28 December 2007: Chairperson's Briefing

Chairperson’s Briefing.

Members before one lays bear the state of our organisation as he sees it, he wants to quote some heroes that came before us with a gift of knowledge. This is meant to start a process of self criticism from members and possibly make members more determined to carry this organisation forward.

“As the youth of South Africa you are not called to peace, comfort and enjoyment but to hard work, struggle and sweat. We need young men and women of high moral, stamina, intergrity, courage and vision. In short, we need warriors. This means that we have to develop a new type of youth – one with discipline, trained to endure suffering and difficulties. It is only this type of youth that will achieve the national liberation of the African people.” – Anton Lembede first president of the ANCYL.

“Every Generation has its own mission – they can either fulfil it or betray it.” – Karl Marx Das Kapital.

It is with great honour that one is present here today amongst the successful individuals who are testimony to the fact that you do not have to have wings to believe that you can fly. A lack of wings should not install in your person fear of any sort, and more so, fear to dream, fear to believe and fear to imagine. A well know artist sings that if she believes then she can be it. It is indeed with pleasure that one is amongst you today.

As one understands it, the purpose of this gathering is to cement and strengthen the organisation in various ways and disciplenes. Leading to this gathering there has been recognition and acknowledgement of various shortcomings of the then project in progress, which today one hopes will become a solid structure with organisational validity and legitimacy.

As leaping as the project was it managed to stay afloat and testimony to this was the real hard work we did with the matriculants in the June vacation. One is privy to the information that because of our interventions the matrics did well with an all time highest pass rate of a 75 percent. Surely that is not enough as we should strive further to make it a 100 percent as we advance forward with our interventions. We should thank all our members who participated in that process, and one would believe that the work we did could have been a real difference between absolute failure of the matriculants and relative failure. Moving forward we hope that members will continue doing this work and those who did not participate in the initial stages – well the doors are still open for your inputs. It is true that towards the end, just before we could properly conclude our tasks we were ill-treated by the powers that be. Perhaps next time with better planning and communication with the authorities the situation will be better managed.

Having said that, we cannot overly rejoice on the June work as if we have succeeded on all fronts. There have been failures as well, a couple too many for one’s liking. In June we only managed to execute one element of our broader tasks. The only defence to failing to execute other tasks would be that the conditions prevailing at the time did not make it possible for us to execute other tasks. But if we were truly the young men and women of high moral, stamina, integrity, courage and vision as rightly said by uLembede we would have found ways and means to challenge and ultimately defeat the conditions that were frustrating our progress. If only we understood that we are not called to peace, comfort and enjoyment, but to hard work and struggle to better the lives of our fellow citizens.

There is however no justification whatsoever as to why Ms Nkwanyana omitted from caring out the mandate given to her by the organisation. Instead she decided to delegate. Is that not a sign of total disregard to organisational decisions and resolutions which will bother very heavy on her discipline as a member of this organisation, and more so as a leader. Perhaps she is not trained to endure sufferings and hardships that is why she gives in when things do not go her way. There is also no justification as to why the members who returned here after June failed to carry the momentum forward as true patriots and scouts of our organisation. This bothers heavily on their visions and stamina. Members of this organisation should not wait to be asked to assist but rather should ask where and how to be of service to our community.

There is also in one’s view no defence for the lack of communication amongst members, which one hoped the last gathering at UJ addressed. There was also no overwhelming reason as to why that meeting was poorly attended. But to those who were present and those who sent genuine pardoning remarks our gratitude is extended to you. Clearly you understand your mission and do not want to betray it. There is still no unity and cohesion amongst the leadership and that is a sad state of affairs indeed. What do you make of a situation where the chairperson would request a gathering from the secretaries and one responds “A meeting may be possible but not necessary”. Just because the secretary has no vision to share does not mean we all lack vision and courage to carry this organisation forward. Some of us are indeed the kind of youth that will strive and achieve liberation for our community; that is nothing but our mission. People one reminds you that the duty of a secretary apart from ensuring that all the necessary documentation is readily available to members, is also to work well with the chairperson and the collective leadership. For this reason we cannot appear to be pulling in different directions.

We are gathered here to strengthen the organisation by correcting these shortcomings. By this time next year who ever will be reading the chairperson’s briefing should be saved from problems and only report on the success of the organisation. Having spoken about the successes and failures of the organisation thus far, we should also touch on some of the matters in the pipeline. It is in the pipeline close to implementation one hopes that our “adopt a mate” program will kick off the ground. For details only Ms Nkwanyana knows. It is also in a pipeline that we shall have a comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy. Without any doubt we shall strengthen our education strategies. We also hope that there shall be a rejuvenation of ideas in the sports, culture, recreation and entertainment projects of our organisation. One hopes that we shall have a competitive permanent researcher on the ground who will be forever serving us with information as to what the community needs next. That researcher will also be an able person to liaison with us. Close to one’s heart by now surely our website is up and running, and this brief will be posted there soon.

Thulani Nkosi
Chairperson.