Yengeni: Ex-combatants must all go back to our trenches - The role of ex-combatants in the ongoing revolutionary struggle for Radical Economic Emancipation

By Tony Yengeni

The main problem facing most, if not all African countries, is a leadership that is self-serving, unprincipled opportunists, who pretend to be serving the people yet they are deep in the pay roll of Western conglomerates. The people of Africa must wake up from our slumber, and deal with these so-called leaders in the same manner they dealt with their former colonial masters...lectures Tony Yengeni...

                                              MK Veteran Tony Yengeni

I greet in particular all former members, Commanders and Commissars of the glorious People's army, UMkhonto Wesizwe, the Spear of the Nation, who are joining us in this discussion through the length and breadth of our country.

We also convey our heartfelt revolutionary greetings to our brothers and sisters in arms in the various War veterans associations of the Liberation Movements in the Southern African region, and throughout the entire continent of Africa.

Dear Comrades and friends during this discussion you are also joining thousands of fellow South Africans belonging to various political formations and structures of the African National Congress, and our Revolutionary Alliance partners, as we contemplate our topic for this discussion, which is the role of ex-combatants in the ongoing revolutionary struggle for radical economic transformation.

For us to understand the role of ex-combatants in the struggle for economic freedom we need to go back in history to contemplate why, how, and for what purpose the liberation army of the African national Congress uMkhonto Wesizwe was formed and what were the critical highlights of its evolvement up to this point.

The decision to launch MK had a long and very significant history and background, which we must recall tonight in order for us to understand why MK ex-combatants have such a significant historical role to play in achieving our full and total liberation.

When white colonialists from Europe landed on our shores, we welcomed them with open hearts and warm hands. Then they started to encroach on our territory and on our land and in a short space of time wars of resisting that encroachment began.

To cut a long story short. Many wars of resistance, big and small, were fought by our great grandfathers and mothers in defence of our land and freedom. With rudimentary weapons like the spear and a shield they fought heroically and bravely against the colonial invaders who were using advanced military weapons in those wars.

That is the reason why we insist that the formation of the ANC in 1912, the oldest political organization in the African continent, was a continuation of the wars of resistance fought by our forefathers and mothers. Led by brave warriors and kings, Moshoeshoe, Hintsa, Shaka etc.

The name of our People's army uMkhonto is a direct expression, and derives from the shield and spear used by our ancestors to fight for the defence of their motherland.

After the Second World War, confronted by the intensity of institutionalized racism of the NP government, a younger generation within the ANC felt that the time had come for the ANC to become a more militant organization with a clear revolutionary plan of action. This led to a very significant historical development formation of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in 1944. Under the leadership of Anton Lembede, Walter Sisulu, AP Mda, Oliver Tambo, and Nelson Mandela among others, the ANCYL after its formation emerged as a significant political force in energising and renewing the ANC.

Founders of the ANC Youth League and pioneers of the Program of Action (POA) Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and Anton Lembede

Despite resistance from older generations of leaders in the ANC led by the then President of the ANC Dr Xuma, who had no appetite for what they called ' confrontational politics', the ANCYL got the ANC National Conference of 1948 to adopt the Programme of Action (POA), and Dr James Moroka who backed the POA was elected in the place of DR Xuma as President of the ANC.

Without these deliberate interventions of a more progressive and revolutionary cadreship of young leaders, the Defiance Campaign of 1952, as well as the drafting and adoption of the Freedom Charter on June 26 1955 at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, would not have been possible.

The essence of the FC is found in two core demands, that the country’s natural and mineral wealth must be owned, benefit and shared among the people as a whole, and that the land be shared amongst those who work it.

It was clear that by adopting the Freedom Charter the ANC had defined itself as a People's revolutionary movement, whose historical mission was to fight for the complete political and economic freedom of the black oppressed masses. And that those Freedom Charter provisions could not be realised without a thorough going, and deep fundamental revolutionary transformation of the South African society.

It is within this broad political and ideological context that the ANC and SACP found common ground, and an increasingly stronger alliance between the ANC and the SACP would be forged.

