[DEBATE] : Re: Recalculating happiness in the Zuma cabinet

[Dominic Tweedie]

Flattered to get a mention on such a day, Patrick. Let me return the
compliment.

It's nice that we have got a new cabinet. Now let's see how it works. There
are some amazing combos, starting with Tina Joemat-Peterson and Pieter
Mulder. That's an odd couple, if ever there was one. Tina's on top.

As for Baleka Mbete and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, we also have to wait and
see what kind of leadership these two strong and experienced cadres will
give. I would not be too hasty to tag them as victims just yet. I don't know
why people are so quick to condemn them. As for what actually happened in
Baleka Mbete's case, the City Press has got a different version of the
story.

The struggle continues. I still think that Max Sisulu is probably, in
political terms, an empty suit. But who knows at this stage? For sure, you
cannot easily predict what work will be done by the members of a new team,
or how it is going to pull together under a new coach.

As for Patrick Bond, he is sitting on a fence, counting protests that he
doesn't organise, and eagerly chalking them up as anti-Alliance, although we
can all see that the very same people who are active participants in the
country's class struggles are the same ones that vote ANC.

As for Peter Waterman, he has got egg all over his face for trying to apply
the Bond logic to Vietnam, only to find himself reading a much more credible
witness who said no, the Vietnamese government government is supporting the
working class in its struggles and not suppressing it.

As for Peter Dwyer, he is wishing for more Khutsongs, not realising that the
main organising force in Khutsong was the local SACP.

The revolutionary wheels must continue to turn. That means supporting the
constant working-class battles with employers, it means organising more
popular mass institutions of all kinds, and it means organising in the
localities. It means building the Party, the ANC, and the trade unions, and
supporting the revolutionary trade union federation, COSATU, as it prepares
for its 10th Congress in September.

"Socialism Is The Future, Build It Now!" means all of these things. It means
non-stop revolutionary activity.

I can report that Linda Jabane (Johannesburg) District of the SACP had a
good political school today with very impressive attendance, good spirit,
and a high standard of debate.

All you ivory towers, get ready to do your revolutionary duty.

A luta continua!

Domza, VC.





2009/5/10 Patrick Bond <pbond at mail.ngo.za>

> Dominic Tweedie wrote:
>
>> Now, what do you think of a situation where two women lead a revival
>> of parliamentary life in South Africa, support Jacob Zuma for
>> president, then get sidelined at the last moment in favour of a
>> wooden, stolid member of the revolution-royalty Sisulu family, Max
>> Sisulu, who is obviously there to shut down everything that they had
>> opened up? The women, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge and Baleka Mbete get
>> castigated
>> as childish, and as "cashing in" (in other words, as somehow having
>> mercenary motives), by the very same mass media that have been
>> lambasting Zuma all these years.
>> To me it looks like the empire is striking back. It looks to me that
>> the old club is re-forming around JZ.
>> Tell me I'm wrong, please, if you can.
>> Domza "Heavy Heart" VC
>>
>>
>
> Hi comrade heartbroke/heartburn,
>
> I won't tell you you're wrong because I have no idea. But the Sunday Times
> will:
>
> "Schoolgirl" behaviour costs Mbete a post
> Moipone Malefane and Mpumelelo Mkhabela Published:May 10, 2009
>
> Passed over: President Jacob Zuma and Baleka Mbete in parliament this week,
> where she refused to be sworn in as an ordinary MP. Picture: Esa Alexander
>
> ANC chairman Baleka Mbete’s petulant behaviour in parliament this week —
> where she refused to be sworn in as an MP after learning she had lost the
> number two job in politics — has cost her a government job.
>
> She is set to become the first post-1994 party chairman to be excluded from
> a cabinet post.
>
> The former national assembly speaker had apparently expected that outgoing
> president Kgalema Motlanthe would decline the deputy president’s position,
> which she held in his administration.
>
> When she realised that Motlanthe had in fact accepted the position from
> President Jacob Zuma, she scorned Wednesday’s swearing-in proceedings in
> parliament, refusing to take the oath alongside Zuma.
>
> This left her unable to vote for ANC president Zuma to be president of the
> country — a move which angered the ruling party’s top brass.
>
> It is believed that she had hoped that her “protest” action would force the
> ANC’s hand and keep her in the Union Buildings.
>
> But her move embarrassed the party, and Mbete “effectively fired herself
> from parliament”, said a senior party leader.
>
> On Friday, ANC officials held a meeting at the Union Buildings to finalise
> the names of leaders who would be appointed to cabinet positions.
>
> Mbete’s behaviour was discussed in her presence, and she was read the riot
> act. It was decided that she should be deployed at the party’s Luthuli House
> headquarters in Johannesburg. The party still has to spell out her actual
> role.
>
> “Zuma would have given her a senior cabinet post — but she behaved like a
> schoolgirl,” said an ANC MP.
>
> The ANC refused to comment after she boycotted the swearing-in; in a
> statement following the Union Buildings meeting, the ANC tried to manage the
> fallout, saying Mbete had not been sworn in because consultations about her
> deployment had not been concluded at the time.
>
> A senior party leader said Mbete’s behaviour was unfortunate because she
> was a senior leader.
>
> “She behaved like a little princess who thinks the world revolves around
> her,” he said.
>
> _______________________________________________
> DEBATE mailing list
> DEBATE at debate.kabissa.org
> http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/debate
>
>


-- 
Blog at: http://domza.blogspot.com/
Communist University web site at: http://amadlandawonye.wikispaces.com/
Subscribe for free e-mail updates at:
http://groups.google.com/group/Communist-University/
Library of documents (CU "CD") at: http://cu.domza.net/
dominic.tweedie at gmail.com