Paving revolutionary paths through storytelling

I (Mzamani) was involved in a motorbike accident while on the way to do community organising. To clear the land for a community centre and garden in Gate 7 informal settlement. I was involved in an accident with a traffic officer who was in the wrong because he ignored the road rules by not stopping at the stop sign when I was on my right of the way... So I hit his vehicle in the front and fell onto the road. I got injured above the ankle of my left leg with bruises and a wound (no bones were broken). The bike is no longer functional. I took it to the mechanic last week and they suggested we write it off. The cost of fixing it is about the price of a new motorbike.

Right now I’m without transport again and it is difficult going to meet comrades in the communities. But I’m continuing with community organizing and will never give up. The community organizing activities are defining the road map towards mass solidarity and are within which the vision of Ntirhisano is refined. 

It is, however, of utmost importance to leave trails with a long-lasting impact. While awakening other communities elsewhere based on the same templates and results. These tactics and strategies must advocate themselves through a multilayer of tangible and intangible imprints. 

Before and after the post-apartheid government in 1994, some in the anti-apartheid circles lamented sudden shifts from pro-poor working-class operational policies to neoliberal ones. These stories have been documented. 

This era was marked by feelings of unity among the masses all over the country, against the oppressive policies of the former apartheid regime. However, as the transition to democracy occurred, some critical voices kept quiet, some joined the gravy train, and some abandoned the revolutionary ideas that once drove their political pursuits.

AKA Mzamani outside Jeppe police station, Johannesburg in 2002. The struggle continues for Mzamani in 2022.

This was never the case for the likes of comrades who amidst harsh criticisms, ostracizes, imprisonment, and death – stood out, organized in grassroots communities, and was vocal against the neoliberal policies implemented across the continent, world, and in the post-apartheid government. 

I believe that the same policies he witnessed directly and indirectly destroying many innocent lives during colonialism and apartheid, are brazenly advocated for in the current post-apartheid government and parliament.  My concern now is how to integrate these struggles into contemporary politics. 

Neoliberalism has reached a breaking point in terms of its impacts. Despite 28 years since the post-apartheid establishment came into power, many more people are still suffering or worse. There are rippling dark clouds filled with frustrations, mayhems, and poverty that plague the masses. The unemployed, workers, and communities have been crying out for help for far too long. In place of truth, the masses are fed more lies, and promises that never materialize, and the police are heavily armed. As a result of these tactics, the government is reinforcing a vicious cycle of self-infliction and hatred - fear, divisions, and infighting over crumbs. These vicious cycle have now become the order of the day in impoverished communities.

The masses no longer trust politicians and don’t want to replace one political party or politician with another. The parliamentarians and governing parties are rewarding each other with positions and impose themselves on the masses. Having said this, there's a tiny chance the ruling party will even make 50% in the 2024 upcoming national elections.

Even though masses in communities, factories, and the public are ready to lose everything for the revolution path that is real. There's not a political party or aspirant politician that is truly trusted by the masses anymore. This is the testimony that while finding new ways to continue with this universal vision, we cannot abandon its history or perpetually repeat the same betrayals. 

There are many of these bottom-flat revolutionary paths openings and they need to be identified, amplified, kept on multiplying, and defended.