(Cloud-cuckoo-land (mass-noun): a state of
absurdly over-optimistic fantasy, rather than understanding how things really are. Translation of Greek Nephelokokkugia, the name of the city built by the
birds in Aristophanes' comedy Birds, from nephelē 'cloud' + kokkux 'cuckoo'.)
In 1987 Margaret Thatcher, then UK Prime Minister, was incorrectly attributed
with saying that anyone who believed the ANC would ever rule South Africa was
living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Contrary to this assertion, apocryphal or not, in
1994 most of us migrated to the ANC-led Rainbow Nation perhaps with some
trepidation if white, but also with much hope that interracial harmony would
indeed provide a better life for all. In 2016 we have returned to Cloud Cuckoo
Land with a vengeance, courtesy of the ANC, the DA, and Julius Malema with his
Red Berets.
There is no doubt that the EFF have shaken our traditional
establishment to its core and irreversibly changed the political landscape in
South Africa, in some ways for the better.
Julius Malema is also undoubtedly a first rate orator, even though he
deliberately tailors his speeches to be inflammatory and racially divisive; speeches
that stir very positive or highly negative emotions in people, depending upon
which side of his argument you are on. His
tactic of continually stepping over the line and then retreating again before
anyone can process what has happened, is also working well for him. By the time
the ANC or DA react to one outrageous declaration, Malema and the EFF are
already on to the next one, leaving their opponents off-balance and scrambling
to keep up.
Through this “moving target” strategy, the EFF are rapidly gaining political
ground without ever having to provide any substantive evidence that they have
the capability or capacity to govern anything. Spouting revolutionary rhetoric
and being generally disruptive is easy, whereas presenting pragmatic solutions
to the problems we face at local government level is incredibly difficult.
Their 2016 election manifesto contains some practical ambitions, but
in the main it can be seen as either a Cloud Cuckoo Land document, or as a cynically
populist document deliberately designed to woo the electorate with false
promises. Either way, irrespective of how many times they repeat themselves in the
32 pages, some of their main “commitments” will breach the Municipal Finance
Management Act, or the Municipal Systems Act, or both. Not forgetting a couple more
that will land them back in the Constitutional Court, this time on the wrong
end of a judgement.
But of more concern than the viability of their
election manifesto, and in accordance with their Marxist-Leninist Fanonian doctrine, the EFF are steadily
voicing various justifications for employing revolutionary violence in their
quest for regime change.
If you are sceptical of their intentions and still think
the EFF are harmless, consider this: In
his opening remarks to their local government election manifesto Malema says “The
EFF’s contestation of political power through elections should however not be
mistaken with our revolutionary determination to remove the current government
by any other revolutionary means.” followed by: “The forms in
which the EFF contests political power will, from time to time, be reviewed in
the light of prevailing circumstances”. Will those prevailing circumstances
include not doing as well as they would like in the 2016 Local Government
Elections?
Malema’s “barrel of a gun” statement during his Al
Jazeera interview is at the very least alarming, and possibly even treasonous.
In addition, by deliberately and
continually provoking their physical ejection from parliament at every
available opportunity, the EFF are creating a self-inflicted impression of
victimhood that they may ultimately be able to use as an excuse for violent
retaliation.
If all the above and other more veiled threats are
not enough to spark concern, take a quick look at some quotes from the EFF’s revolutionary
role models V I Lenin[1],
Chairman Mao Zedong[2] and
Frantz Fanon[3].
These should trigger a basic comprehension of where the EFF are coming from, and
the potential threat they therefore pose to our fledgling democracy.
But can we really blame them for wanting revolution when it is the ANC
and DA who are primarily guilty of creating the environment in which an organisation
such as the EFF can flourish?
For the past 22 years, particularly in local government, traditional
parties including the DA have used legislative flaws in the Constitution to
avoid direct accountability to the electorate.
Poor service delivery as a result of cadre deployment, nepotism, tender
fraud, financial mismanagement and corruption can be directly attributed to the
unaccountability inherent in the Proportional Representation party list system.
Essentially too many unaccountable politicians taking too much from the public purse
while making no contribution to service delivery. For 22 years, the ANC and DA have lived in
Cloud Cuckoo Land, believing that this particular political golden goose would
keep on laying forever, when they should rather have been concentrating on
their responsibility to deliver a better life for all.
The Rainbow Nation may or may not be on its last legs, but the one
thing we really don’t need is an EFF-inspired revolution that feeds on racial
division and hatred, where they will eventually subjugate, or should that read
sub-juju-gate all of us, both black
and white, to the whims of a self-styled dictator-in-waiting.
Even if we avoid a violent revolution, nothing will change in local
government until the electoral system itself is changed: five yearly cycles of
casting a vote, only to be ignored until the next voting cycle comes
around. Another round of cadre
deployment, nepotism, corruption etc. and to believe otherwise is to be living
in Cloud Cuckoo Land. So stop the negative protests against lack of service
delivery, or against Jacob Zuma and his ANC. Fly the coop and use your positive
energy to march for changes to the electoral system. March for a peaceful
revolution that will break the stranglehold traditional political parties have
over us; one that may also rescue us from a revolution of an entirely different
kind.
[1]
“Marxists have never forgotten that violence will be an inevitable
accompaniment of the collapse of capitalism”: and then “One man with a gun can
control 100 without a gun” – VI Lenin
[2]
“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”: “The seizure of power by
armed force, the settlement of the issue by war, is the highest form of
revolution. This Marxist/Leninist principle holds well universally....” -Mao Zedong
[3] “Violence is a cleansing force. It
frees the native from his inferiority complex, and from his despair and
inaction. It makes him fearless and restores his self-respect” – Frantz Fanon.
