LETSETSE THE FLEA Monthly news, comment and mobilisation pamphlet of the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania [BCMA] Vol. 1, No. 8 April, 1990 BANTUSTAN COUPS AND TRICKS When the idea of Bantustans was first thought of, the Boers saw it as a final solution to "the native problem". We were to be scattered all over the country to wretched areas set aside for 'Bantu' resettlement. The whites would, hopefully, live in peace thereafter. The "solution" has always been rejected by the owners of the land, the Blacks, and developments in these "homelands" have shown that the despicable collaborators who have taken part in the balkanisation of our country enjoy no popular support. By these we do not mean the coups d'etat, but the general unrest and resistance against those who have led the people towards backwardness. There have been two military coups in the last two months. The former 'President for Life' in the Ciskei Bantustan, Lennox 'Nyheke' Sebe is a case in point. Before he accepted "independence", he was clearly defeated in elections in his own constituency. The regime than appointed him "economic advisor" to the Ciskei puppet government, notwithstanding that his knowledge of economics was no more than a puppy's piss. They later found him a safe seat and returned him to the dummy parliament. The development we ne'ed to address now in the Bantustans is that of military coups. This development has the potential of confusing some of our people into thinking that the officers behind the coups are progressive. Starting with the Transkei, there is no doubt that Bantu Holomisa enjoyed the support of the Boers when he first took over. The Matanzima brothers who ran the Bantustan, and their cronies were far too depraved for anyone to be seen supporting them. When the Boers ditched them, Holomisa was the next best thing. Holomisa has now clashed with his bosses in Pretoria. His populist utterances, including the call for reincorporation into the rest of South Africa, however, are simply stunts. He can not represent the people or their wishes. It is within the power of the Boers to remove him. To prove this point, when the Bophuthatswana Bantustan soldiers of Lucas Mangope mutinied against him, Big Brother was not amused. They quickly sent in the Defence Force led by its Chief, General Viljoen, to crush the rebellion against their lap-dog. The popular uprising against Sebe was unstoppable. He was overthrown while he was on a visit to Hong Kong. We have no reason to believe that the officers who couped him are different from Holomisa. They are all de Klerk's officers. The anger and the frustration of the people remain. These officers are in no position to satisfy their needs. During the first week of this month, Frank Ravele's short and turbulent term as "President" of Venda Bantustan came to an abrupt end, through a coup led by one of the Blue-eyed boys of theS.A.D.F. who was back barely three days from a course at a South African military academy. It is clear the Boers engineered this coup to remove another embarrassing puppet and rid themselves of the shame of Ravele. After the jubilation that greeted Ravele's removal, it was revealed that the coup leader, Gabriel Ramoshwane, had been a member of the South African special branch, and had carried out hostile activities against the liberation movements. On Tuesday, 10 April, less than a week after taking over, Ramoshwane banned the Allied Workers' Union, the only labour organisation active in Venda and closed its offices. The message coming out of the Bantustans is clear. The Azanian people are sick and tired of being taken for suckers. The people want re-incorporation into a unitary Azania. The masses are fighting for the liberation of our whole country. The regime will find no solution in engineering coups and replacing dogs with foxes. FURTHER AGGRESSION AGAINST BCM CADRES The last issue of LETSETSE dealt with a number of hostile actions against members of the BCM. A funeral of a family member of one of the leaders of the Azanian Students' Movement (A2ASM) was violently taken over by elements who removed the BCM flag draped over the coffin and replaced it with a green, black and gold flag. The group occupied the church and kept the mourners in the funeral procession out of the church, and went to bury the corpse on their own. On March 21, a service to commemorate the massacre of demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960 was held at the Stadium in Ikageng Township, near Potchefstroom. The key-note speaker was Comrade Lybon Mabasa, outgoing deputy president of AZAPO. The UDF/ANC supporters tried to disrupt the meeting and failed. When Comrade Mabasa took the platform, he got a very good response from the audience. The disruptionists then resorted to stoning the meeting and the speakers. At Sharpeville itself, the Africanists who organised the service there, invited the BCM to attend, and to present a speaker. When the BCM forces arrived at the Stadium, their marshalls tried to keep them out of the event. When they entered, the Africanists forced them not to display their BCM banners outside. The local AZAPO chairman, who was listed on the programme, was not allowed to speak. What more, the very Africans who invited him spoke to the press about why they were right to block him. Late last month, BCM veteran, Rapheso Mamabolo was attacked in his parish in Heilbron, in the Orange Free State. His car was smashed up by UDF supporters who have been intimidating BCM cadres and threatening elderly members of the community. When they were urging each other to set the car on fire, Reverend Mamabolo got out of the car and challenged them to do so if they saw the act as their path to liberation. On April 4, a group of UDF supporters attacked several houses in Mahwereleng, near Potgietersrus, vandalising the houses and injuring many BCM cadres including Abner Ledwaba. Families of our militants were told to pass messages that they should resign from AZAPO and other BCM organisations. This was barely two weeks after the effective leader of the UDF/ANC called for unity and mentioned his intention to resume contact with AZAPO. Seven more comrades were injured and hospitalised on April 10 in another round of attacks by the UDF/ANC youths. A member of the AZAPO regional executive was surrounded by knife-wielding thugs who tried to force him to reveal the homes and where-abouts of BCM cadres. When a senior UDF cadre intervened, our comrade demanded to know why this was happening when peace-talks were in progress at national level, and when the President of AZAPO was on a joint committee with the leader of the ANC. The reply was that the UDF could not control its members. There has been inculcated a mentality amongst the UDF/ANC, which seeks to establish themselves as the only voice of the oppressed. This is encouraged by their external supporters such as the Russians and the Swedes. If they want to establish such a situation by force, they are going to cause a lot of unnecessary suffering for Black people. The situation in Natal is largely due to their attempts to suppress Inkatha by force. Much as the BCM disagrees with Inkatha, we do not believe the solution is through violent conflict with them. TWO ISSUES RELATED TO WOMEN AND THE STRUGGLE Women in Leading Position in The Struggle The liberation struggle in Azania has a proud tradition in the area of the participation of women. This goes back to the wars of resistance fought by our forebearers against the invading colonialists. Also, all liberation movements can point to women who became prominent in their ranks. The BCM can point to the fact that both before the 1977 crackdown, and after, its main mass organisations have at some point been led by women. It seems as if this history has weakened the drive to develop more participation and leadership by women in the Azanian liberation struggle as a whole. In all societies such as ours, which are ruled by colonialism, imperialism and capitalism, male domination stays strong. Many factors cause women to take a smaller role in public matters such as struggle. To weaken these forces of oppression, we must make an extra effort to build women's participation, and to increase the women's role in decision-making. If we look at the national leadership of the two main Labour Federations or the Churches and other mass organisations, how many women are there? Even in Trade Unions where women make up a large number of the members, we may find unions where there is not a single woman in the National Executive, or in the Central Committee. We must engage the talent and skills of our sisters so they can be examples for others. There are many reasons why women comrades often do not rise to leadership. Some of them have to do with family work. Some have to do with us being used to seeing men.in responsible positions. In the past, also, many families used to find it more important to educate their sons rather than daughters. We must work to change these positions. We must also criticise some of the habits which have occurred in our various organisations. Sometimes, women have been recruited simply as companions and fans of male activists. Or women who have been attracted to the struggle on their own have been treated badly by comrades with childish, playboy habits.