/ 2 August 2013

Letters August 2 to 7 2013

Letters August 2 To 7 2013

EFF is for fiction

It would be incorrect to allow the Economic Freedom ­Fighters (EFF) to go around misleading our people ("Support for Malema thrives in the fertile political soil of Marikana", July 26). As members of the ANC and ANC Youth League we have a collective responsibility to defend the party.

The formation of EFF has created a platform for young people to lie in a desperate attempt to confuse voters. This campaign must be exposed for its short-sightedness. It is narrow and lacks direction. The Freedom Charter does not dictate that nationalisation is the only vehicle to be used to steer us towards the realisation of its objectives.

The economic freedom struggle is the struggle led by the ANC, as mandated by the Congress of the People more than five decades ago. The 24th national Youth League conference resolutions, among others, resolved to bring about radical economic change (not limited to nationalisation).

We were shocked when the EFF emerged and paraded our resolutions as its brainchild. It uses public platforms to redefine our resolutions.

Let it be placed on record that it is a lie that the ANC has drifted away from the Freedom Charter. If an ANC-led government doesn't adopt nationalisation it doesn't mean it has moved away from the Freedom Charter. From the Reconstruction and Development Plan to the current National Development Plan the ruling party has been consistent in responding to the charter. It is absurd that the EFF should mislead young people into thinking that nationalisation is the only means of distributing wealth.

Why is the EFF creating incorrect perceptions and riding on the poor people of our country?

This continual selective reading of the charter must be stopped. It is not an action plan, it requires us to discuss various methods which can be used to address its ideals. We are opposed to a one-way approach.

The ANC has bettered the lives of our people, which is an expression of the values of the Freedom Charter. The ANC has never denied that more still needs to be done. Our continued policy engagements are a reflection of the ANC's work to emancipate our people from poverty, inequality and unemployment. – Rhulani Thembi Siweya, Limpopo


Xtrata must reinstate 2000 fired mineworkers

The Workers and Socialist Party (Wasp) in Limpopo condemns the continuous oppression of ordinary workers and communities in the province who are fighting against racism and demanding the reinstatement of 2000 mineworkers as well as jobs for the unemployed.

Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore Xstrata chief executive, has a net worth of R59.7-billion, but poor mineworkers have to be slaughtered to enrich this greedy capitalist more ("Golden payday", Business, July 26).

The dismissal of Xstrata mineworkers was an attempt to silence the economically and racially oppressed African miners who have historically been semi-slaves under colonialism and the apartheid system that demonised the African working class to advance the interests of British Imperialists.

The recent attacks on workers and communities must be met with the maximum unity of workers and communities to demand justice and an end to social injustices taking place in the mines. It is about time that the exploited masses erased the shadow of Cecil John Rhodes, Marc Rich and Ernest Oppenheimer in the mining industry by nationalising this sector under the democratic control of workers and communities.

The state has continued to protect the interests of mine bosses by failing to hold them accountable for the deaths of Lucas Mamphoke, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union shop steward, and Mabilu Leon, who was killed by mine security on July 26.

We are not shocked by police attempts to suppress and intimidate the workers through arrests. The ANC today is the guardian of apartheid architectures and continues to exploit the African working class through the comprador bourgeoisie such as Cyril Ramaphosa, who owns Xstrata through Shanduka.

We demand the reinstatement of the dismissed miners with immediate effect. – Magedi Elmond, Wasp Limpopo co-ordinator


Women leaders are our best export

As we begin Women's Month, allow me to join the millions who proclaim their respect and admiration for contemporary South African women leaders for their contribution to the advancement of the struggle for gender equity, human rights for all, good governance, economic development, female emancipation and the renaissance of the African continent.

The nations of the world elected Navi Pillay as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights; Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi as UN Development Programme democratic governance director; Phumzile Mlambo Ncuka as the executive director of the UN entity for gender equality and empowerment; and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as chairperson of the African Union because they understand and appreciate what democratic South Africa has done in the past 18 years to address within its own borders the questions that constitute the global gender agenda.

They have chosen South African women because they are convinced that we have something of value to contribute to the building of a new and more equitable world order which will not emerge without the emancipation of women.

By all accounts, these women are the best human capital ever exported by South Africa to the world. – Motsomi Maubane, Nkangala


The ANC is chasing SABC deserters

Your story "SABC's 24-hour news gamble" (July 26), has one element missing or just not considered. Media watchers will be aware of e.tv's new free-to-air offering that will carry even more viewers away from the ANC-biased dross offered by the SABC, most of the time. This is a far more important reason to get on to the DStv platform.

More and more local government employees are receiving their viewing through the "dish", never hearing the ANC message through Jimi Matthews's SABC mouthpiece. With the election less than a year away, the Luthuli House brigade cannot afford these people to bypass "the message".

My builder friend was taking his workers home and commented about the number of satellite dishes on RDP houses. The replies were that "they are the government workers!"

The battle will be between the finance minister and the ANC national executive committee. After all, it's only the taxpayers' money – and they don't have a say in where it's spent.

Like all political parties whose slice of the vote is diminishing in time, the objective is to win at any cost. I'm sure that many worthwhile projects and initiatives can be abandoned to fuel the JZ bandwagon. Maybe, instead of Dallas we'll get a rags-to-riches alternative: Nklandla: Dude Ranch Survivor. –"New Citizen"