Quote of the week
[T]he moral point of the matter is never reached by calling what happened by the name of ‘genocide’ or by counting the many millions of victims: extermination of whole peoples had happened before in antiquity, as well as in modern colonization. It is reached only when we realize this happened within the frame of a legal order and that the cornerstone of this ‘new law’ consisted of the command ‘Thou shall kill,’ not thy enemy but innocent people who were not even potentially dangerous, and not for any reason of necessity but, on the contrary, even against all military and other utilitarian calculations. … And these deeds were not committed by outlaws, monsters, or raving sadists, but by the most respected members of respectable society.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil
The party has a responsibility to ensure that, in the process of seeking to transform both the state and society, the legitimacy of the state is not compromised. Whereas the party, through its government, exercises political authority over the State, the separation between the Party and the State is imperative. Given the character and nature of the ANC, contestation to influence and control the State is an ongoing struggle, whose outcome will partly be determined by the balance of forces, as well as the imperatives of what type of society and State, the ANC seeks to build. The ANC’s approach and orientation on the question of State Power and its use is well documented. The Strategy and Tactics document of the ANC, as adopted at the ANC’s 52nd National Conference held in Polokwane, is clear on what must be done. The challenge lies in our day to day experiences, wherein the ANC, its Alliance partners and its functionaries in and out of government, adopt different and at times conflicting postures towards the State and its Organs. The ANC fully embraces the doctrine of Separation of Powers as articulated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. – ANC Gauteng discussion document
