ME AND MY BOOKS

I love books. I have always loved books, from a young age I have been reading. This was from when I couldn't afford to buy books and there were no libraries. I relied on handouts, secondhands and book exchanges to attempt to satisfy my insatiable habit for reading.

This was until I went to college and my first encounter with a library full of all sorts of books. I was like a child in a candy store, spoilt for choice. I didn’t know what to read and what to leave out. I thought I would read them all in a short time. I was at college for three years and I was nowhere near reading a fraction of the books in the library at the time of my graduation.

I read as much as I could during my three years at college. I had also begun to  collect books by myself from my meagre pocket money and money from my holiday jobs. I bought  my books one title at a time. Over many years I have hoarded a substantial collection of books. I buy books regularly. When a book is published I am on it.

I am lagging way behind in reading all the books in my collections. This didn't work in the beginning because I bought more than I could read. To mitigate this discrepancy I have suspended the purchases of new books for the next two years.  I think that by that time I would have devoured all the books in my collections and ready to replenish new titles.

This is me and my books, we belong to the same WhatsApp Group.

READING : Woman in the Wings Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and the Race for the Presidency, Carien Du Plessis

This is the  book that I have just started reading. It is about Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,  member of the ANC National Executive Committee, ANC Member of Parliament and frontrunner for party presidency. Until recently she was Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Before that she served in the Cabinets of Nelson Mandela,  Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma as Minister of Health,  Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.

I'll publish a review of the book when I am finished with it.

ANC 54th National Conference

This year the African National Congress convenes its 54th National Conference at Ghalager Estate in  the Gauteng province. Because of its history, ANC  conferences are events of international significance. Besides delegates from its branches and its women and youth structures,  there will be observers from its allies in the country and fraternal parties across the globe. World media will be at hand to give a live account of proceedings, hoping it will collapse and create a spectacle to feed the voyeurism of White Monopoly Capital and its arms bearers.

At conference delegates will receive an array of reports on the state of the party and the government upon which it presides. Resolutions on policy areas are considered and adopted. Leaders are elected for a five years term of office.

In recent times ANC conferences have been reduced to stormy affairs of acrimony and flying chairs, more especially around leadership preferences. It started in 2007 at the 52nd national conference where president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy Jacob Zuma went toe to toe for against each other the Presidency of the party.

Jacob Zuma emerged as party president and later of the country. Some of Mbeki loyalists broke ranks to found COPE, which didn't make much impact as predicted by White Monopoly Capital and its media and analysts.

Five years down the Zuma's affable deputy Kgalema Motlanthe  went for him at the 53rd national conference in Mangaung, Free State province.  Motlanthe came out second best as the former retained the Presidency. It was out of this conference that the expelled youth leader Sello Julius Malema formed  Economic Freedom Fighters. EFF has defied logic by being a persistent thorn causing the ANC and President Zuma much discomfort. It even considers itself as a government in waiting, something unfathomable a few years ago.

Since the Polokwane conference the party is consumed by obsessions on  who should lead between this or that leader.This time the contest is between Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and deputy president  Cyril Ramaphosa. This is where the  party is at the moment, little on policy is raised.

Dissension is rife in the party. It remains to be seen how united and strong it will emerge in December. The people of South Africa still look to the ANC as their sole hope. It would be a sad day if the wheels were to come off in December and pave the opportunism of the opposition parties and White MonopolyCapital to bring back apartheid colonialism. Were this to happen it would be  the worst betrayal of a liberation to the people from whom it was formed and for whom it was formed.

It shouldn't happen. If it happens it be the end of history, of life as we know it. This disastrous eventuality can be avoided if leadership can rise the pettiness of factionalism.

Meanwhile the country is watching

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for ANC President

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is the front runner for the ANC presidential race at the party 54th National Conference scheduled for December in Gauteng. The party presidential race has attracted an unprecedented number of candidates in its modern history.

Seven candidates,  including current Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa,  are vying for the position.  However the race is really between Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa,  with the former in pole position.

Dlamini-Zuma's candidature is endorsed by the Women’s and Youth Leagues of the ANC, including the Veterans Association. Ramaphosa is the candidate of COSATU and SACP who do not send voting delegates to conference and therefore carry no weight to influence election outcomes.

Dlamini-Zuma has a prestigious pedigree in struggle, government and in African politics. She cut her political teeth in the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko. She joined and worked for the ANC in exile. She has served in the cabinet as Ministers of Health,  Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.

She also had a term as the Chairperson of the African Union Commission where she did her bit for the continent.

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has what it takes and more to be President of the ANC and Country. Under her leadership the ANC and Country will be in good hands. On this score there is no doubt. She looms large over all candidates,  she is the candidate to  beat in the race for the ANC presidency.

In a nutshell, it is Dlamini-Zuma and the others who don't stand out in the struggle or in government.  It is a  case of Dlamini-Zuma, Dlamini-Zuma and Dlamini-Zuma.

I Am Back

I have been on extended from this platform during which a lot transpired. I am now back and will be sharing my thoughts on key moments of our world. On this score I expect engagement from readers. The blog will be updated on a weekly basis to maintain its currency and vibrancy.

Regards

Mo