Many of the challenges engulfing South Africa were a result of “unquestioning loyalty” to the ruling party by members and supporters.
This was the view of former head of the NPA Vusi Pikoli speaking at a Dispatch Dialogue held in conjunction with the University of Fort Hare to celebrate the university’s centenary year.
The event focused on UFH’s new generation of writers and public intellectuals.
Pikoli warned ANC members of failing to differentiate between unquestionable loyalty and unquestioning loyalty, saying the latter was the order of the day.
This had reached such proportions that the gains of democracy were in jeopardy.
“It is this unquestioning loyalty that has put us where we are as a country,” Pikoli said.
The author of My Second Initiation said the country was his first priority and called on his ANC comrades to speak their minds about the direction the country was taking.
Intellectuals needed to stand up and make their views heard. He said: “Do not keep quiet because we are killing the nation. As a country, we were born of much pain and blood fighting for the liberation of this country.”
The former national director of public prosecutions also stressed the importance of the separation of party and state. He highlighted particularly, the independence of the NPA, a matter he dealt with extensively in his book.
“The minister of justice has got nothing to do with what the NPA does and so too the president of the country.”
Pikoli, admitting that there were “serious problems” in the country's education, said violent protest could not be condoned.
In the same breath, he lambasted the government for failing to contain protests in institutions of higher learning.
Ironically, while Pikoli was delivering his address, students at UFH Alice campus were involved in protests which erupted earlier this week.
“If you cannot manage to control things at that level, how do you govern the country,” charged Pikoli who said he was past praise-singing government while things fell apart.
Also on the platform was Jongi Klaas, a UFH alumnus and SA diplomat to the African Union, whose speech centred on the need to transform SA literature and publishing.
Klaas said it was high time African writers and publishers took charge of knowledge production and told African stories in African indigenous languages.
“We have lost touch with our own generation who, as a result, follow and worship foreign thinking,” he said.
Perils of unquestioning loyalty
This was the view of former head of the NPA Vusi Pikoli speaking at a Dispatch Dialogue held in conjunction with the University of Fort Hare to celebrate the university’s centenary year.
The event focused on UFH’s new generation of writers and public intellectuals.
Pikoli warned ANC members of failing to differentiate between unquestionable loyalty and unquestioning loyalty, saying the latter was the order of the day.
This had reached such proportions that the gains of democracy were in jeopardy.
“It is this unquestioning loyalty that has put us where we are as a country,” Pikoli said.
The author of My Second Initiation said the country was his first priority and called on his ANC comrades to speak their minds about the direction the country was taking.
Intellectuals needed to stand up and make their views heard. He said: “Do not keep quiet because we are killing the nation. As a country, we were born of much pain and blood fighting for the liberation of this country.”
The former national director of public prosecutions also stressed the importance of the separation of party and state. He highlighted particularly, the independence of the NPA, a matter he dealt with extensively in his book.
“The minister of justice has got nothing to do with what the NPA does and so too the president of the country.”
Pikoli, admitting that there were “serious problems” in the country's education, said violent protest could not be condoned.
In the same breath, he lambasted the government for failing to contain protests in institutions of higher learning.
Ironically, while Pikoli was delivering his address, students at UFH Alice campus were involved in protests which erupted earlier this week.
“If you cannot manage to control things at that level, how do you govern the country,” charged Pikoli who said he was past praise-singing government while things fell apart.
Also on the platform was Jongi Klaas, a UFH alumnus and SA diplomat to the African Union, whose speech centred on the need to transform SA literature and publishing.
Klaas said it was high time African writers and publishers took charge of knowledge production and told African stories in African indigenous languages.
“We have lost touch with our own generation who, as a result, follow and worship foreign thinking,” he said.
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