If you have a short memory and have forgotten the history of how the state has been captured, read below, says Zwelinzima Vavi.
1. With a naive support of some of us the first area of "delivery" was to dismantle an elite corruption fighting capacity called the scorpions. We did nothing!
2. They dismissed a professional prosecutor in the NPA Adv Nxasana and gave him R17 million golden handshake. They replaced him with a junior Adv Abrahamse. We did nothing
3. They allowed advocates Mrwebi and Jiba who have been condemned by the courts to stay in their posts. As we speak both have been strike off the roll. They can't practice as advocates anywhere. We did nothing
4. They dismissed celebrated MK comrades (Maqetuka, Njenje & Shaik) in the intelligence and replaced him with apartheid era intelligence. We did nothing
5. They appointed apartheid era torturer (Richard Mdluli) to head crime intelligence. Even when Mdluli was removed by courts they found another pliant police (Chris Ngcobo) to head the crime intelligence who even when he was found to have falsified his matric certificate got promoted to be an Embassodor to Mali. This is the same man used to intimidate ZV by claiming that there was a plot that he will be poisoned by Iraq intelligence! We did nothing !
6. They sidelined career police and appointed a social worker to head the police service after they had remilitarized it. Weeks thereafter Marikana massacre happened. We did nothing!
7. They replaced the social worker with a career police who is currently being investigated by IPID for fraud and corruption. We did nothing!
As we speak every security apparatus has been captured domesticated and hollowed out! The result is that the number of South Africans who die from violent crimes has increased from 49 a day to 52. We second only to Syria when it comes to violent deaths. Most of the victims of these don't receive justice as our justice system is largely dysfunctional. We are doing nothing!
As if this is not enough,
8. They removed DENEL CEO, company secretary and chief financial officer for no valid reason. They forced a monetary settlement suspected to be millions. Today DENEL is doing business with Gupta linked companies in such undemocratic and rogue regimes such as Saudi Arabia. We did nothing!
9. They appointed a man with the Standard 7 to run SABC as the CEO. We know the destruction that followed. We did nothing!
10. They appointed family friend to number one to head SAA. Today SAA is no longer profitable and have to be bailed out yearly. We did nothing!
11. They removed honest executives and the members of the board at Eskom and replaced them with characters with links to the first family and Guptas. These deliberately plunged us into years of rolling load shedding that led to the retrenchment of hundreds of thousands of workers. We did nothing!
12. They took over Prasa appointing their family friends. Recently they dismissed the chair and the board who was digging out the dirt. We did nothing!
13. At Transnet they appointed to the position of the CEO a former head of procurement dismissed by the internal processes for advantaging a company owned by a Minister. Let's not forget that this company outsource to China company work that South African firms have capacity to do. Hundreds of jobs are being lost at companies such as Nigel based Union Carriage. We did little.
I m tired of writing there is still loads of examples of state capture!
In order to achieve this they hollowed out and domesticated organs of peoples power! They orchestrated the dismissal of NUMSA and offloaded loads of other members from other unions so that they can emasculate and transform COSATU into a sweetheart. They disbanded the structures of the ANCYL with a sole aim to domesticate a once vibrant and militant mass youth formation!
Let us be clear the ANC was captured long ago to abandon the economic demands of the Freedom Charter or any notion of fundamental change in economic power and property relations. Let's be clear ANC factions have implemented neoliberalism through GEAR and now NDP. None of them are friends of the working class. That's why SAFTU has even before it has been launched submitted a Sect 77 notice at NEDLAC in December 2016. We are engaging and are prepared to use this to mobilize the working class to back our demands.
To allow or yet again do nothing or too little when they introduce nuclear that will mortgage our country to foreign countries is just wrong!
To allow them to grab the Treasury not for anything remotely close to advancing any working class interests but to do what they have done to countless other state institutions is not correct.
I am a South African I am patriot! Yes I am a socialist to the core! I engage with today's struggles facing my people and my country! I do that from my class perspective!
SAFTU took a correct decision to do something against this rot accompanying the aggressive capturing of the state institutions by a gang of crony capitalists taking the country to a kleptocracy controlled by predatory elites!
I know I am exaggeration the "we did nothing". We fought all the step of the way. In 2015 we put together a biggest anti corruption coalition this country have seen. NUMSA even held a strike to protest this. We marched and formed part of the Save our SABC Coalition. We supported Journalists butchered by Hlaudi etc.
But clearly that was not nearly enough to stop the march to Kleptocracy! That's why in the SAFTU congress the central question to be answered through democratic debates is going to be: what more we should be doing?
I am joining the march in Pretoria. I can't just do nothing! Broader unity is now needed just as we needed it during the battle against apartheid. Sectarian approach will only help maintain the status quo!
* Taken from Zwelinzima Vavi's Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1890111967891653&id=100006786042600