These historical ideological developments together with the increasingly brutal Apartheid regime, led to the ultimate decision that peaceful methods of struggle have not yielded any significant results except for the increasing brutalization and repression of the ANC and the democratic movement, that an armed resistance was the only option imposed on us by the regime.

On December 16, 1961 uMkhonto Wesizwe, The Spear of the Nation, was formed. A pamphlet with the Manifesto of MK was distributed widely by the High Command throughout the republic. Various explosions were detonated targeting various government installations throughout the country to announce the birth of the People's liberation army.

The MK Manifesto, stated:

“Umkhonto we Sizwe will carry on the struggle for freedom and democracy by new methods, which are necessary to complement the actions of the established liberation organizations. Umkhonto we Sizwe fully supports the national liberation movement, and our members jointly and individually, place themselves under the overall political guidance of that movement.

It is, however, well known that the main national liberation organisations in this country have consistently followed a policy of non-violence. They have conducted themselves peaceably at all times, regardless of government attacks and persecutions upon them, and despite all government-inspired attempts to provoke them to violence. They have done so because the people prefer peaceful methods of change to achieve their aspirations without the suffering and bitterness of civil war. But the people's patience is not endless.

The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no choice but to hit back by all means within our power in defence of our people, our future and our freedom. The government has interpreted the peacefulness of the movement as weakness; the people's non-violent policies have been taken as a green light for government violence. Refusal to resort to force has been interpreted by the government as an invitation to use armed force against the people without any fear of reprisals. The methods of Umkhonto we Sizwe mark a break with that past.

We are striking out along a new road for the liberation of the people of this country. The government policy of force, repression and violence will no longer be met with non-violent resistance only! The choice is not ours; it has been made by the Nationalist government which has rejected ever peaceable demand by the people for rights and freedom and answered ever such demand with force and yet more force!”

I think it is necessary to quote extensively from this Manifesto in order for us to appreciate the critical historical juncture that those comrades who formed uMkhonto Wesizwe had reached. It is best summarized in these two seminal sentences:

"The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices..to submit or fight..That time has now come to South Africa..We shall not submit..We shall hit back by all means in our power in defence of our country and freedom..!"

It must always be appreciated that those who decided to join MK did so voluntarily, and only out of conviction. Their conviction was that it was the right time to take up arms, and continue the struggle for freedom until it was achieved.

By recalling the historical developments that preceded the formation of MK we have shown that their decision was informed by a careful scientific analysis of the historical objective conditions and balance of forces at that point in time. And ultimately in the conflict between the white minority regime and the black majority they opted to take the side of the oppressed and poorest of the poor, underpinned by an ideological foundation that was pro-poor and working class biased.

It is therefore no coincidence that those leaders who formed the ANC YL in 1944, and convinced the ANC in 1948 to adopt the Programme of Action, were also those who took the lead in the formation of MK, and were ultimately the members of the first High Command structure of MK.

We can say without any hesitation that the ANC and SACP cadres who voluntarily joined MK, and articulated their reasons for doing so with such clarity in the Manifesto of uMkhonto Wesizwe, were the most advanced and ideologically grounded members of our Liberation Movement.

Their commitment and dedication to the liberation struggle were indeed unequalled. In joining MK they made the transition from loyal civilian members of a broad based liberation organization, to becoming liberation soldiers in a People's army. They made a commitment, and took an oath that they were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, and lay down their lives to liberate their people and country from Apartheid colonialism.

That commitment was also expressed by the first Commander in Chief of MK comrade Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, when in his speech from the dock of the Rivonia trial he stated that the ideals for which they joined the ANC and MK are ideals to live for - but if needs be - were ideals they were prepared to die for. Madiba spoke there not only on behalf of the Rivonia trialists, but also on behalf of every member of MK.

The banning of the ANC and the SACP forced MK to establish training camps in exile under very challenging circumstances. Many of our cadres did not survive these, which included harsh material and psychological challenges, and illnesses that we were not commonly exposed to before we crossed the borders of our country.

