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ZACF statement on the "racist anarchists" of Potchefstroom

category southern africa | the left | press release author Wednesday June 27, 2007 18:10author by Jonathan Payn - ZACF (southern Africa) Report this post to the editors

Right-wingers in the South African town of Potchefstroom removed street-signs with the names of liberation figures and replaced them with those of Boer leaders. But the Potch City Council attributed the actions to "racist anarchists".

ZACF STATEMENT ON THE "RACIST ANARCHISTS" OF POTCHEFSTROOM

The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (ZACF) of South Africa and Swaziland notes with concern that the removal and defacement of street signs in Potchefstroom has been attributed without proof by Potchefstroom City Council spokesman Kaiser Mohau to "racist anarchists". We presume that Mohau is simply politically naive in putting about his mistaken attribution of these acts of vandalism. However, his comments have the unfortunate effect of besmirching the good name of the small, but active anarchist movement in southern Africa.

The ZACF wishes to point out that the first trade unions for people of colour" in southern Africa, the Industrial Workers of Africa founded in 1917 and the Indian Workers Industrial Union founded in 1919 were established by anarchist-syndicalists of all colours including Thomas William "Bill" Thibedi (who later became a communist), Bernard Sigamoney, Andrew Dunbar and Johnny Gomas. Anti-racism has always been and remains a fundamental ethic of the anarchist movement. Today, the ZACF, engages in constructive educational work, both within South African townships as well as within the pro-democracy movements of Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Other anarchists are similarly involved in progressive projects that make no distinction of gender, colour or creed.

The vandalism of signs in Potchefstroom, in which the names of liberation figures like Nelson Mandela have been replaced by those of Boer generals like Koos de la Rey, has clearly been carried out by racist right-wingers who are opposed to transformation in South Africa, and not by left-wingers among whom we anarchists proudly count ourselves. We trust that journalists in the broadcast and print media will peruse our website (address below) and will then be able to apply a more sound political analysis to the issue than Mr Mohau has.

best regards
Jonathan Payn
ZACF Federation Secretary
Tel: 078-5774394

Verwandter Link: http://www.zabalaza.net/
author by Kaizer Mohau - Potchefstroom City Councilpublication date Fri Jun 29, 2007 16:14author address author phone 018 299 5073Report this post to the editors

We will never allow vandalism and lawlessness rule in our city

Monday, June 25, 2007

Over the past few Months the Potchefstroom City Council and the city in general have been subjected to crime and lawlessness aimed at causing political and social instability, this phenomenon seem to be prevalent in the entire City of Potchefstroom.

These crimes includes amongst other things, illegal placing of information boards carrying racist and insulting messages directed at our City Council and the changes that are unfolding in the city and the illegal removal of our street names.

We are aware as to the origin of these plans and actions; it is in this context that as the City Council we have instructed our Public safety management and the South African police service to ensure that perpetrators of these crimes are brought to book as a matter of urgency. We cannot allow a situation wherein which people are able to do as they please when they are not satisfied with one thing or another. It cannot be correct that when you have a democratic government which is accountable to the majority of the people who voted for it, you should be intimidated by a group of criminals organized or unorganized.

It is in the same spirit, very important to note that our City Council extend its appreciation to the members of the community in the City of Potchefstroom for having reported these crimes to the City Council and relevant law enforcement agencies. This action by members of the community is a clear indication that our people as well will never succumb to criminal elements.

The information we received from members of our community has led to the discovery of about 15 to 20 street names removed and dumped into the Vaal River, we do at the same time call on all members of the community to be vigilant and report these crimes to relevant law enforcement agencies. The reality is of these crimes is that, this kind of crime is equally making it difficult for instance for our emergency services and the police service to reach addresses in time where an accident or crime occurred.

We hope and trust, as we have said above, that relevant law enforcement agencies will ensure that these criminals are brought to book and change is unfolding without any disturbances.

