22 March 2010
THE EDITOR
DEAR SIR

The damaging statement by respected academic Dr Mamphela Ramphele( Sunday Edition -Weekend Argus  21 March 2010 front page) that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has weakened democracy in South Africa  and  provided the country with inferior political education must not be taken lightly.The IEC has become a lame duck in spite of all its efficiences. She berates the opposition party  for poor oversight but maybe does not know that the 12 member Multi Party Forum of which the Aljama-ah politcal Party is a founder member has raised this with the IEC at the highest level and late last year  with President Zuma also questioning the independence of the IEC. The signature response of the IEC is that the Constitution requires that it be governed and directed by Parliament so for the past 15 years  the IEC is under the control of the ANC which it appears has thrown democracy to the dogs. How can one expect a political Party  in power to promote democracy at the expense of its seats in parliament. So  the ANC has taken  most of the electoral funds for itself and most of the airtime on radio and TV of the public broadcaster during election time and give the balance of the spoils to other Parties with seats in Parliament on a pro-rata basis. Emerging political parties and communities aspiring for a voice in Parliament do not even get any crumbs under the pretext that such funding will lead to a  greater proliferation of political parties. The ANC completely disrespects the constitutional obligation of Parliament to promote a Multi Party Democracy in the country and wants to rule until the Resurrection. A ” SUPER OPPOSITION”   is no better than the entrenched ruling Party we have now and the prospects for a democratic South Africa seems slim. The solution is for the playing fields to be levelled when elections are called so that parties in parliament  and emerging parties that can prove their bonafides are on the same footing. Political education should be the responsibility of all political parties funded by the IEC. The IEC must also fund all electoral material and reduce its deposits to facilitate easier access to a voice in Parliament. That your article appears on the day  when we commemorate  the  events around Sharpville is so ominous as the thirst for a revolution that will lead to a real democracy is stronger today than it was 50 years ago. While we share the doctor’s concerns we hope that she will not spoil her “wisdom of Solomon” by leading a dead duck like a Super Opposition. This wil be out of step with our dream for a Multi Party democracy in South Africa.

GANIEF HENDRICKS
PARTY LEADER
AL JAMA-AH

While Mandela promised that all Blacks will equally benefit from affirmative action which includes Indians and Coloureds, a year before  Polokwane the Minister of Labour introduced a regulation that for every Coloured and Indian worker employed two Africans must be employed to  get credits for substantive compliance in terms of annual Employment Equity reports which is normally submitted in October each year. This regulation has now been vigorously applied by employers keen on government contracts and points for BEEE and Indians and Coloureds especially in the Western Cape have felt it severely. Many employers have stopped employing Coloureds and Indians and only Africans to prepare for a five to one ratio in the future. Hardly any Coloureds or Indians in the Western Cape vote for the ANC anymore so they must favour their voters. For many years during apartheid the Cape was a coloured preferential employment area so this is seen as one way to redress the imbalances of the past.

Now that Muslims who form a large segment of the so called Coloured and Indian voters have chosen to vote for the DA who is largely a white controlled Party if one counts the heads and look at the faces in power the question is whether this will continue in the future. AL JAMA-AH  would like to believe that this will change and we will see these changes in the 2011 municipal  elections. It has to change if we want to avoid a black backlash against those who “helped put the whites in power”. We had a taste for this when another Muslim Party used their 3 votes to kick out Nomaindia of the ANC and install Helen Zille of the DA as mayor of Cape Town. “Ma slams what can we expect” is what she said and this message went out into the townships. Not long afterwards we had the zenophopic attacks when largely  Muslims were murdered.

While AL JAMA-AH is into the third year of its seven year plan to play an educational role to get Muslims to play a more meaningful role in the political life of the country it realises it has to speed up its campaigns to avoid further estrangement between Muslims and Africans especially in the Western Cape. For starters the Party will call on Muslim bricklayers and plasterers  and other artisans not to tease their African workers and colleaques about the ANC loss in the Western Cape. The party has engaged with Robben Islanders for advice and is considering a permanent base in Delft where Africans and Muslims live side by side. The Party leader has been accepted as a member of the Delft Farmers Association who produce vegetables and wants to help the Association get Muslim business men to buy from them. The Association has agreed to employ three unemployed Muslims in Delft as farm workers.  What has encouraged AL JAMA-AH is the strong support of the MJC for it to carry on with its educational role and the fact that members of the MJC has offered to help in this regard. A letter to the Editor  in the last issue of Muslim Views has given the party further encouragement when the writer wrote:

“ As a Black Muslim South African, I, in my personal capacity , find only brothers Manelisi Mampane of the PAC and  Ganief Hendricks  of the AL JAMA-AH political party  to be parties that are truly humane and prepared to face the gauntlet to stand for what they believe in. I sincerely make duah that Allah in his  infinate Wisdom helps them succeed in their endeavours for a better place for all humans on earth.”

