INVITATION TO FORM-THE SOBUKWE MOTHOPENG INSPIRED

GROUP(SMIG)
Sons and Daughters of Mother Afrika
The Africanist ideological positions has contested with other ideas and
tendencies long before 1994.By 1994 the Africanist discourse was at a relatively
weak position which enabled other tendencies to prevail in the post 1994
dispensation. And this must be corrected.
Since the dawn of the 1994 dispensation our struggle has been rudderless more
so from the point of view of the Africanists. Africanists have become the most
disorganised despite the fact that they hold a solution to the countrys problems.
Various initiatives to breathe life into the Africanist ship of freedom have not
catapulted us to the level of being a serious contender in the political space
thereby leaving the Azanian masses in limbo.
Throughout this impasse, we have been privileged by the revolutionary literature
composed and authored by various Africanist intellectuals and activists.The
expectation has been that this initiative will inform the greater political
trajectory, but to no avail. A recurrent question lingers : Quo Vadis Africanist: Quo
Vadis South Africa
Africanist positions, writings, pronouncements and ideology have provided more
than enough answers to the social malaise confronting our country, yet they
have not found space in the greater political agenda and political discourse
prevailing in our country. This is not because of the Africanists making but
because of the development of the anti-intellectual tradition; denial by the
midwives(Africanists) that a revolution is won at the level of ideas; Africanists are
running a risk of being irrelevant because the political space is being contested
by other contending forces purporting to express similar ideas.
It is against this background some Africanists have seen it deem fit to organise a
SMIG session. SMIG is conceptualised as a Think Tank and producer of knowledge
and ideas. Organisers take cue from the fact that successful revolutions emanate
from a thoroughly planned and well executed revolutionary programme.
Notwithstanding the existence of such laudable initiatives like the Pan African
Research Institute, SMIG seeks to bolster similar initiatives. Its major purpose is
to be a laboratory of liberatory and alternative ideas; to develop the already
existing ideas into practical policies. Land Question and its attendant offsprings
of socio-political economic will have to be interrogated by SMIG. Criteria for
participation and attendance in SMIG sessions is the ability to research and write
papers for discussion by the group, capability and readiness to engage in the
public space in delivering and defending various progressive political, policy and
strategic ideas, readiness to collaborate in the above activities with like minded
Africanists in Afrika and in the diaspora and any other progressive intellectuals
and knowledge producers globally. To interact with students, lecturers in various
universities with a view to progressively decolonise the mind and curricula of
these universities. SMIG identifies that there is a void in the manner in which the
political landscape is translated.The South African political landscape has
become a free for all situation with all the impostors and political pickpocketors
and lumpens using political rhetoric to deceive the masses of our people. The
revolution has been turned into a comedy and soapie, with parliament becoming
an arena of comedy and fun.
SMIG will have to answer as to whether the Pan Africanist cause has diminished
continentally and in the diaspora. SMIG will also have to answer whether what is
playing out in the Americas,Greece etc with the emergence of Trump and Syrias
of Grrece is a genuine expression of the politics of anti establishment or
European rightwingism. In that regard, SMIG will have to answer the question:
Quo Vadis Afrika?
WHAT IS TO BE DONE ?/WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?
Politics do not allow for a vacuum. Azania has become considerably dangerous
than the one inhabited by our forefathers. Masses of our people have become
commodities easily tradeable and reduced to social grants; our youth is
unemployable; those who want to a better life through education are faced with
a bleak future. Africanists have got a tall order from the 1959 P.A.C Manifesto
which states the task of the African movement as follows, To implement
effectively the fundamental principle that the dominion or sovereignty over and
the dominion or ownership in the whole territory of the continent rest exclusively
and inalienably in the indigenous African people
Strangely and rather paradoxically never before has the Africanists position
been in the public domain like it is now, whether for good or bad, clearly
articulated or distorted, the Africanist ideology has become the theoretical
solution provider of this country. The question is : are the Africanists equal to the
task?
WHY SOBUKWE,MOTHOPENG?
According to Professor Sipho Shabalala, Sobukwe and Mothopeng symbolise the
highest level of revolutionary theoretical conceptualisation to implementation
undauntedly. They existed within a group but they were exceptional with ideas
such that they were in a league of,Ideas Men. He wants Africanists to emulate
that style.
INVITATION
All the freedom loving and Africanists who yearn for a solution to the countrys
problems through vigorous and intensive engagement are invited to a session to
form the Sobukwe Mothopeng Inspired Group( SMIG) as follows:
DATE : Saturday 26- Sunday 27 March 2017
VENUE : 1000 Hills Experience-KwaZulu, Hillcrest
Lead Discussant/Initiator : Professor S.R Shabalala.
Time : Arrival on Friday, departure on Sunday.
RSVP : Pasika Nontshiza-
0827343448/pasikanontshiza@gmail.com
NB
All interested will have to bear own costs.Correspondence will be sent
to all about available budget accommodation. A small contribution will
be requested to cover venue hire once ascertained.