Kaizer N. Mohau
Spokesperson in the office of the Executive Mayor
Potchefstroom City Council

author by Jonathan Payn - ZACF (southern Africa)publication date Fri Jun 29, 2007 16:25author email international at zabalaza dot netauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

Dear C'de. Mohau,

Thank you for sending me this statement. Having now read the original press release it appears that the media have misquoted you in the press, and that your alleged use of the term 'racist anarchists' on air on SAfm with Xolani Gwala this week was not a politically motivated attack on anarchism, but an unfortunate choice of words based an all too common misconception of anarchism, or anarchists.

We are confident that, if you did say this on air, it was not your intention to upset the anarchists of this country, and hope that you will not hold it against us for reacting as we did.

I trust that you will understand our initial offense, as it would be the same as the press referring to the clearly right-wing vandals as 'racist Marxist-Leninists', and hope that you will now consider the matter resolved in a comradely manner.

Yours for Freedom,
Jonathan Payn - on behalf of ZACF.

author by Georgepublication date Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:15author email gpnieuwoudt at yahoo dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

So Kaizer Mohau is driving while under the influence ... that at least explains a few of his statements he made in the past. Now that he killed a young boy, I wonder what he will have to say.

 
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Selby Semela, 1958-2018 imageA South African Revolutionary Passes: Jabisile Selby Semela, 1958-2018 08:14 Thu 30 Aug by ZACF 0 comments

Selby Semela, a leading figure in the 1976 revolt against apartheid, political exile, and author (with Sam Thompson and Norman Abraham), of “Reflections on the Black Consciousness Movement and the South African Revolution”, passed away on Wednesday, 22 August, 2018, aged but 60 years.

zacfront_symbol_1.jpg imageThe “Democratic Left”: A Small Step Towards United Working Class Struggle 02:46 Wed 23 Feb by Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front 0 comments

From 20 to 23 January 2011, working class and revolutionary militants from throughout South Africa, including a ZACF delegation, gathered in Johannesburg for the Conference of the Democratic Left (CDL). The gathering ended in the launch of the Democratic Left Front (DLF) as a loose alliance of organisations and individuals in struggle.

In explaining our relationship to the DLF, we will here summarise our reservations, while explaining why they are outweighed by the genuine achievements of the CDL. The reservations cover three main areas: attitudes towards the state and elections; leadership structures; and the DLF programme and demands. (We are also less than enthusiastic about some new terms that have become popular in the CDL and DLF, such as “eco-socialism”; but this is largely a matter of language, which we will not discuss in detail here.)

textIn Solidarity with Cosatu and the Workers of the World 20:26 Fri 16 May by Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front 0 comments

The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) recognises that the crisis in Zimbabwe, ongoing xenophobic attacks and rising food prices are of great importance to the working class, both in South Africa and internationally. Resolving these crises in favour of the poor and working poor will require mass direct action and solidarity. [ Italiano]

textSWAZILAND: Rush hour for liberation movement 19:08 Thu 07 Dec by International Secretary ZACF 0 comments

Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation statement on alleged armed struggle tendency of Swaziland pro-democracy movement.

imageClass struggle, the Left and power – Part 2 Sep 08 by Jonathan Payn 0 comments

The first part of this series stated that, despite various well-intentioned efforts by forces on the extra-Alliance and independent left over recent years to unite working class struggles in South Africa, these largely have and will continue to fail to resonate with the working class, help build unity in struggle and form the basis of a new movement because of the theoretical understandings of class and power – and their strategic implications – on which they are founded and which are prevalent on much of the left. This article will give a basic overview of these theoretical understandings of class and power and their strategic implications and limitations and why it is therefore necessary to refine and develop understandings of class and power more capable of responding to the context of the neoliberal restructuring of the working class in order to advance the class struggle in pursuit of socialism. [Part 1]

imageAfter the election dust settles: Class struggle, the Left and power Jun 25 by Jonathan Payn 0 comments

