICA. We were many that night. We came from various underground PAC cells in this country.

Gqobs was firm on what the African people had to do to liberate themselves. He and his colleagues gave very clear instructions. POQO forces subsequently responded. The apartheid colonialist regime was shaken as never before. Heads were rolling. The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) became the pace-setter in the Azanian revolution. It connected with Pan Africanist giants such as Kwame Nkrumah, Ahmed Sekou Toure, Ahmed Ben Bella, Modibo Keita, Patrice Lumumba and many others.

In exile I was in contact with Mfanasekhaya while i was in Zambia and he was in Tanzania. He was as dedicated and committed as ever to the true nature of the African liberation struggle of this country. Back home he had all the energy and revolutionary reliability. All the PAC documents that are housed at Fort Hare University today are as a result Cde Gqobose’s hard work.

I want to salute the Gqobose family, his children, many of whom I know, including Ndileka whom I met in America when I was PAC Representative at the United Nations. To them I say the spiritual transition of Cde Gqobose to his Creator and to our ancestors is not to be mourned, but to be celebrated with gratitude to God who lent Gqobs to this family and to this nation and indeed, to humanity as whole. Gqobs was an international figure. Cde Gqobose was a fountain of inspiration and dedication to the true national aspirations of the African people who today are 80% of the population of this country, but are still victims of landlessness, poverty, disease, ignorance, shortest life expectancy and highest child mortality and the Native Land Act 1913 which granted them 13% of their country is entrenched in Section 25 (7) of the “New South Africa” Constitution.

Cde Gqobose was 96 years old when he transited, having been born in 1917, and will be buried tomorrow (20 April 2013). He is the oldest freedom fighter in South Africa. The other day I was talking with G.M.Kolisang, the first Secretary-General of the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP). He served under that Pan Africanist stalwart, Ntsu Mokhehle. Mokhehle later became Prime Minister of Lesotho. He was a great friend of Cde Gqobose. Kolisang told me that when he was doing Standard Six, Gqobs was already a teacher in 1939. He said he learned much from him. Kolisang is a lawyer by profession. As a young man Gqobs enrolled as a soldier in the Second World War (1939-1945). He fought the Nazis forces of Adolf Hitler.

In 1959 there arose a serious contradiction in the politics of South Africa. Certain leaders started saying that the country of their forefathers belonged equally and legitimately to both the colonised African indigenous owners and the colonialists who had seized the African country at gun point and dispossessed the African people. Gqobs disagreed. He became not only one of the founders of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, but also a founder of its military wing POQO later renamed the Azanian Peoples’ Liberation Army. This name came after that brilliant military prowess of General Gerald “Kibwe” Kondlo and his comrades such as Enoch Zulu and Zeblon “Ojuku” Mokoena; at the famous Battle of Villaperi where APLA taught colonialists a lesson to remember.

In 1961, Cde Gqobose left his well – paid job as a social worker. He had studied and completed his B.A. degree in Sociology after the end of the Second World War. He left his beloved wife and children to be among PAC leaders in exile. “Gqobs” is an admirable example of revolutionary dedication, commitment, reliability and patriotism. He was prepared at all times to die and pay the supreme sacrifice for the liberation of his fatherland – the land where our Kings fell before the bullets of the invaders at Sandile’s Kop, Amalinde, Keiskamahoek, iSandlwana, Thaba Bosiu and Libu Mountain in Sikukuniland. I salute the Gqobose family that stood by the side of this warrior and never forsook this gallant son of Africa.

Cde Gqobose and his colleagues have not received the honour they deserve. His role and that of his comrades like Sobukwe, Ngendane, Leballo, Madzunya, Siwisa, Mothopeng Masemola and many others, is being marginalised by the “miracle” “rainbow nation.” But Gqobose’s history and that of his colleagues is written with blood. It cannot be erased with lies written with ink. The day is coming when true sons and daughters of Africa shall receive their long overdue honour for the unmatchable sacrifices they made for the unfinished liberation of this country.

As that great martyr of Africa put on 7th January 1961, when imperialists and their agents were assassinating him: “History will one day have its say. It will not be the history taught in…Washington, Paris, or Brussels, but the history taught in the countries that have rid themselves of colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history. It will be a history full of glory and dignity.”