We can say with pride however that in the MK camps, we as liberation soldiers became politically and ideolically grounded. We were made to understand that the gun is a means to achieve certain political objectives, and that those political objectives are primary in everything we do as soldiers.

I am proud to say that the ranks of MK produced some of the very best political commissars in our national liberation movement. We were also taught and trained in the science and tactics of guerrilla warfare by the best military officers and instructors from the Red Army of the then Soviet Union, and the army of the People's Republic of Cuba. Some comrades were also sent abroad for further specialised training in various disciplines including military academies in countries like the then German Democratic Republic (GDR) and USSR.

The military code of MK on 'Political and Military Struggle’ states:

“Umkhonto we Sizwe is the fighting arm of the ANC and its allies. Our armed struggle is a continuation of our political struggle by means that include armed force. The political leadership has primacy over the military. Our military line derives from our political line. Every commander, commissar, instructor and combatant must therefore be clearly acquainted with the policy with regard to all combat tasks and missions. All of us must know clearly who the enemy is, and for what we are fighting. Thus MK cadres are not only military units, they are also organisers of our people. That is the major distinction between our people's revolutionary army and the army and wholly militarised authoritarian armed forces of the racists, imperialists and reactionary regimes. Umkhonto cadres, with arms in hand, are political activists and leaders, as well as warriors. This combination of political and military functions is characteristic of all popular, revolutionary armies especially in the phase of guerrilla warfare.”

In the execution of the armed struggle we were steadfast in building and closing ranks with the liberation armies of other liberation movements in the Southern Africa. Joint operations were carried out with Zipra forces in Zimbabwe against the racist Rhodesian army. Our Luthuli Detachment, the pioneers and the first military detachment of its kind in MK, fought heroically and acquitted themselves very well in the skirmishes with the racists. They brought back many stories and lessons about their combat experience against a well-organized conventional force in the form of Smith’s Rhodesian, racist army. We also forged very closed relations with the fighting forces, and shared many battle trenches with our dear comrades of SWAPO, MPLA and FRELIMO.

I’m glad this discussion is also broadcast to all our fellow cadres brothers and sisters who belong to ex-combatants associations of former Liberation Movements in Southern Africa. Our shared experiences and commitment continue to be invaluable for the future development and complete lberation of our nations.

Sadly we also share the pain of military veterans of former liberation armies, since our countries have become independent, for not having been treated in a manner that acknowledge the contribution and sacrifices we have made. Many of our ex-combatants are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, and illnesses that make it difficult for them to fully adjust back into society.

It is my observation that although they do not always receive the due recognition that they deserve, some ex-combatants of Liberation Movements in the former Frontline States have done better to secure their rights, and continuing influence, than what we have managed to do here in South Africa.

It is completely unacceptable that there remain ex-combatants who are destitute, with no jobs, no proper accommodation or health care. These are critical issues that our MK veterans association should take the lead to address, as a matter of extreme urgency.

Unfortunately divisions in our ranks have impeded our ability to do so. In this regard the ANC at our 54th National Conference resolved that a process must be embarked upon to bring unity in the ranks of ex-MK combatants. The National Executive Committee of the ANC entrusted the Peace and stability Sub-Committee, under my leadership as Chairperson of the Sub-Committee to take the lead to resolve these problems and to forge unity.

I am glad to report that much progress has been made in this regard, and an all-inclusive MK Unity Conference is on the verge of taking place. In fact, this conference would already have taken place if it was not for the delay caused by the lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is our most ardent hope that the most important mandate that will emerge out of that unity conference will be to address the plight of our MK members. We have to make certain that they are not forgotten and marginalized by society and government. We have to make sure that they get the recognition and support in our society that they deserve, and are entitled to as provided for by the Military Veterans Act of 2011.

Once we have proceeded to economically empower our own ex-combatants from all Liberation Movements, and ensure a better life for them, our message about the economic empowerment of our whole South African society will carry more weight and integrity.

