The ANC's heritage under siege

The African National Congress's (ANC) battle to reclaim the sacred name Umkhonto weSizwe from Jacob Zuma's party is nothing less than a defence of its very soul and heritage.

- Cornelius Tanana Monama

It is a fight to safeguard a revolutionary heritage, to protect a legacy forged in blood and sacrifice, and to shield the identity of the liberation movement from brazen political opportunism.In every epoch of struggle, the liberation movement must defend not only its organisational existence, but also the integrity of its memory. Today, the ANC finds itself in such a moment. The symbols, history, language and martyrs of our movement - earned through blood, exile, prison and sacrifice - have become the battlefield on which rival political parties seek moral legitimacy.

As a result, the ANC has been forced into a position where it must protect through the courts, if necessary, its hard-won heritage of the freedom struggle against a range of political opportunists who try, openly or subtly, to clothe themselves in the garments of the ANC's moral authority.

In post-apartheid South Africa, the ANC remains the party most closely associated with the liberation struggle. Its names, symbols, heroes and history are deeply embedded in the national consciousness. This is why, across our political landscape, we see parties that did not live the struggle, that did not carry the pain or the scars of apartheid, attempting to wrap themselves in the cloth of the ANC's history.

Some do so through speeches. Some do so through imagery. Others go as far as attempting to steal the very names and symbols that belong to the ANC and its fallen heroes. From the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the Congress of the People (COPE), the African Independent Congress (AIC), and most dramatically, Zuma's party, the symbols and names have become a prized commodity.