11/07/2020
Part One of Stanley Manong's pieces. IN MEMORY OF MARK SHOPE
I normally refrain from talking Party Politics on social media because our political env,ironment has become too toxic. Party Politics have pitted members of the same family, brothers and sisters, comrades who fought side by side in the trenches against apartheid, and many more, against one another. All in the name of either preserving the status quo or fighting for the so-called Radical Economic Transformation (RET), which is a ruse for corruption as far as I am concerned. But today allow me to dwell a little bit about our past. Why, you may ask. It’s because yesterday was the birthday of the former President, Thabo Mbeki. He turned 78 years old.
It’s July 2007, I am sitting in my office as a business person. I am no longer involved in politics, correctly so, for so many reasons. I don’t have to mention the reasons why I kept a distance. Politics can be draining. Each political leader or leadership wants total obedience and subservience to the manner they run their organisations. If you do not, you’re in trouble. 2007, The ANC is facing a hell of an upheaval. The President of the country and ANC, Thabo Mbeki, and his Deputy, Jacob Zuma, are at each other’s throat. The ANC is in a mess. I think of Mark Shope. He was my political instructor in the camps in Angola. A very honest, frank and no nonsense revolutionary. He mentored most of us in politics. The Polokwane Conference is four months away. There is a real danger, judging by the emotions of many ANC members, that JZ might emerge victorious in Polokwane. What can I do as a business person to prevent this calamity from happening?
Every revolutionary principle that Mark Shope taught us, JZ had violated. Aah! Let me pen an article about the teachings of Mark Shope and distribute it nationwide and teach ordinary members of the ANC what the ANC stands for. In that way they might reconsider their stance. I penned the article. I called it: IN MEMORY OF MARK