Imam Sulaiman of Mamelodi  in  Pretoria has called and asked the Party not to wait  too long  to strenghten bonds and to join hands with African Muslims in the many townships which are waiting for them and whose elders who have already met to endorse the Party. Farouk Modisane a veteran activist who was born in Newclare in the ‘Malay” township of Newclare but grew up in Soweto has joined the party as an NEC member.

Just like the Muslims were the voice of  many of the oppressed in the 18th century it has the opportunity to once again ask them to  “CLAIM YOUR MUSLIM VOICE “.

Voters must choose. There is a new space for fresh ideas to be heard in politics.

Is it going to be ideas from the shariah or will it continue to be the unruly mix of corrupt crony capitalists including some of the Muslim elite (Islam is bad for business type), conservative patriarchs, liberals, social democrats or stalinists and die hard communists.

The shariah was suppressed in Parliament under the eyes of Muslim lawmakers and their deliberate co-operation.

Aljama will change this. We will be proud of our Shariah and not apologists, prejudiced against our own values.

Aljama will showcase its National Party Leader Ganief Hendricks all over the country as a first step. He will position Aljama as an alternative government for the country insha-Allah and set targets to get 500 000 votes each in the Western Cape, KZN, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. Lesser targets for now will be set for the other five(5) provinces unless funding hots up.

While the Party’s main support is expected to come from the Muslim Community it hopes to get substantial support from other voters, mainly from the youth, soccer players and supporters, people with disabilities and taxi drivers and their assistants,advocacy groups fighting for the rights of refugees, closing down of shebeens, taking care of drug users, seeking the right to compensation of victims of crime, promoting animal rights – all are expected to support the Party as it develops policies to help strenghten their interests and their campaigns.

Aljama is positioning itself to be a partner in a three – party state in South Africa in 2009.

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VIVA ALJAMA. ALLAH IS GREAT. VIVA ALJAMA

The City Council and other municipalities and government departments under the leadership of lame duck director-generals simply lacks the capacity to implement service delivery and policies of especially grassroot political movements who can innovate rather than depend on has been cadres.

So the first steps a political Party like Aljama will do when it gets into power is to fix this. Aljama is a “human resources expert” Party. We will get the people side of the government business right. The debacles for service delivery in the Cape Metro under successive political controls like the old NP, the DA and ID coalition and the ANC is becaus they did not get the “people side” of the business right.

Ajama will do this with the dynamic innovation of its Party leadership.

Aljama will get rid of public servants and officials standing in the way of service delivery especially those who worked the apartheid system and are not on board post 1994.

Months before the first vote has been cast the ANC has conceded that it has lost the elections in the Western Cape. (Ebrahim Rasool on Voice of the Cape and Channel Islam). Aljama now has a responsibilty to win the Western Cape for the citizens of the Western Cape. Aljama cannot allow just any political Party to take the province. We cannot allow the province to be “thrown to the dogs”.

For many years the ANC had a deal with the Afrikaners and with a lot of help from them retained power in the Western Cape. The Afrikaners became much richer under ANC rule than in the harsh days of apartheid. The Anglo – Boer war continued to play out and the English speakers lost out under ANC rule. Now that the ANC has a new deal with the white English speakers including the Jewish elite who put the Zuma faction into power the ANC will loose the influential Afrikaner vote – votes and money going to COPE as the Afrikaners hit back.

All political parties except Aljama are taking sides and taking part in this “Anglo-Boer” war and the poor in the province are merely “pawns” in this struggle for spheres of influence. Do we now want to be ruled by the Afrikaners old age enemy with the help of the ANC, the DA and the ID or are we on the side of the poor.

Posted by Faizal on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 (09:39:34)

One way of assisting Aljama in become a successful Party is to donate to Aljama’s Campaign Fund. Direct deposits to:

ALJAMA
FIRST NATIONAL BANK (FNB).
A/C No: 62153666949
PINELANDS BRANCH
BRANCH CODE: 200309
Zakaat Account No: 62153667575

Please Fax your deposit slips to 0866848625 for a receipt.