“Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity. “– Frantz Fanon
I will always maintain that you should be careful of politically contextual intellectual praise. Often those praised are those that voice out populist political conformity. The capturing of people through compliments in order for said people to feel a sense of attainment of their self-actualization needs is the same method used to indoctrinate house slaves into a superiority complex amongst other blacks. Give a slave a position that allows him to believe he has ascended above the typical thinking of the “rest” and he will deliver himself to a domain only which you can control. This is a simple concept. If you praise someone for a particular act, there is an innate sense of obligation that pushes that individual to repeat that act in order to be complimented again.
Looking back at the Local Government Elections so much has been said. Julius has been praised and labelled as a genius. Julius built his entire political career in the ANC and now that he sits outside this organization and now making a career of fighting the very same people he put into power, suddenly the media and people praise him for his “new found intelligence”. When Blade took a jab at the organization the same murmurs began but quickly died down. It would appear to me that some people really understand what a genius is or maybe the term itself has been dumbed down or perhaps it’s used as a tool to condone a specific path of action.
After the recent elections the Mail and Guardian labelled Juju a kingmaker after it was apparent that he would decide who would govern in almost all hung municipalities after the elections. I knew very well that there was no way that he would go into coalition with the ANC. After it had cast him out like a dog it would take a certain level of maturity on his part to even sit across the table from the current crop of leaders, let alone devise a plan that would see the two parties working together and perhaps burying the hatchet to some extent. But when I saw the terms of negotiation that resembled the 12 Labours of Hercules, I knew no hatchet would be buried and that the ANC was destined for the opposition benches. The publicized reason is that he feels that the ANC is “corrupt” and therefore will never work with them and would rather work with racists in the form of DA(A view he has held since his YL days). In essence what he is saying is that the view of the EFF is that racism is better than corruption. One day I will elaborate on these party narratives but for now I will present them as he sees them.
Ultimately ANC was headed for the benches however it was still of great curiosity to see what deal would be cut and whether EFF would govern. In my head I envisioned a situation in which both the DA and EFF would win and ANC the ultimate loser. The deal to be cut ultimately would and should benefit fighters, surely this bit of power would not be used to settle political scores. I sat for days on end trying to figure out a deal that would transpire. In my head I thought EFF was in a position to negotiate itself into power in a metro/municipality in which it would govern perhaps Rustenburg or Tshwane, perhaps it would spite ANC and enter coalition with DA in Nelson Mandela Bay and then enter into coalition with ANC in JHB or Tshwane and Ekurhuleni in exchange for Ministerial appointments and MEC appointments in order to extend its political reach and influence. Also to at-least indicate that there are in-fact interested in governance and not just anarchy and political howling. It was a moment to walk the talk. Fighters were thrilled. No breakaway party had gotten as far as EFF has in the space of the number of years they have done it in.
Supporters of the movement have often argued that it’s a different breakaway party, a genuine movement cut from a different cloth to that of UDM, IFP, PAC, COPE, and Agang. They insist that the narrative of the movement was not anger or bitterness but service delivery and genuine empathy towards South Africans. But somehow the negotiations became a method to settle a political score for those scorned by Zuma and his NEC whilst in the ANC, consequently the voters benefitted nothing but their voting power being handed over to “racists” and used to settle political scores.
For a party like EFF who claim to be against corruption and the exploitation of the poor to see them govern somewhere would have been something peculiar. To see them make or amend legislation in parliament would’ve been a sight as well. At a granular level there was an opportunity to walk away with tools to propel their movement and vision but they chose not to. Their conference narrative was simple, we are here to hurt the ANC nothing more and nothing less. In essence the needs of the fighters(Voters) are not a priority at this point because we are here to hurt the ANC. Yet somehow the country is abuzz with compliments of the man’s genius because he chose to have a conference in Alexandra and the “back drop was of shacks and kids playing” yet he made no strides to ensure that his party governs somewhere in order to change that status quo and institute this change they speak of. So when he is offered this title of genius, is it genuine or is it a form of capturing that will encapsulate him in this neo-colonialist path that he has sort to embark on. Is he really the Messiah? He does not believe that Herman Mashaba has the capacity to govern and warns people that he will destroy Johannesburg yet he still casts his vote for that man. He believes that the character of Herman will undermine the poor, the very same people he claims to represent, yet he still votes for that man. Is there no one better? Or is the deal with the DA so sweet that it’s worth abandoning the views as a party. Are we at a point where we are saying “Damn service delivery” let’s just dish out this plate of revenge. He was adamant that Herman Mashaba should not govern, and for the first time we saw him back down. We saw him humbled. We saw him change an ideological view. We saw him amend what he believes in pursuit of revenge. How sweet is that DA deal?
Nelson Mandela is at times called awful names for what is considered a poor outcome of negotiations with the previous regime. The most recent indictment came from Julius himself. Now that he has sold his fighters for English Tea and scones I wonder what his position on governance would be. Who was the ultimate benefactor of the coalition? It wasn’t the people. It was White monopoly capital, white supremacy and the EFF Top 6 getting crumbs from the big table. This may not resonate now but it also took us a while to come to terms and see the consequences of the democratic negotiations of the early 90s.
Article By Mzomuhle Msomi
Image by: Gallo Images / Foto24 / Nicolene Olckers