With the background of our contribution in struggle, with our AK 47s in our hands, the personal histories of sacrifice, the political and ideological tools at our disposal; we have a responsibility to fearlessly and selflessly champion the aspirations of our fellow ex-combatants. We have to continue without fear, favour or prejudice to speak out and be part of the movement to fight, and achieve the aspirations of the poorest of the poor in this republic of ours.

As ex-combatants from all political formations, particularly ex-MK combatants, we have a responsibility to continue to be the militant voice and Spear of the Nation. We have a responsibility to continue to fulfil that role. No other grouping is better equipped to be the conscience of our nations, and no-one can speak with greater moral authority. We are saying this with all humility, but with firm determination.

The time has come for ex-combatants to stand up and be counted. Our African continent as a whole is endowed with the largest natural and mineral resources one can get anywhere in the world. Yet Africa and its people remain the most poor and backward continent industrially. The vast bulk of our minerals are owned, not by the indigenous people of Africa but, by a few white Western European conglomerates. They take these minerals out of the ground, send them to their countries for processing and export them back to Africa as finished products. Africans have been reduced by these neo-colonialists, masquerading as business people, to being consumers of finished products from the West, with no capacity to produce for ourselves.

This must come to an end. This must stop now! Our people are dying daily of starvation and diseases. Yet, they are the rightful owners of these natural resources and minerals. The main problem facing most, if not all African countries, is a leadership that is self-serving, unprincipled opportunists, who pretend to be serving the people yet they are deep in the pay roll of Western conglomerates. The people of Africa must wake up from our slumber, and deal with these so-called leaders in the same manner they dealt with their former colonial masters.

Our beloved ANC is at a critical crossroad in our history. This is indeed a watershed moment, possibly even more important than what the ANC was faced with in the 1940s and early 1950s. If and when the renewal and infusion of militancy in the ANC by the young lions failed, that must have scuppered the entire liberation struggle.

White monopoly capital and its super exploitation of the black working class remains the ugly face of the Apartheid racist legacy. This white male capitalist class controls and monopolises every aspect of South Africans lives, driven in everything they do by their insatiable greed for more and more profits. The black middle class and its professional cadreship have their backs against the wall, because white monopolies want everything for themselves. The black working class is bleeding profusely; there are rivers of blood on the floor. In the context of the current coronavirus pandemic our own Reserve Bank has projected that 7 to 8 million South Africans will be out of jobs beyond Covid19.

The ANC is in the grips of a deep ideological struggle, both within itself and with other hostile contending ideological forces outside its ranks. The urgency and seriousness of this ideological struggle, with all its fault lines and contradictions, have been expedited and deepened by the coronavirus pandemic and the serious social and economic consequences of the lockdown.

We ex-MK combatants have to speak out about the deprivation and desperation of the majority of our people, which we continue to see and experience daily. The starkness of it and the crisis proportions that it has now reached, demand our intervention and action. It can certainly no longer be business as usual.

Evidently - during and after the coronavirus has subsided - we can no longer allow the lack of commitment, lack of ideological clarity and confusion to stop us from addressing the glaring inequalities and injustices to continue any longer. As was required in the 1940’s, the young lions must roar again.

History has bestowed on the new generations, the youth and working class, together with the ex-combatants the responsibility to fight and lead the continuation of the struggle that was started by our great grandfathers and mothers for freedom and the radical transformation of our economy, so that the vast majority of the black majority will benefit from its own sweat and blood.

The ANC and its revolutionary allies make a clarion call to its members and leaders. Not only here in South Africa, but in the entire continent, to the youth and ex-combatants, to the workers and rural communities, to the fighting women of our country to arm themselves with the requisite technical and academic skills, and to take over the manufacturing and production of goods in their countries for both local consumption and export, and to ensure an African market for our own goods and services. As Africans we must form our own continental cartels, and agree on markets and prices for our goods. We must arise and claim and re-claim the land of our great grandfathers and mothers!

The only way for us Africans to regain our dignity, is to fight and defeat inequality and poverty and to expropriate land without compensation in all of Africa. Africans must unite around these ideals and together fight to achieve them in their lifetime.

