[DEBATE] : ANCYL President Fikile Mbalula on Role of ANC, in Hlomelang

[Dominic Tweedie]

Hlomelang, ANCYL, Vol 2 No 8: 31 August-13 September 2006 [fortnightly
e-newsletter of the ANCYL




History Has Affirmed The Role Of ANCYL As A Catalyst



Fikile Mbalula, President, ANCYL

“As we build our country and consolidate our democracy, the 1944 ANC Youth
League generation never ceases to inspire us, because their ideals have
stood the test of time. It may as well be noted that many ideals, such as
those that inspired Nazism which ideology caused the world war waged at the
time the ANC Youth League was formed, never found credence in the people of
the world and were as such “vanquished.”

IN ANY STRUGGLE, the “victor” and the “vanquished” would ordinarily have
different views of the struggle encounter. This would be true for both the
ideological outlook of the struggle encounter or confrontation as well as to
the extent to which either side to the conflict was able to assert itself.
Even an oppressive ideology would have some form of “moral” values. This we
know because our oppressors claimed to be Christians. Indeed in the name of
good many evils have been done. So many religious wars have been fought
resulting in the tragic death of so many peoples across time.

During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, the “victors” of
the apartheid era sought to balance their wrongs with the apparent “wrongs”
committed by the liberation movement in our country. On the other hand,
those of us hailing from the liberation movement found it odd that the
heroic acts of our forebears in resisting oppression could be compared to
the barbarism of all the evils apartheid represented.

Thus in celebrating the victories of our protracted and difficult struggles
over the past decades to assert the common dictum that “every man is born
free”, we do so without any feelings of contradiction or guilt. We have
never doubted the moral cause of the struggle and the tactics we employed as
a people to free ourselves of the shackles of apartheid.

As a movement, we never fought to accomplish narrow ends, which in hindsight
could have been the basis for remorse on our part, thus suggesting
unworthiness of the struggle itself. If anyone must feel remorse, it is
those who found it fitting to assert that their cause was above that of
other people, particularly those whose identity was classified as inferior
by a racist state.

It was the 1944 generation of the ANC Youth League that discarded the
pacifist methods of the struggle, employed by the ANC until then. The
significance of the founding of the ANC Youth League in 1944 is that this
brought about a change in the ideological conceptualisation of the ANC
itself, particularly on tactical issues relating to the advancement of the
liberation struggle.

In 1944, the ANC Youth League articulated its vision and mandate in its
founding “Manifesto”, a document that detailed its ideological orientation
and its assessment of the situation as it by then obtained. In rejecting the
outlook bestowed on the African by the “victor”, this is what the ANC Youth
League leaders at the time had to say:

“But Africans reject the theory that because he is non-White and because he
is a conquered race, he must be exterminated. He demands the right to be a
free citizen in the South African democracy; the right to an unhampered
pursuit of his national destiny and the freedom to make his legitimate
contribution to human advancement.”


ANC Youth League Manifesto, 1944


Then in 1948, the ANC Youth League produced the “Basic Policy Document”. Yet
another consolidation of its ideological outlook and the elaboration of the
tasks that laid ahead as informed by the challenges of the time. This policy
position and assessment was to inform the political debate of the ANC in its
1949 conference leading to the adoption of the Programme of Action in the
same ANC National Conference.

The 1944 ANC Youth League generation was to transform the struggle tactics
of the ANC and by extension South Africa’s political landscape since at
least the ANC 1949 National Conference. In the same Conference, the ANC
Youth League ensured that Walter Sisulu was elected ANC Secretary General,
he being the first to assume such a senior position in the ANC. Other ANC
Youth League members were elected into the National Executive Committee. AB
Xuma, who had referred to the ANC Youth League leaders as “kindergartens”
was replaced by the relatively more militant JS Moroka. Under this
leadership, the ANC undertook militant struggle tactics underscored by the
1952 Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws. In that campaign, yet another
member of the ANC Youth League from the 1944 generation, Nelson Mandela, was
charged with leading it as “Volunteer in Chief”.

As the ANC got more radical and militant, the apartheid regime tightened the
screws of oppression. This led to the 1956 Treason Trial and later in 1963
the Rivonia Trial. By the time the Rivonia Trial started, the ANC and ANC
Youth League were already amongst the banned organizations. Another member
of the 1944 generation, Oliver Tambo was charged with international
mobilization in his capacity as ANC President. Aroudn the same time leading
to the Rovonia Trial, the uMkhonto weSizwe was launched and yet again it was
the 1944 ANC Youth League generation at the forefront of this historical
episode.

ANC Youth League 1944 generation thus transformed the ANC from a pacifist
organization into a radical and militant one. As we commemorate and
celebrate the 62nd Anniversary of the ANC Youth League, we indeed celebrate
these tireless cadres of our movement that ensured we have freedom today.
Many brutally died at the hands of the apartheid regime, amongst the
earliest to die were the last ANC Youth League President before the
political banning, Patrick Molaoa.

Since the political unbanning, and as our young democracy evolved, many from
the very organization that brought untold misery to our people have since
joined the ANC. The ANC Youth League has also welcomed a number of young
people from the former National Party (later New National Party). Thus the
former “victors” and the formerly “vanquished” agree with the nobility of
the ANC Youth League Manifesto and the other historically defining landmarks
engineered by the leaders of our movement including the Freedom Charter.

As we build our country and consolidate our democracy, the 1944 ANC Youth
League generation never ceases to inspire us, because their ideals have
stood the test of time. It may as well be noted that many ideals, such as
those that inspired Nazism which ideology caused the world war waged at the
time the ANC Youth League was formed, never found credence in the people of
the world and were as such “vanquished”. Likewise, the temporary dominance
by the architects of apartheid ended with the dawn of democracy in 1994, and
like a turning wheel of time, the “vanquished” became the liberation
 “victor”, and the apartheid “victor” became the “vanquished”.

In essence, the 62nd Anniversary of the Youth League is a celebration of the
nobility of our struggle. Recently we have witnessed a spectacle wherein the
once feared Minister of Law and Order under the apartheid regime, Andrian
Vlok, symbolically washed the feet of one of the victims of the apartheid’s
torture, that being the Reverend Frank Chikane. None could have thought of
this turn of events some twenty years ago. Indeed the ideals that Nelson
Mandela said he hoped to live for, and if need be to die for, have found
home in the hearts of many of our people across all racial divides.

We can therefore say that our commemoration of the ANC Youth League 62nd
Anniversary is a celebration of all these achievements by all our people. We
are forever indebted to the pioneers of the 1944 youth generation who
founded the ANC Youth League and helped transform the ANC and made it a
better movement to fight apartheid and later to lead our country.

This is the heritage that we have as young people, one that we should ensure
it is never forgotten by generations to come, lest they fall into the
apartheid entrapment of a divided nation. As we sustain this knowledge from
generation to generation, and as we continue where they left off, in doing
so, we pay tribute to the cause for which they dedicated their entire lives
for. In doing so, we tell the simple story that their struggle was not in
vain. For in the true spirit of our country, we can claim that there is in
fact no “vanquished” since in fact all our people have been “victors” in the
new democratic dispensation.

Fikile Mbalula
PRESIDENT: ANCYL

From: http://www.anc.org.za/youth/

1439 words



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