African National Congress cadres should guard against the selfless legacy of anti-apartheid activists like the late Ellen Khuzwayo being overrun by self-interest, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.
”Today, we need to ask ourselves whether we, cadres of our movement, are still upholding the unimpeachable track record of Ellen Khuzwayo and other past ANC cadres,” he wrote in his weekly letter.
”We need to ask ourselves whether the seeds of self-sacrifice they planted into our organisation have not begun to fall on thorny, barren soil of self-interest!”
Today’s cadres needed to uphold Khuzwayo’s principles, commitment and courage in the modern struggle for a better life.
”As our country continues to confront the challenges of corruption and lack of commitment and dedication to work among some public servants and public representatives, we need to draw important lessons from the life and times of this unassuming heroine,” Mbeki said.
Khuzwayo died at the age of 92 in Soweto on Wednesday after a long illness.
Her legacy should inspire ANC members to work selflessly towards the organisation’s strengthening, and focusing its activities on the development of the country and the upliftment of citizens.
Khuzwayo exemplified a particular type of ANC activist — one who was not only active because there were elections to be fought but also saw the bigger transformation agenda.
”This is an ANC cadre who works with communities to attend to their problems and not use our branches for personal advancement,” the president wrote. ”This is an ANC cadre who would be defined as a community worker.”
Another lesson to be learnt from Khuzwayo’s work, Mbeki said, is the need to nurture people — teaching them to fish rather than giving them the proverbial fish.
”This is the spirit we should bring back into our work as the ANC and infuse this into all spheres of our democratic government.”
Helping people acquire skills, expertise and other resources is not only in their own best interest, but also in that of national development.
”Ellen Khuzwayo’s life constitutes a virtual directive to all … liberation fighters, which they must study and understand in order to appreciate the obligation that falls on the shoulders of those who voluntarily define themselves as patriots and members of the ANC,” Mbeki said. — Sapa