Political lecture aims to build new cadres

Members of the African National Congress (ANC) Ike Maphoto branch were afforded an opportunity to learn from National Executive Committee member and former head of the policy and coordination advisory unit in the presidency, Joel Netshi­tenzhe when he delivered a political lecture at the Department of Health auditorium on Monday evening.
When tackling the theme of the lecture ‘The tasks of the ANC, renewal, cohesion and building a new cadre’, Netshitenzhe focused his presentation on shifting balance of forces. He stated that to understand the overall challenges that they faced as the party and as cadres of the movement, they had to reflect on the shifting balance of forces since they attained democracy in 1994.
He reiterated that this was important because what they can and cannot do depends on that balance of forces. During the transition, there were forces that were trying to reverse the cause of a national democratic transformation, he explained and went on to educate that others were using violence, the then National Party decided to withdraw from the government of national unity because they were not happy with the constitution while others were refusing to go to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

According to Netshitenzhe, the fundamental challenge is that they inherited an economy with a few white conglomerates dominating all the critical economic sectors: “Then came a big challenge, a run on the currency on the Rand, declining investments in 1995 and 1996 and we were forced to introduce the macroeconomic policy called Gear, a self-imposed structural adjustment programme to stabilise the macroeconomic indicators but in the early 2000s, its relevance had expired. The balance of forces was in our favour back in the days and we could have moved faster to accelerate processes of social transformation. This is a lesson for the present,” he stressed.
He further emphasised that when the balance of forces is manifesting itself in a particular way, the ANC is unable to give decisive leadership when it is factionalised. When the movement is gripped by factionalism and focus on irrelevant issues, it misses critical opportunities to take social transformation to a higher level, he said.
Netshitenzhe applauded members for naming the branch after Ike Maphoto as he mentioned that they bestowed honour on themselves by naming the branch after a cadre of the movement and an illustrious leader, who participated in the mass campaigns in the 1950s and 60s. He further said members have imposed on themselves an important honour which should be attached with attributes of responsibility.
“You are saying not only to the region and the province but to the nation that you are the multipliers of Isaac Maphoto and I do hope that by your conduct you will reflect the various characteristics that Maphoto had as a general, his selflessness and literary the fact that he passed through the valley of death again and again so that we can reach the mountain tops of our desires. You may stumble as a branch and organisation from time to time but the fundamental attribute of a cadre is to be able to stand up, dust ourselves and continue with the struggle to attain our strategic objectives, Netshitenzhe concluded.

Story: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za