Fallacies by Makhanya and Dexter Against Nzimande Rebuffed!
7 November 2017
By Sonwabile Ngxiza
Recently we witnessed disparaging attacks, caricature and downright insults levelled against the person of Dr Blade Nzimande following his purging from the Cabinet by Zuma. For some, Nzimande`s removal represented a glorious opportunity to vilify and slander him in order to perpetuate their hatred for the SACP and the working class in general. Others used social media circles to subject him to ridicule and unceasing mocking.
The social media frenzy is not deserving of a response, however the vexatious opinion pieces by, respectively, Mondli Makhanya (City Press, Don`t Cry for Blade: 22/10/2017 and Phillip Dexter (Daily Maverick, What goes around, comes around: Blade Nzimande and political karma: 23/10/ 2017) requires a fitting response. The pair merely regurgitated their longstanding approaches of attacking the General Secretary whilst their actual target is the SACP and what it represents. We have, in the past, maintained a posture of not giving their views currency. However, we felt we should now respond categorically and dismiss specific fabrications on which they base their unwarranted and misguided attacks.
In their obsession with discrediting our General Secretary, they both distort history by implying that he singlehandedly catapulted Zuma into office. This ignores the obvious coalescence of various currents inside the liberation movement towards Polokwane. In doing this, they gloss over real ideological fault-lines exacerbated by Mbeki`s privatisation programme and the rise of the so-called new public management paradigm of lean government which became inimical to the country`s developmental agenda.
It is clear that the newspaperman, Mr Makhanya, has condemned and demonised Nzimande for his insistence that news is not value-free and that many if not all in the media hold a political particular agenda. Marx taught us that in a class divided society the dominant ideas are those of the ruling class. The validity of this statement is clear.
Whilst waxing lyrically about Nzimande`s loyalty to Zuma, the newspaperman proceeds erroneously to make other fallacies that the SACP used commemorations of its martyrs to defend Nkandla. He concludes by claiming that Nzimande aided and abetted "abuse of our republic". No evidence is adduced to support any of these outlandish claims.
For the record, it was the SACP that first articulated the fact that the costs of Nkandla were highly inflated as it tended to be the case with all the prestige projects in which there was collusion and corruption between contractors and officials. It was also the principled stance of the SACP which exposed the parasitic network of the Gupta smash and grab accumulation regime and called on Zuma to distance himself from the Guptas failing which the Party relentlessly campaigned for his resignation and recall.
So, in which way has Nzimande or the SACP been complicit in aiding and abetting abuse of the republic? Mr Makhaya fails to substantiate his claims.
Dexter, a perpetual failure devoid of any ideological spine does not add any value to the national discourse
As for Phillip Dexter, his desperation is neither amusing nor is it worth engaging because it does not add value to the national discourse and the way out of the current morass. Dexter is bitter and harbours a vendetta against Nzimande. He has tried and failed dismally in all his attempts.
His latest tirade reveals more about him than it does about Nzimande. He casts aspersions and doubt that the growing Party membership has read Marx, Lenin and Engels and where the Party membership can "operate as communists" and provide leadership to the working class. Dexter must rest assured that communists do not need approval from his ilk, a messiah, devoid of any ideological spine. He will find communists in the terrain of struggle championing the interests of the poor majority daily combining theory and practice, something foreign to him.
In his vexatious attack, Dexter, a disgruntled former communist, if ever he once was, reveals his inherent opportunism by claiming that Nzimande has blocked "efforts to deploy me" (Dexter). Yet again no evidence is pointed out. More interestingly this begs a question: Why would a "Dr. Phillip Dexter" depend on deployment? Is it because his credentials and credibility are questionable and no prospective employer wants to be associated with him?
Consistent with what lumpen elements do, Dexter uses a ridiculous analogy of a "political condom" when in fact he can correctly be described as a shameless political prostitute. He was a useful idiot of the neo-liberal current in the ANC under Mbeki bent on dividing the SACP He ran away from facing disciplinary process in the SACP. He defected from ANC to COPE. He deserted COPE and disappeared into political wilderness. He remained in oblivion until recently when he mushroomed in the ANC Western Cape as a henchman for a factional project.
The incorrigible serial opportunist now wants to ingratiate and sink its claws on the so-called CR17 in order to advance his wealth accumulation interests. He is so desperate that he is busy campaigning to become an ANC NEC member, despite the knowledge that he does not have 10 years unbroken service in the ANC. Such is a sad story of a desperate and unprincipled man.
It is unfortunate that the newspaperman and Dexter elected to proffer an impotent polemic against the SACP and offered nothing of substantive value in light of the imminent threat to our national and economic sovereignty. This attack is a diversion from the real issues including state capture, the call for Zuma to step down and the nuclear deal - the main reasons behind the recent cabinet purge.
