By Rhulani Thembi Siweya
Despite being a militant revolutionary, Cde Sindiso Magaqa was always restraint by the spirit of discipline and loyalty to the revolution.
Unqualified to speak for him it wound be fair to suggest that in his demise previous generations of the youth league would honour him for pursuing the cause of radical economic transformation in our lifetime.
I think Cde Fikile Mbalula has opportunistically made very damning
factional comments in a bit to appease those he relates with at the expense of the good name of Cde Magaqa. Delivering his tribute during the memorial service, he has failed Magaqa and betrayed the youth by failing to adavance the course for which Cde Magaqa stood for. He wasted time addressing court issues than providing a lasting solution to challenges facing the youth. The ANC is the fountain for social change that embraces defiance of revisionism. In Fikile Mbalula I see a leader who ought to embody the hopes and aspirations of a profound spirit of discipline but then his tribute delivered a different message.
It is quiet sad and disheartening that it would seem as though Comrades become darling of their fellow politicians upon dearth. Nothing has ever hit my soul so hard than listening to Cde Fikile Mbalula delivering his tribute at a memorial service of Sindiso Magaqa and distorting his convictions.
I have paid attention to a man speaking in such an amplified voice and borrowed confidence, making insinuations of comrades wanting to lead by hook or crook, including using courts and all its processes. I must submit that if the 2015 conference of the ANC has been conducted properly and all constitutional requirements satisfied, none of the court action would’ve been instituted, a fact he cannot deny. I guess Cde Fikile Mbalula seems to have either forgotten or played ignorance to the realities of constitutional compliance when convening ANC conferences.
The most unfortunate thing is that comrades are missing an opportunity, we
need to analyse and pay special attention to the root cause of the existing court process. The police ministry missed an opportunity to assure our society, particularly comrades in the Kwa Zulu Natal province about their safety in light of the rise in political killings.
Instead of talking to the nation or taking us into confidence in the investigation on political killings and how he intends to end some barbaric acts, he deliberately chose to launch an attack on ANC comrades who instituted a court bid to expose the shenanigans of the 2015 ANC provincial conference.
At the core of the problem is the fact that ANC constitutional processes were undermined, trembled at and largely compromised to a point of extreme
discomfort. The 2015 Kwa-Zulu Natal Conference was convened under circumstances which undermined necessary constitutional rules rendering such a session null and void.
One would’ve expected of him to be matured and rise to the occasion in the case of a memorial service. Sadly, he went on a verbal riot, launching an attack on comrades as though we are not members of the very same ANC.
As former president of the ANCYL, Mbalula should have used the opportunity to speak more of Magaqa and his generation that represented the aspiration for economic transformation. A best tribute to Magaqa from a former president would have addressed amongst others how the ANCYL should advance and fast track a drive for total economic transformation which Magaqa stood for but then he missed that part and wasted time squabbling.
One would’ve thought he would spend time on how the generation of Magaqa defined their mission and then provide guidance to the already limping dysfunctional youth structures in the country but then I guess his focus was on how his associates should fight or appeal a court ruling.
Rhulani Thembi Siweya is an NEC member of the ANCYL, a founder of Africa Unmasked. She writes in her own capacity.
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