World : Tokologo #3 - the Newsletter of the African Anarchist Collective - Content + Editorial

INSIDE: -- Obituary of Ousi Lawrence Zitha; -- Khutsong community versus gangsters and 
police; -- Pre-emp?ve ?crime-stopping? leads to police brutality; -- Cosatu used to pump 
millions of rands into ANC; Defend whistleblowers; -- Westonaria municipality vic?mising 
whistle-blower; -- Why is it important to build an anarchist poli?cal organisa?on; -- 
Struggle history: -- the Interna?onal Socialist League, the Industrial and Commercial 
Workers? Union of Africa (ICU); -- T.W. Thibedi; -- the Industrial Workers of Africa
leaflet, April 1919. ---- Editorial ---- Welcome to issue 3 of ?Tokologo,? produced by 
members of the Tokologo African Anarchist Collective, based in Gauteng, South Africa. Our 
members come from Johannesburg, Khutsong, Sebokeng, and Soweto; we are committed to the 
fight for the full freedom of the working class and poor, in South Africa and abroad. We 
do not want privatisation (capitalist ownership), we do not want nationalisation (state 
ownership), we want self-management and socialisation (community/ worker ownership), of 
land and all other productive resources.

Before continuing, let us note our grief at the passing of our comrade Lawrence Zitha, for 
whom we have an obituary in this issue. Go well, comrade! You will be missed.

At the time of publication, our country has just come through elections to the state. We 
do not think that elections are a way forward for the working class and poor: we need 
something better. We need to organise and mobilise, outside and against the state, outside 
and against the capitalists.

The big problems facing our masses continue. Crime is one. It is clear that the police are 
completely unable to solve the problem. This is shown by the articles on the tragedy in 
Khutsong, where, frustrated by crime, community members killed gangsters. The state 
responded to this action ? and to demands for a clean-up of the area ? through a massive 
occupation of the township. Police violence and harassment was common; one of our members 
was severely affected. Eventually the community demanded that the police leave. But while 
gangterism continues, community members accused of the killings in late 2013 are on trial.

Other articles show that it makes no sense to expect the government to combat crime: the 
police seem available to kill workers and protestors (as seen at Marikana in 2012), yet 
corruption runs rampant in the state. Whistle-blowers on corruption, as two articles on 
this issue show, are threatened and pressured by powerful politicians.

Yet these same politicians want votes ? and COSATU?s leaders seem determined to keep 
pouring into election campaigns, at a time when taht money could be far better spent on 
organising and struggle.

But where can we find an alternative?

First, it is crucial to build an anarchist political organisation, with a clear agenda: 
mobilising and educating the working class, building counter-power, and fighting the class 
enemy.

Second, we can learn from the past. We do not come from nowhere. We come from a powerful 
and heroic international tradition, of anarchism/ syndicalism. This also has deep roots in 
our African continent.

So, this issue includes articles on the early history of anarchism and syndicalism in 
South Africa, looking at the International Socialist League and the Industrial Workers of 
Africa in the 1910s, and the syndicalist influenced Industrial and Commercial Workers 
Union (ICU) in the 1920s. These come from our workshops.

It is important to look at this history, so we know where we are coming from. But it is 
also important to look back, and learn from past successes ? and past mistakes. As the ICU 
shows, without a clear strategy, effective workers control, and clean finances, no mass 
organisation can carry out the project of radical social change, the anarchist project.

Certainly things cannot go on as they do today: as T.W. Thibedi, one of our forefathers in 
the movement, wisely said many years ago: ?Why should all workers be pressed down by the 
rich when they do all the work of the Country??

Download Tokologo #3 - https://zabnew.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/tokologo-03.pdf