Sonwabile Ngxiza is SACP WC 2nd Deputy Provincial Secretary
By Sonwabile Ngxiza
Recently we witnessed disparaging attacks, caricature and downright insults levelled against the person of Dr Blade Nzimande following his purging from the Cabinet by Zuma. For some, Nzimande`s removal represented a glorious opportunity to vilify and slander him in order to perpetuate their hatred for the SACP and the working class in general. Others used social media circles to subject him to ridicule and unceasing mocking.
The social media frenzy is not deserving of a response, however the vexatious opinion pieces by, respectively, Mondli Makhanya (City Press, Don`t Cry for Blade: 22/10/2017 and Phillip Dexter (Daily Maverick, What goes around, comes around: Blade Nzimande and political karma: 23/10/ 2017) requires a fitting response. The pair merely regurgitated their longstanding approaches of attacking the General Secretary whilst their actual target is the SACP and what it represents. We have, in the past, maintained a posture of not giving their views currency. However, we felt we should now respond categorically and dismiss specific fabrications on which they base their unwarranted and misguided attacks.
In their obsession with discrediting our General Secretary, they both distort history by implying that he singlehandedly catapulted Zuma into office. This ignores the obvious coalescence of various currents inside the liberation movement towards Polokwane. In doing this, they gloss over real ideological fault-lines exacerbated by Mbeki`s privatisation programme and the rise of the so-called new public management paradigm of lean government which became inimical to the country`s developmental agenda.
It is clear that the newspaperman, Mr Makhanya, has condemned and demonised Nzimande for his insistence that news is not value-free and that many if not all in the media hold a political particular agenda. Marx taught us that in a class divided society the dominant ideas are those of the ruling class. The validity of this statement is clear.
Whilst waxing lyrically about Nzimande`s loyalty to Zuma, the newspaperman proceeds erroneously to make other fallacies that the SACP used commemorations of its martyrs to defend Nkandla. He concludes by claiming that Nzimande aided and abetted "abuse of our republic". No evidence is adduced to support any of these outlandish claims.
For the record, it was the SACP that first articulated the fact that the costs of Nkandla were highly inflated as it tended to be the case with all the prestige projects in which there was collusion and corruption between contractors and officials. It was also the principled stance of the SACP which exposed the parasitic network of the Gupta smash and grab accumulation regime and called on Zuma to distance himself from the Guptas failing which the Party relentlessly campaigned for his resignation and recall.
So, in which way has Nzimande or the SACP been complicit in aiding and abetting abuse of the republic? Mr Makhaya fails to substantiate his claims.
Dexter, a perpetual failure devoid of any ideological spine does not add any value to the national discourse
As for Phillip Dexter, his desperation is neither amusing nor is it worth engaging because it does not add value to the national discourse and the way out of the current morass. Dexter is bitter and harbours a vendetta against Nzimande. He has tried and failed dismally in all his attempts.
His latest tirade reveals more about him than it does about Nzimande. He casts aspersions and doubt that the growing Party membership has read Marx, Lenin and Engels and where the Party membership can "operate as communists" and provide leadership to the working class. Dexter must rest assured that communists do not need approval from his ilk, a messiah, devoid of any ideological spine. He will find communists in the terrain of struggle championing the interests of the poor majority daily combining theory and practice, something foreign to him.
In his vexatious attack, Dexter, a disgruntled former communist, if ever he once was, reveals his inherent opportunism by claiming that Nzimande has blocked "efforts to deploy me" (Dexter). Yet again no evidence is pointed out. More interestingly this begs a question: Why would a "Dr. Phillip Dexter" depend on deployment? Is it because his credentials and credibility are questionable and no prospective employer wants to be associated with him?
Consistent with what lumpen elements do, Dexter uses a ridiculous analogy of a "political condom" when in fact he can correctly be described as a shameless political prostitute. He was a useful idiot of the neo-liberal current in the ANC under Mbeki bent on dividing the SACP He ran away from facing disciplinary process in the SACP. He defected from ANC to COPE. He deserted COPE and disappeared into political wilderness. He remained in oblivion until recently when he mushroomed in the ANC Western Cape as a henchman for a factional project.
The incorrigible serial opportunist now wants to ingratiate and sink its claws on the so-called CR17 in order to advance his wealth accumulation interests. He is so desperate that he is busy campaigning to become an ANC NEC member, despite the knowledge that he does not have 10 years unbroken service in the ANC. Such is a sad story of a desperate and unprincipled man.
It is unfortunate that the newspaperman and Dexter elected to proffer an impotent polemic against the SACP and offered nothing of substantive value in light of the imminent threat to our national and economic sovereignty. This attack is a diversion from the real issues including state capture, the call for Zuma to step down and the nuclear deal - the main reasons behind the recent cabinet purge.
Sonwabile Ngxiza is SACP WC 2nd Deputy Provincial Secretary
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