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In his address at the 50th National Conference of the ANC, Nelson Mandela decried "opponents of change" who used "all manner of evil" to oppose transformation in South Africa. Also, he says something about Apartheid spies
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Speaking about reconciliation, Mandela further lamented the way white people had "sought to separate the goal of national reconciliation from the critical objective of social transformation". That they had "sought to set these one against the other"
In essence, Mandela was saying that those who had been in power previously were trying to elevate reconciliation to be the most, and only important factor of proceedings in the post-Apartheid era, at the expense of real, tangible transformation
Mandela proceeds to say white people were now trying to redefine and subvert reconciliation to now mean compensating them for the loss of "monopoly of political power by guaranteeing [their] privileged positions in the socio-economic sphere".
He proceeds to give some examples: white people's criticism of Affirmative Action, saying they were setting their own parameters on how this should be pursued, that it would only be acceptable to them if it guarantees their positions of privilege
Mandela: "Whenever we have sought real progress...the spokespersons of the advantaged have not hesitated to cry foul, citing all manner of evil: RACISM, violation of the CONSTITUTION, nepotism, dictatorship, inducing a BRAIN DRAIN and frightening the FOREIGN INVESTOR"
Mandela continues to speak of the roe played by white-majority political parties, i.e the National Party, The Democratic Party and the Freedom Front along with the MEDIA which he says "REPRESENTS THE SAME SOCIAL BASE"...
He says these institutions "have been most vigorous in their opposition, whenever legislative and executive measures have been introduced, seeking the end the racial disparities which continue to characterise our society"
Mandela's address further laments the lack of transformation in the public service, where he says "representatives of the old order [are] using all means in their power to ensure that they remain in dominant positions"
Many of these people in key positions, Mandela says, do not care about the constitution of the country or the government and have no interest in furthering its programmes "aimed at reconstruction and development"
Of Apartheid spies, Mandela says the former ruling class had refused to cooperate with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in as far as telling the truth about the National Security Management System, the database of Apartheid informers, agents and operatives
As to why the former establishment had been refusing to reveal any of the personnel behind their Apartheid machinery Mandela says: [Please Read the Following Very Carefully]:
"The defenders of apartheid privilege continue to sustain a conviction that an opportunity will emerge in future, when they can activate this counter-insurgency machinery, to impose an agenda on South African society
"which would limit the possibilities of the democratic order to such an extent that it would not be able to create a society of equality, that would be rid of the legacy of apartheid"
"The counter-revolution has also sought to regroup to create the possibility for itself to act decisively to compromise the democratic system at whatever moment it considered opportune"
"Accordingly, various elements of the former ruling group have been working to establish a network which would launch or intensify a campaign of destabilisation, some of whose features would be:
"The weakening of the ANC & its allies; the use of crime to render the country ungovernable; the subversion of the economy; & the erosion of the confidence of both our people & the rest of the world in our capacity to govern & to achieve our goals of reconstruction & development"
"This counter-revolutionary network, which is ALREADY ACTIVE and bases itself on those in the PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION and others in other sectors of our society who have not accepted the reality of majority rule, is capable of carrying out very disruptive actions."
Highlighting some of the things that have been done by these people, Mandela mentions theft of public assets, hiding of sensitive information from legal organs of state, building of alternative structures, including intelligence-gathering machineries (Rogue Unit, anyone?)
What Mandela seemed to be saying was that they were failing to bring fundamental change to the lives of Black people in SA, due to resistance from former rulers, whose aim has always been to one day get back into power using proxies within the ruling party. ENDS
