THE 2024 MESSAGE TO THE AFRIKAN FAMILY!

Warm and revolutionary greetings to you Afrikan Family as we welcome the New Year 2024(as per the Gregorian Calendar). One of the struggles we must wage going forward as part of the decolonization efforts is the restoration of the Afrikan Calendar which has been relegated into the peripheries in favour of the Gregorian Calendar. This is important because the Afrikan Calendar is aligned with our Spirituality and nature. Ofcourse one is not unaware of how much of a colossal task that would be and cannot be waged in isolation of the broader struggle for decolonization. This year 2024 is a big year ,a year which is pregnant with many events,especially in the political arena. The Democratic Republic of Congo the richest country in the world interms of the mineral resources it is endowed with has just completed an "election" process and the incumbent Felix Tshisekedi has secured the second term as the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is a very strategic country in the development of Afrika and the world which explains why it has been so contested internally and externally dating back from the 1884 Conference on West Africa by the European invaders which was mainly about the Congo,the Conference is popularly known as the Berlin Conference because it was held in Berlin.

The criminal colonial entity known as South Africa will be holding National and Provincial elections,and will be marking 30 years of the democratic breakthrough. It is indeed a significant year considering the central and strategic role of leadership South Africa plays on the continent and the diaspora .South Africa goes into this elections confronted with all manner of permutations and possibilities .For the first time since the democratic breakthrough in 1994 the governing African National Congress is not guaranteed of a majority vote(50+1 %). The ANC dropping below 50% seems and appears to be a real possibility . This is as a result of many factors chief among is the failure of the ANC to transform the economy which would have meant uplifting the majority of the populations(Afrikans) out of poverty,the scandals surrounding the Party(Phalaphala Farm Gate),the expelling of key leaders with some leaving the ANC on their own accord(Ace Magashule and his African Congress for Transformation,Jacob Zuma and the UMkhonto weSizwe Party).

It is no secret that the ANC has dismally failed to transform the economy from a racist and colonial ownership patterns. Unemployment and poverty have sky-rocketed amongst the Afrikan community which is a majority of the population.The country is going into this elections clouded by serious and uncertainties about its future. One right of the ANC is  a coalition of the backward and counter-revolutionary forces which consists of the Democratic Alliance,Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front Plus,Action SA,ect. This is a grouping which ideologically is opposed to the transformation of the economy and placing of the Afrikans at the center of the economy,this counter-revolutionary grouping is about the maintenance of the status quo which is leaving the economy in the hands of the whites and condemning the Afrikans who are Natives of this country into abject poverty.

On the left of the ANC we have the Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF) ,the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania(PAC), the newly formed African Congress for Transformation(ACT of Ace Magashule) ,the UMkhonto weSizwe Party(Jacob Zuma), the African Transformation Movement(ATM),the Land Party and the Black First Land First(BLF of Andile Mngxitama). This what currently constitute the left praxis in the South African context,despite its limitations this is the only vehicle capable of rescuing the South African revolution and defend the gains made since 1994 no matter how limited they may be. In the face of the ever increasing possibility of the governing African National Congress dropping below 50% and the likelihood of the emergence of the Right Wing coalition led by the DA we are compelled to seriously look at the Front of the EFF,PAC,ACT,MK,ATM,LP and BLF.

Another difficulty the South African democratic project is confronted with is a phenomenon of people who have lost hope in the political system as a vehicle for transformation,these are the people who nolonger partake in the elections. This threatens the legitimacy of the elections and its outcomes.

My parting short is that it is our collective responsibility to defend the gains made ,and we must defend them against the right wing coalition led by the DA. However,defending the gains is not enough ,we need to build a vehicle to take forward the revolution and through our votes we can take a step forward towards that goal. Let us all go out and register to vote in defense of the gains made by the 1994 breakthrough.

Comments are always welcomed.

By 

Teboho Sekhosana

Political and Social Activist

0844361494

sekhosanateboho9@gmail.com