Twenty-five years into democracy the black working class majority in South Africa has not experienced any meaningful improvements in its conditions. The apartheid legacy of unequal education, healthcare and housing and the super-exploitation of black workers continues under the ANC and is perpetuated by the neoliberal policies it has imposed. The only force capable of changing this situation is the working class locally and internationally. Yet to do so, struggles need to come together, new forms of organisation appropriate to the context are needed; and they need both to be infused with a revolutionary progressive politics and to learn from the mistakes of the past. Outside the ANC alliance, there have indeed been many efforts to unite struggles – but these have largely failed to resonate with the working class in struggle and form the basis of a new movement. Nowhere is this more evident than with the newly-formed Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) – which got less than 25 000 votes in the national elections, despite the fact that the union that conceived it, Numsa, claims nearly 400 000 members. [Part 2]

imageA Workers’ Party and Elections or Class Struggle? Feb 26 by Warren McGregor 0 comments

The question of state government elections and running a Workers or Socialist political party continues to be raised in the working class movement and the Left globally. As we may know, there was excitement about the rise of Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour Party in Britain, left political parties in certain parts of Europe and Latin America and, more recently, certain shifts to more centrist positions in the United States amongst a section of the Democratic Party calling themselves “Democratic Socialists”. In South Africa, many workers and some activists seem cautiously optimistic by NUMSA’s formation of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party that will seek to participate in the 2019 general elections.

imageLeft unity, left cooperation or a working class front? Jul 21 by Warren McGregor 2 comments

A call for socialist Left unity is heard widely today in South Africa, but is usually taken as a call for unity of praxis (unity in theoretical programme and action). This is sometimes framed as transcending old divides (these seen as outdated, divisive or dismissed as dogmatic), and sometimes as unity in order to have action (rhetorically set up as the opposite of “arm chair” theory).

What do we as revolutionary anarchists think?

imageSouth African ‘Workerism’ in the 1980s: Learning from FOSATU’s Radical Unionism Dec 13 by Lucien van der Walt, with Sian Byrne and Nicole Ulrich* 0 comments

A lightly edited transcript of a presentation at a workshop hosted by the International Labour Research & Information Group (ILRIG) and the Orange Farm Human Rights Advice Centre in Drieziek extension 1, Orange Farm township, south of Soweto, South Africa, on 24 June 2017. It was attended by a hall full of community and worker activists, including veterans of the big rebellions of the 1980s.

more >>

imageA South African Revolutionary Passes: Jabisile Selby Semela, 1958-2018 Aug 30 ZACF 0 comments

Selby Semela, a leading figure in the 1976 revolt against apartheid, political exile, and author (with Sam Thompson and Norman Abraham), of “Reflections on the Black Consciousness Movement and the South African Revolution”, passed away on Wednesday, 22 August, 2018, aged but 60 years.

imageThe “Democratic Left”: A Small Step Towards United Working Class Struggle Feb 23 ZACF 0 comments

From 20 to 23 January 2011, working class and revolutionary militants from throughout South Africa, including a ZACF delegation, gathered in Johannesburg for the Conference of the Democratic Left (CDL). The gathering ended in the launch of the Democratic Left Front (DLF) as a loose alliance of organisations and individuals in struggle.

In explaining our relationship to the DLF, we will here summarise our reservations, while explaining why they are outweighed by the genuine achievements of the CDL. The reservations cover three main areas: attitudes towards the state and elections; leadership structures; and the DLF programme and demands. (We are also less than enthusiastic about some new terms that have become popular in the CDL and DLF, such as “eco-socialism”; but this is largely a matter of language, which we will not discuss in detail here.)

textIn Solidarity with Cosatu and the Workers of the World May 16 ZACF 0 comments

The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) recognises that the crisis in Zimbabwe, ongoing xenophobic attacks and rising food prices are of great importance to the working class, both in South Africa and internationally. Resolving these crises in favour of the poor and working poor will require mass direct action and solidarity. [ Italiano]

textSWAZILAND: Rush hour for liberation movement Dec 07 Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation 0 comments

Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation statement on alleged armed struggle tendency of Swaziland pro-democracy movement.

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