Editor’s Note: Moithuti Edition 2 | 2018

This edition of Moithuti is on the backdrop of a month which has been fondly termed as hero’s month. The month of April in 2018 saw the passing of stalwarts such as Cde Zola Skweyiya, Cde Archie Sibeko, Cde Jimmy Mohlala, Cde Faeiza Desia and Cde Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela Mandela. The loss of these comrades and others has made the country realise the importance of the historical role that progressive forces have played in shaping the freedoms and liberties enjoyed by all today. Whether it was in reference to the tenacity of Cde Archie Sibeko, the passion of Cde Zola Skweyiya or the unrequited love for our people that was reflected in the life of Cde Winnie Madikizela Mandela, we all got an insight of the various sacrifices that had to be made for us to realise the democratic breakthrough.

The path that we have chosen is one of renewal- this must speak to a renewal of the confidence people have in us, a renewal of our conviction to address the issues that students across the length and breadth of the country are facing and a renewal of our structures. To achieve all of this we must have an emphatic emphasis on organising and understanding the context within the higher education landscape. Moituti is where we crystalise our aim of having a critical and engaging organisation.

In this issue of Moithuti, we have an article by Bhekithemba Mbatha examining why we have a Marxist leaning and the relevance of our ideological leaning in a changing society, with reference to the 4th industrial revolution.

In keeping with the ideological discursive, the Deputy President, Cde Nokhuthaba Lerato Ndlovu makes a poignant Marxist analysis on class being the overarching stratification and the gender struggle naturally flowing from this struggle as a supplementary struggle to the explicit class stratifications in our Society as a result of the systemic institutional that was designed to acutely stymie the progress of the black woman.

“the surest way to corrupt the youth is to instruct [it] to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently”.- Friedrich Nietzsche (1881)

Thabo Shingage takes a slightly different tangent and makes the argument that at the centre of our current woes regarding the weakening of our ability to shape the discourse on the question of free education has its roots in our inability to move out of our linear thinking and Marxist Leninist approach. This is surely an article that will get students at large thinking critically and engaging robustly.

We close this edition of Moithuti with a contribution from your beloved editor. The article is around the synthesis of social consciousness and justice, it takes a look at the upsurge of uxoricide and the legacy of Mama Winnie Madikizela Mandela. We call on women on the end for all forms of violence against women and affirm our responsibility to ensure that we conscientious all and sundry about our collective responsibility to ensure a harmonious prosperous society that represents the aspirations of all. We must at all material times stress the need to isolate all those that seek to undermine the transformation trajectory we are on.

The road ahead is an arduous one, it needs us to put our best leg forward. The road will need us to have an unwavering conviction to our ideological aspirations of realising a non-sexist, non-racial and democratic society.

We can only achieve this if we learn, learn and learn. A basic tenant to learning is reading. May you all enjoy the articles in this issue.

Aluta Continua

Renew. Modernize. Reposition.

give me liberty or give me death!