Chris Hani: Burning Questions of Our Times

Chris Hani: Burning Questions of Our Times

(In February 1985, the Army Commissar of Umkhonto we Sizwe, Chris Hani, made an evaluation of the revolutionary situation inside South Africa to Dawn, February 1985, and proposed certain interventions to escalate the conditions).

“The fight against the enemy is in full swing. Hardly a day goes by without some form of confrontation between the enemy and our people taking place. Our people have reached a level of political consciousness where they react against all manifestations of oppression and brutality.

“We have witnessed and are still seeing the ongoing struggle against high rents, high transport fares, slave education, military occupation of the townships, the sacking of the Sasol workers, shootings of UDF (United Democratic Front) leaders, etc. The prisons and police cells are crammed with thousands of patriots detained for no other reason than the participation in the massive democratic struggle.

“The enemy has declared war on the people. Thousands of its troops are deployed in the townships in a massive show of force. Sjamboks, birdshot, rubber bullets and live bullets have become gruesome methods the enemy is using in it futile attempts to crush opposition.

SPECIAL POLICE

“A special black police force is being organised for deployment in the townships to provide protection to the already discredited blackguards and cut-throats of the Community Councils. It is thus clear that the reaction of the enemy to our struggle for democracy and social justice is war, pure and simple. All our people are feeling more directly the scourge of this undeclared warfare.

“This military and police offensive by the enemy is taking place against the background of a severe drought and acute economic crisis. All these developments have resulted in serious impoverishment of the oppressed throughout the country. Literally millions of workers and rural masses are victims of hunger, malnutrition and diseases.

“The past few months have exposed the colossal fraud of the talks of reforms, changes and ‘talk about talks’ with the ANC (African National Congress). I am saying this because the outstanding features of the tactics and stratagems of the Botha, Malan and Heunis clique are violence, persecutions, detentions, callous and sadistic tortures and countless murders.

PEOPLE’S ANGER

“But despite the enemy’s jackboot, the gun, the APC, tanks, etc. we see a crescendo of people’s anger with its volcanic eruptions and turbulence. We witness the thunder and the storms of the revolutionary struggle in areas which we even thought were still either fallow or virgin lands like Beaufort West, Tumahole, Parys, Tsakane, Odendaalsrus, Emgwali, Mooiplaas, Driefontein, Esikhawini, etc.

“The terroristic dictatorship in our country maintains the stubbornness of a mule and the idiotic logic of an ostrich which in the face of danger pushes its head into the sand. One would have thought that with the clear rejection of the Black Local Authorities Act elections, the tri-cameral ones and the current upsurge, the P.W. Botha dictatorship would not be contemplating the establishment of yet another ‘baboon parliament’.

“Yet the Radio R.S.A. broadcast of January 25, 1985, carried news of an indication of exactly such an arrangement. This is a stillborn exercise since it is quite clear that the revolutionary movement has permeated the revolutionary classes and strata of the people and continues to grow in depth and maturity and there is quite a clear prospect of its development into a mighty and invincible force.

“For us, the vanguard of national liberation, as we clearly hear the ‘peals of really revolutionary thunder coming from the people’, we urgently need to strengthen ourselves in order to discharge our duty of leading the people, giving clear and unambiguous guidelines. We should work hard and neutralise the fascist regime’s attempts to isolate us in order to dilute the struggle of our people by trying to impose on the oppressed a wavering and corrupt leadership.”

ANSWER

“Our answer at this crucial moment in our struggle is to strengthen the structural and organised contacts between the ANC, the people’s army and the people. Such an indissoluble link will come about by developing and strengthening the ANC, SACTU and the SACP. The entire oppressed people have nothing to lose from the inevitable collapse of the existing political and social order.

“Relying on the tested political line of our movement, on its theoretical and practical experience, we have to strive very hard to effect the fusion of our national liberation movement with the progressive trade union movement, with the mass organisations, the youth and student movement, and the women’s organisations to build an invincible force.

“Alongside this, it is also our primary task to increase our military striking power to enrich the people’s struggles and to hit the enemy hard at his vitals. More than ever before we face the urgent task of entrenching the people’s army among the people themselves, enjoying the active participation, the shelter and assistance of the masses.

PRIORITY TASK

“The training inside our country of military and para-military units has become a compelling and priority task. We have to tackle it with all the gusto and revolutionary enthusiasm tempered with all the care and conspiratorial style of work.”

– Chris Hani –
(February 1985)

Source:
Chris Hani, “Burning Questions of Our Times”, Dawn – Monthly Journal of Umkhonto we Sizwe, February 1985, pp. 6 – 7.

Castro Khwela
Good day fellow Compatriots!