Johannesburg – White monopoly capital is the enemy in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday. He said without land ownership, the ANC's revolution in the country is not complete.
"We are in a fight, and our strategic enemy remains white monopoly capital. We cannot say because we are politically free, then that is the end...even if we starve to death? We can't. We must complete the liberation as the ANC strategy document said years ago," Zuma said speaking to delegates at the Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) elective conference currently underway in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni.
He quoted the African National Congress strategy and tactics document adopted at Morogoro conference in 1969, the party's first consultative conference held to unify the ANC that was plagued by internal turmoil.
"The document could not have been more ambiguous about this point than when it said '...in our country, more than in any part of the oppressed world, it is inconceivable for liberation to have meaning without a return of wealth of the land to the people as a whole. It is therefore a fundamental feature of our strategy that victory must embrace more than formal political democracy to allow the existing economic forces to retain their economic interests intact is to feed the roots of racial supremacy and does not even represent the shadow of liberation."
Zuma added that the problems facing the governing party were complex and that the struggle for non-sexism, non-racialism and a better life for all continued.
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"The challenges we face require sober minds. Ours is a revolutionary movement, and therefore, in efforts to resolve our challenges we must always make a thorough assessment of the state of our revolution and answer important questions indeed."
Zuma praised the delegates and said the level of your ideological training "is the best our movement has ever had to offer".
"When we talk of MK cadres we talk of cadres of the ANC who were trained both militarily and politically. You are gathered here representing various generations of the best MK cadres whose understanding of approach to issues is scientific and informed by historical and theoretical foundation of our revolution," he said to a loud applause. He said the ANC revolution is "on trial" and that members should unite and close ranks.
"We have seen in recent past the sporadic emergence of civil society groupings, mobilised on the basis of hostile opinions against the ANC and its leadership. Most unfortunately, some have fallen in the trap and have joined these groupings in order to appear as intellectually and morally sound," Zuma said to cheers from the delegates.
Participating in activities that aimed to weaken the ANC was the same as acting in a "counter-revolutionary manner," he said.
The ANC was under attack from many fronts and therefore cannot withstand "self-inflicted pain".
"The ANC has been through many problems since its formation in 1912. It has always emerged stronger. Our challenges are not insurmountable, they need us to be clear and united. We will have many meetings this year which we must take advantage of and use to resolve our problems."