This article and those that precede and follow it concern revolutionary (or emancipatory) consciousness and revolutionary activity in the context of the South African struggle for freedom. (See https://www.polity.org.za/article/revolutionary-or-emancipatory-consciousness-and-action-before-and-after-199094-part-one-2023-05-24 and https://www.polity.org.za/article/how-meanings-of-revolutionaryemancipatory-consciousness-and-actions-need-to-change-over-time-part-two-2023-05-29). This is a struggle that has passed through various phases and continues to change since the aspirations of the oppressed for freedom continue to elude them, even after the inauguration of formal democracy in 1994 and the adoption of a pathbreaking constitution in 1996. The ways in which those committed to this democratic revolution act out their beliefs has changed over time and continues to change, albeit without clarity as to what that means at the present moment, to which I will return.
Not everyone who wanted to assist the ANC could make formal contact with the organisation and be formally inducted as a member. There was, however, a category of people who tried to act as the ANC required, learning what they could of ANC directives and performing as an ANC cadre or activist wa.
Chris Hani’s legacy is often reduced to debates about his tragic death in April 1993, but his significance goes beyond South Africa’s democratic transition.