Picture: iStock
I think we need a serious conversation about this much publicised fairy tale called the State Bank.
The idea of a State Bank is one I would welcome. However, under ANC leadership, I simply won’t. My experience dictates otherwise.
To date there is no state institution the ANC took over from the past government in a functional state that is still existing.
Not even the homeland-initiated VBS survived under the stewardship of the ANC and its partners in crime.
What will convince anyone in their right-thinking minds that this one will survive?
I can’t be faulted, and indeed many of you, for thinking this new bank is just another pyramid scheme to benefit the ANC and its partners in crime.
I know that the South African Communist Party (SACP), the “vanguard” of the working class as they brand themselves, together with their partners in crime, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), are behind this initiative, which they call progressive.
ALSO READ: 2024 Elections: Niehaus planning to unite parties in favour of RET ideals
However, I wish to remind them all the state-owned enterprises that collapsed, did so under their collective stewardship as the Tripartite Alliance. The SACP and Cosatu cannot exonerate themselves from this mess because they are co-governing the state with the ANC, after all.
Not only did the SACP and Cosatu watch the workers’ assets being destroyed, some of their leaders were and still in the employ or should I say “deployed” by the very government they conveniently shift the blame to from time to time, depending on the prevailing political temperature.
Some are or were also “deployed” on boards of state institutions which collapsed with their eyes wide open.
The critical question we ought to ask is whether the participation in government and its institutions by the “worker’s” federation, together with the leadership of the “vanguard” party is in the interest of the workers themselves or is it in the interest of the “deployed” individuals.
The answer to this question may lead to our collective liberty and desired trajectory. Conversely, ignoring this critical question may push the country further down the dangerous cliff.
If you ask me, the vanguarding of the working class by the SACP and promotion, protection and defence of the interests of the working class by Cosatu ceased to exist in 1994.
Pule Montana is a former Azanian People’s Organisation leader and independent commentator.
NOW READ: ‘Eskom’s heavyweights as powerless as you and I in solving power crisis’
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.