Ex-combatants in particular can no longer be mere recipients of grants from government departments. We must all go back to our trenches, "in defence of our land and our freedom!”. Ex-combatants must be active in their political organizations and ensure that members and leaders of those organizations are committed to achieving their historical goals of bringing back the land, and the natural and mineral resources of their countries back to their rightful owners. This cannot be achieved if ex-combatants abandon the struggle to opportunists and sell-outs.

Every revolution breeds counter revolution! Ex-combatants have the skills and training to expose and crush that counter revolution. Ex-combatants must claim their rightful place in the deployment of cadres in various capacities, especially in government and legislatures.

Let us be clear. Ex-combatants will not be deployed automatically, they must fight for this deployment. Through this deployment these ex-combatants can play their rightful role in ensuring that the Liberation Movements are not hijacked, and captured by forces with nefarious agendas and interests.

As former members of the glorious People's army uMkhonto Wesizwe, we continue to pledge unwavering loyalty to our Mother body the ANC. We have a duty and responsibility to resist any attempt to circumvent, undermine, and dilute the resolutions of our National Conferences. Our National Conferences remain the highest decision making bodies, no one, and no grouping is above the collective leadership and resolutions as agreed to by any National Conference.

The longest serving President of the ANC comrade Oliver Tambo taught us that, “racial discrimination, South Africa’s economic power, its oppression and exploitation of all black people, are part and parcel of the same thing "!

It is therefore essential that as ex-MK combatants we must understand that Radical Economic Transformation (RET) is not the agenda of a faction, or a grouping, but is actually the official ANC policy and programme, and any attempt to undermine this programme should be resisted with every muscle in our bodies.

As ex-combatants we must insist that those comrades who made the supreme sacrifice, and laid down their lives for us to live freely, those comrades must be honoured properly. Those whose graves who continue to lie all over the world must be brought home, and given proper reburials by their own loved ones.

We have already resolved among ourselves that the impending unity conference must ensure that the rich history, culture and heritage of uMkhonto we Sizwe, must be preserved for generations to come to benefit, and for generations to know, that a very heavy price was paid for us to achieve our freedom, and that everything must be done to defend the gains of our revolution.

The history of our sovereignty and independence in Africa is written in rivers of blood. Yes we have all achieved our independence from European colonialists, except for the people of Saharawi who continue to live under the jackboot of Morocco’s occupation, but our independence and sovereignty continue to be undermined by neo-colonial conglomerates greed and exploitation, together with their imperialist governments.

The time has come for Africa to free itself from these shackles. The continental cry and demand by all Africans must be for economic freedom and land in our lifetime. This is an ideal we shall strive and live for - but if needs be - it’s an ideal we are prepared to die for.

Comrades and friends the whole world is today gripped by a dangerous and murderous Covid19 pandemic, that is ravaging and decimating countless innocent lives. All of us, together with our governments, are called upon to protect ourselves from infection and further loss of lives.

However, we must in a proper manner without endangering the lives of others keep our economies going, and put food on the tables of our families. This virus must not intimidate us, this virus cannot and must not paralyse us. We must exercise vigilance, and ensure that those that govern our countries are held accountable for their actions during the lockdowns and the pandemic.

Our governments must prioritise the most vulnerable and the poorest of the poor in terms of government services during this period and beyond.

Some charlatans will take chances, and exploit this situation in various ways including wanting to take our freedoms and rights away. That we should never allow. If anything, now is the time not only to exercise vigilance, but also - and more importantly - to intensify the struggle for social and economic empowerment of the African masses and their complete economic EMANCIPATION!

Thanks for listening to this debate hoping that it will elicit broader debate and discussion about the role and place of ex-combatants in the ongoing struggle for economic freedom and land, that this will also encourage closer collaboration between ex-combatants in the Southern African region, and finally in our entire continent. We also are looking forward to hearing your voices on this subject and other subjects going forward dear African comrades, brothers and sisters!

Amandla Ngawethu!

Nkosi Sikelela i'Africa. God bless Africa!

*Tony Yengeni is an ANC veteran, and member of the NEC and NWC of the ANC. He Chairs the ANC NEC Sub-Committee on Peace and Stability