Open letter to ANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte

By: Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla

Dear Madam DSG

I heard you weren’t doing well and I further wish you a speedy recovery. I also take the courtesy to do something you omitted to do in your message, a greeting to you.

We haven’t spoken in almost a year and no matter how you feel about your complaint, you could have at least greeted me and then addressed your concerns.

I have had time to apply my mind regarding the messages you sent me, and with due respect, this is sadly disingenuous of you. The fact that you finally got the courage to scratch your itch and message me over a Tweet, is honestly quite baffling to say the least.

I have now further come to understand why so many comrades are gutted and complain about your character and certain aspects of your behavioural patterns. A clear instance of such is your tone, which is disturbing. Im sure if you were to be more comradely the complaints would drop significantly.

I note your WhatsApp message sent on 08/04/22 at 18h15 and 18h17, and therefore would like to familiarise you with the following;
THE BILL OF RIGHTS:
Freedom of expression
16. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes — (a) freedom of the press and other media; (b) freedom to receive or impart information or ideas; (c) freedom of artistic creativity; and (d) academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.

Effectively DSG, and as per the above, I will say what I want and when I want to. The above-mentioned rights allow me to, and therefore I will not submit to nor be gagged by you, or any other person. There is nothing wrong when a person shares a different view to yours, and so therefore we shouldn’t allow emotions and egos to murky our thinking.

You may not agree with me which is fine, however just know that I am a grown up woman who has views and opinions of her own too. Lets respect each other’s views and not be disrespectful to others opinions and views.

The correct approach would have been for you to ask me to unpack my views and engage, not to obnoxiously barge in on my personal platform and shoving unwarranted views down my throat. I can only deem this to be familiarity breeding contempt.

Now that we are done with the formalities, allow me to unpack the Tweet that clearly bothered many, including yourself.

In your message to me, you said comrade Chris Hani would have never disrespected the choice of the ANC. You are correct, he never did. But he did disagree with the negotiations during CODESA hence he didn’t attend the so called negotiations as they didn’t stand for what he fought for.

He never agreed on the LAND issue, he didn’t agree on the “Unity Government”, and certainly didn’t understand how we could co-govern with oppressors and racist murderers. In one of his interviews, comrade Chris Hani expressed his views on a decision that was taken in 1991 to SUSPEND THE ARMED STRUGGLE, and his response was the following: “I want to be honest, I was annoyed” and then further says :”I was angry and bitter that this decision was taken without comprehensive consultation.”

In that same interview comrade Chris Hani admitted that after the announcement to SUSPEND MILITARY ACTIVITIES, he cried.

Why did comrade Chris Hani cry? Well because clearly he realised that the movement had compromised it’s pact with the struggle whilst at the same time, and knowingly so, respected the decision taken at the time.

In another of his interviews, comrade Hani also said: “I disagree with a lot of people who think De Klerk and others have changed, because De Klerk and others have done nothing about removing the forces that they created”.

Indeed comrade Chris Hani towed the line and accepted this and even communicated to his comrades the decision that was taken by the leadership, comrades that had given up 30 years of their lives fighting the Apartheid regime only to be stabbed in the back.

There are comrades then and some comrades now that have not even enjoyed this “freedom”, let alone the black child.

Maybe we should be admitting that we were not ready for those negotiations. Maybe we should be admitting that we compromised too much around the table.

Maybe we should be admitting that the boers plan of giving us Political freedom and NOT Economic Freedom WAS A BAD DEAL.

Maybe we should be admitting that we should have not stopped negotiations UNTIL we got our LAND back and a good percentage of the economy.

The boers were under more pressure to “save face”, and we had a stronger upper hand but the impimpi’s sitting on our side of the table were hard at work just as they are NOW!

It seems like dejavu and history repeating itself as this was the reason that comrade Chris was assassinated.
On the other hand, Mandela was an easy target for the boers to negotiate with and lobby for the status quo. NO LAND, NO ECONOMIC EMANCIPATION and an OPPRESSIVE CONSTITUTION.

The boers knew that he was out of touch with what was happening on the ground and oblivious to their tactics and ulterior motives, he was THE CANDIDATE for them. They planned for Mandela so much that they went to the extent of driving a wedge between what would have been a powerful First Lady and himself, for fear that she would influence his views against their agenda.

Comrades like Cde Chris were seen as verkrampte blacks who would be very stern on the principles of the ANC and the emancipation of the people.

DSG, there is a huge difference between Hawks and Doves. Last week we learnt of President Blaise Campaore’s role in the assassination of the then President, Captain Thomas Sankara.

We know that Janusz Walus pulled the trigger, but we still don’t know who sent him.

I always wonder if we sit around the table with them or if we laugh with them or if we deploy them to high positions?
Respectfully, I really feel that there are far bigger and more pressing issues that you should be dealing with, rather than policing my Tweets.

Let’s bring the spotlight onto you for a brief moment. The office of the SG has failed dismally whilst you rested on your laurels, and instead of focusing the priorities and responsibilities of your role, you focus on things that are far and remote from you.

In helping you to be more productive, please pay attention to the below matters of importance you should be focusing on:

1. ANC worker’s salary (Worker’s Day is coming up)
2. Renewal of the ANC, ANC is rotting from the top, where you sit.
3. Uniting the factions and not purging the comrades.
4. Rebuilding the ANC of comrade OR Tambo
5. Setting a date for the NGC
6. Preparing for December conference.

You then continued to say that I have much to learn and the more I speak the less I learn. This is your opinion and it’s ok, I accept it.

I don’t need to occupy any position to be considered smart. Let me actually say this, I don’t desire any position. I am an activist and I am entitled to have opinions and I know my opinions are valued.

I mean, I have access to a walking encyclopaedia of the ANC everyday of my life. It would be wrong and irresponsible of me to ever publicly communicate wrong and misleading information.

I am however an independent mind that gathers their own information and makes their own observations and voices out their own opinions.

You worked with the encyclopaedia for a long time, and need I remind you from 2005-2009, I played a significant role. I Interacted with many comrades and my phone rang as if it were a switchboard.

I would be printing speeches in the early hours of the morning and with not much sleep but only to be up at 5am again.

I was a fly on the wall in very sensitive meetings, and got to be exposed to sensitive information. As a person, I will definitely continue to learn more and I certainly have no problem with learning everyday.

In conclusion. I shared with you on one of our last telephone conversations last year (ironically about yet another Tweet which you approached me about), at which point I stated that I will no longer be silent.

Out of respect for the highest office and in being careful not to be a distraction from that office, I had no social media during that time. I have only been active on social media platforms in only the last 3 years.

We have had to endure all levels of bullying and insults for over 27 years. WE STAYED SILENT. We have suffered great disrespect and we were expected to still smile and laugh. WE STAYED SILENT.

We have had to deal privately with our personal matters and a lot of us sought and still seek therapy. WE STAYED SILENT. Four of my siblings were diagnosed with Lupus because of the stress and anxiety. WE STAYED SILENT.

I NOW, as I reiterate, have chosen to NOT STAY SILENT!
I am and will always be, unapologetically my father’s last gaurd and defend the role he played in the struggle and the movement.

Even though his so called comrades have deserted him. It was easier then to respect and trust the ANC because the ANC didn’t have as much cronyism and goons as it does now.

It was easier to respect the ANC under comrade OR Tambo and comrade Walter Sisulu.

With Cyril Ramaphosa at the helm, respecting the ANC and it’s current leadership is tantamount to selling your soul, and therefore making a deal with the devil.

The ANC is soulless and with a spineless leadership.