When the ANCYL accuse someone like Pravin Gordhan of being an impimpi - without an iota of justification - they are doing exactly what Vorster’s bully boys did, writes Dennis Pather.
Collen Maine and his comrades in the ANC Youth League play a dangerous game, spreading malicious disinformation about respected figures in leadership.
They may not realise it, but their tactics are almost identical to those apartheid’s Special Branch operatives used with devastating effect to spread doubt, confusion and disarray in the liberation movement.
The modus operandi was simple. When SB operatives believed someone in the anti-apartheid movement was a thorn in their side, they used whatever means possible to plant false information that the person was an informer and should not be trusted.
When Maine accuses someone like Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan of being an impimpi (spy or sell-out) for white monopoly capital - without an iota of justification - he is doing exactly what John Vorster’s bully boys did to many of our freedom fighters.
It is perhaps an opportune time to remind ourselves of the circumstances behind the assassination of Black Consciousness leader Ben Langa at the hands of fellow ANC members in May 1984.
Ben, the brother of chief justice Pius Langa, was general secretary of the SA Students’ Organisation when apartheid’s security police used agents in the ANC to finger him as an enemy agent.
In evidence before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a few years later, MK operative George Martins and two other cadres, Lucky Payi and Sipho Xulu, were involved in Ben’s assassination. Martins testified that Payi and Xulu told him their commander in Swaziland had instructed them to kill Ben because he had sold out his comrades, which was not true. It was an act of deliberate disinformation that led to Ben’s killing, as well as attacks which claimed the lives of several other dedicated ANC cadres over the years.
Once the truth behind Ben’s killing became known, the ANC leadership readily repented and the president, Oliver Tambo, met the Langa family to apologise for what took place. Apologies also followed from Thabo Mbeki and President Jacob Zuma, who, at Pius Langa’s funeral, said: “It is remarkable that despite this, the Langa family never turned its back on the movement or on the struggle to build a better South Africa.”
Mr President, Pravin Gordhan would never turn his back on the movement or the struggle for a better South Africa. Surely he too deserves an apology.