Long live the spirit of Mfanasekhaya Percy Gqobose! Long live the Azanian Revolution! Izwe Lethu! Umhlaba!

By Dr. Motsoko Pheko
The writer is a former President of the PAC, a former Member of Parliament and author of several books

 

REMEMBER JAFTA KGALABI MASEMOLA

Jafta Kgalabi Masemola – “The Tiger of Azania”

Jafta Kgalabi Masemola, ‘The Tiger of Azania’ died in a mysterious car crash on 17 April 1990. 17 April 2013 marks 23 years since ‘The Tiger of Azania’ died in this mysterious car crash. This accident remains mysterious because the person who was driving the truck that killed Jafta Masemola disappeared into thin air. No one ever claimed responsibility if this accident was politically motivated or simply reported the accident to the nearest police station if this was an innocent accident or wait at the scene of the accident until police or traffic cops arrive.

This accident robbed the PAC of a leader of stature and credibility just a mere 6 months after his release from Robben Island and other prisons where he had spent over 26 years (he was sentenced to life imprisonment on 2 July 1963 and released on 15 October 1989). Jafta died at the time when Zephania Mothopeng, ‘The Lion of Azania’ who was then President of PAC was in poor state of health because of torture and torment while in prison for 15 years following the Bethal-18 Secret Trial of 1976. His death also occurred at the time when PAC needed a strong leader of his caliber, credentials and track record especially on the eve of the All-Party negotiations and CODESA that would eventually lead to the first democratic elections of 27 April 1994.

Jafta Masemola, ‘The Tiger of Azania’ died at the age 59. He was comparatively still very young and full of energy, vigour and strength. As soon as he was out of prison he plunged into intensive and extensive political activity reviving and organizing PAC structures the length and breadth of the country. He turned the church near where he lived into a political forum to address school children, his neighbours, PAC members and the Atteridgeville community at large. He was a tireless and relentless organizer who pursued the immediate aims and objectives of the PAC with courage and determination driven by its vision of the total liberation and unification of Africa from Cape to Cairo, Madagascar to Morocco.

Jafta was a great thinker, a very creative and resourceful leader. He was a skillful carpenter and blacksmith and as such his main work on Robben Island was stone dressing. His sculptures could still be seen even after he had been released from Robben Island though they seem to have now been removed by the powers that be. He used these skills with the collaboration of Dr. Sedick Isaacs and others to create a master key to open all the doors of Robben Island prison and for this he was sent to solitary confinement for nine years.

Like Sobukwe, Jafta was forthright and uncompromising. He was not the darling of the apartheid authorities. In 1986 he rejected the offer of conditional release made by P.W. Botha then President of racist South Africa. He remained in a fighting and defiant mood throughout his imprisonment on Robben Island and other prisons he was transferred to after Robben Island in 1986. He was the embodiment of the fighting and defiant spirit of Africanism. This hard line and uncompromising position made him the worst enemy of the racist apartheid authorities as he was not the type of leader they could do business with except on the terms of the majority.

This also explains why he had to die because he was not suitable for the new dispensation that has left the apartheid economic status quo and land dispossession intact buttressed by the neoliberal capitalism and the free market economy. It is this that explains the continued inequality and the poverty of the African majority. This state of affairs Jafta Masemola would not have countenanced or accepted because he stood for the equitable distribution of wealth and the control of the resources of our country for the benefit of the African majority.

Jafta died a staunch Africanist and Pan Africanist who did not only espouse Pan Africanism but believed in it. He believed in and fought for the total liberation and unification of Africa. He did not pay lip service to African unity. He was honest, selfless and incorruptible and only guided by the interests and aspirations of the poorest of the poor, the have-nots and the dispossessed African majority who still live in abject poverty and squalor 19 years since national freedom on the 27 April 1994. His fighting, defiant and uncompromising spirit will continue to guide and inspire all honest, committed and dedicated Africanists and Pan Africanists.

Izwe Lethu!

By Molefe Ike Mafole
The writer is a Member of the PAC and APLA Military Veterans Association (APLA-MVA) in Tshwane Region. He can be contacted on 072 630 2206