Mngxitama is at the forefront of a new era

I am sick and tired of responding to the denials of the basic facts of our history. It is like the Zionists who, despite the glaring facts of the oppression and plunder of the land of the Palestinians, are in constant denial.

The most basic fact of our history in South Africa is the land question; behind this is the whole question of the dispossession of the original inhabitants of this country, that is, the African people who lived here for thousands of years.

The Africans – the San, Khoi, Zulus, Xhosas, and so on – are a colonised people, and the vestiges of colonialism are still strong here, as they are strong in every other country where white settlers robbed the indigenous inhabitants of their land.

The arguments put forward by John Broderick and Doris Smith in response to Andile Mngxitama’s piece about South Africa’s stolen land (“Will EFF take us to the promised land?“) are absurd. The ANC government itself has flagged this issue of foreigners – mainly Europeans – buying up land in this country.

The bogey of foreign investment (and I presume Smith means Western investment) being driven away is drivel. The Western countries are now on their knees and the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) are the new rising frontier.

It’s letters like these that tell us the struggle between whites and blacks is far from over. As long as these kinds of denials and apologies pervade our history, the two racial sectors of our society will not live in peace. The era of Tutu-type appeasement is over. The era of the militant Economic Freedom Fighters has arrived and a different language is being spoken.

Mngxitama is one of those in the vanguard of that language, as he has shown in his various writings. He will, I am sure, continue to write the same stuff that your letter-writers find objectionable, and it will be welcomed by millions in this country and all over the African, black world. – Bennie Bunsee, editor, Ikwezi

Zuma purges all who question him

Thanks to the writers of our Constitution, this is the last term President Jacob Zuma can mess up our country, but this time there will be fewer people in his way: those who did not support Zuma against the public protector have been left out of the new Cabinet.

Thabo Mbeki was intellectually arrogant, but Zuma is stupidly arrogant, throwing good comrades into the dustbin of history if they dare to question his moral decay. A weak Cabinet and ANC national executive committee benefit Zuma.

Those outside government now must support the formation of the workers’ party, assist the Sidikiwe movement to grow, and speak out on moral decay. All left forces must swallow their pride and form a united front to demand an accounting for the waste of money used to protect Zuma.

United we stand, divided the looting continues with impunity. – Zamile Magudulela, Mamelodi

Liberalism has become a dirty word

Richard Pithouse’s analysis of the threats to democracy is timely and alarming (“Can we revive our democratic imagination?“). It also shows how the meaning of words can change, and not for the better, when he refers to a “liberal desire to restrict politics to elites”.

The great liberals of the 19th and 20th centuries believed in broadening participation in politics through all levels of society; elitism was the hallmark of conservatives. To a classical liberal, restricting politics to elites was and still is anathema. Far from being “liberal”, elite politics are at best to be likened to Thatcherism, at worst to outright fascism.

If that is what is meant by liberalism today, no wonder it has become a dirty word. – Michael Coulson, Johannesburg

Let’s see some evidence before
you trot out more bizarre claims

In Durban the ANC thinks that it can kill us with impunity. Mathew Blatchford thinks that he can lie about us with impunity in the Mail & Guardian (“Collaborate, think, to rebuild the left“). According to our understanding, the ANC and Blatchford are part of the same structure of oppression that wants to keep us in the dark, confined corners of this country.

We have never been funded or supported by any Trotskyist organisation. We will never take money from any political party and we will never take other forms of support from any organisation that does not respect our autonomy.

We recently took a decision to vote for the opposition in KwaZulu-Natal to punish the ANC for the repression we have suffered at the hands of their police and assassins. But we made it clear that this was a tactical vote. Blatchford brought no evidence to support what he said about us. Unless he can, he must be considered a liar. – Zandile Nsibande, Abahlali baseMjondolo, Durban

? I write in response to Blatchford’s letter on my piece (“Left wing dips into ocean of irrelevance“). His increasingly bizarre letters have a lot to do with his own imagination and very little to do with reality. For the record, I have never been a Trotskyist. – Imraan Buccus, Durban