No economic freedom
ON WEDNESDAY March 21, on so-called Human Rights Day, the Black Youth Study Group convened a symposium to discuss the meaning of Freedom Day.
In our attempts to define freedom we concluded that it means to be set free from oppression – to be free to speak one’s mind or associate with any organisation of one’s choice, provided the rights of others are not infringed.
The Oxford Dictionary defines “oppress” thus: keep in subservience by coercion.
We then sought the SA Students’ Organisation manifesto’s definition of the term “Black” in the early 1970s. Saso defined blacks thus: all those who are by law or tradition politically discriminated against, socially degraded and economically exploited.
From this definition, we understood that in 1994 we were politically freed because we have a right to vote in this country. We were, however, bothered that other forms of freedom were not forthcoming. The oppressed of the country were not fighting just to share toilets with their former masters. We were fighting over the skewed distribution of resources, to the disadvantage of blacks in favour of whites.
Today, our people are in no way near their real freedom. Economic dominance is still firmly in the hands of whites, with blacks owning a miserable percentage of the cake, so many black economic empowerment deals notwithstanding.
Initially we wanted to blame the ruling party for bringing us into this mess but we were well aware that even though they are not off the hook, they are not entirely responsible: they themselves are in office and not in power. It is the story of Long John Silver once related by the former president of Azapo, Dr Mosibudi Mangena. Long John Silver, doing time, thinks he wields some power and bullies all around him in a prison cell. In reality, he is no different from the rest, trapped in there.
We concluded that a ruling clique is the main force behind all this and the ruling party is in the grip of this clique.
The ruling party is abusing the confidence bestowed upon it by the majority of our people.
By identifying with the minority that owns everything to the disregard of the landless majority, the ruling party has defined itself as the stumbling block to the ultimate demise of capitalism and the ushering in of workers’ control of the means of production.
The rights to vote, speak and associate are just a soporific, just a smokescreen. These are bourgeois rights that are meant to further protect and insulate the ruling clique against the power of the majority of the working class. SIBONGILE SOMDAKA
PUBLICITY AND INFORMATION: AZAPO CAPE TOWN