The Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) faces disaster as it splits into factions and whole branches defect to rival black consciousness organisations.
Branches in Atteridgeville, Mame-lodi, Tembisa, Randburg, Orlando and East Rand in Gauteng are expected to defect from the struggling party to join the newly established Black Consciousness Forum (BCF), led by disgruntled former leaders of Azapo.
More than 800 members in Gauteng are expected to join the BCF.
”There is growing consternation in Azapo that the party is moving towards a different direction and also a [concern about] growing militarism, whereas in the culture of the BC we are accustomed to debating issues,” said Kedibone Molema, publicity director of the BCF.
The BCF hopes to bring unity to the parties espousing black consciousness: the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, Azapo and the Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa). The forum is led by Nkosi Molala, Azapo’s former national chairperson.
In the Eastern Cape five of the eight members of Azapo’s provincial executive committee have resigned. They quit after citing ”ideological differences” with the way Mosibudi Mangena, Deputy Minister of Education and Azapo’s provincial leader, was leading a ”neo-colonial group of leaders who are embarrassed by the criticism meted out to the African National Congress government by other leaders of the organisation”.
”At stake has been the development of a realistic political programme for overthrowing the neo-colonial system and replacing it with the scientific socialist system,” said Mzukisi Madlavu, who resigned as provincial deputy chairperson.
Fikile Bellem, secretary, Khumbulile Mnikina, publicity director, Fundile Mafongosi, secretary for political education, and Lizo Neti treasurer; also resigned from the provincial executive.
”Two main groupings have emerged at national and provincial level. [One group] sincerely believes that participating within the neo-colonial institutions such as Parliament, coupled with dampening of Azapo’s socialist programme, is beneficial to the majority of the population,” Madlavu said.
The other group, many of whose members fill the second layer of leadership, ”has continually scoffed at the lukewarm relationship that is promoted between Azapo and the ANC government. It has rejected the notion that public criticisms of the government policies are unAfrican and unpatriotic, pointing out that even the tripartite alliance is publicly at war with itself on the implementation of neo-liberal policies in Azania,” he said.
Madlavu said that the ascendancy of a right-wing petit bourgeoisie in Azapo and their consolidation of power and influence at national leadership structures had led to a lack of clear policies on globalisation and associated neo-liberal policies.
”The main custodian of the organisation’s constitution and policies, the current president of Azapo, confessed to the party’s central committee last year that he had voted in favour of privatisation together with the ANC and other bourgeois political parties in Parliament in the light of overwhelming evidence concerning the efficiency of privatisation –God forbid.”
The endorsement of the appointment of the current president of Azapo as deputy minister of edu-cation by national congress delegates in June — a portion of whom represented bogus branches with bogus delegate status — was, in essence confirmation for the party’s president that he should ”continue performing the role of an intermediary between imperialism and the majority of the population,” said Madlavu.
Azapo still holds on to black consciousness and scientific socialism, said Nkutshweu Motsau, national publicity secretary.
”These people were present at the congress. Why they did not raise these issues [there]?” he asked.
He denied that Azapo had crumbled in the Border region and that branch leaders had left the party. He said Azapo did not have a Border region and that only one branch chairperson and three members had left the party in the area.