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Speech Delivered by Human Settlements Minister And SPEECH DELIVERED BY HUMAN SETTLEMENTS MINISTER AND ANC NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER TOKYO SEXWALE AT THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE COLLOQIUM UNIVERSITY OF FORT HARE, ALICE 28 SEPTEMBER 2012 Legacies of the Forefathers and the Youth of the African Continent Today 1. It was a deeply disturbing phone call with my elderly father… The Marikana tragedy - a massacre. Like Nelson Mandela he was born in 1918, at the tail end of the First World War. Like many young men of his age in South Africa and across the world, he answered the call in 1939 to defend his country during the World War II against the Nazis in North Africa, who were led by the famous German war officer, Field Marshall Rommel. 2. My father is a man of impeccable principles and unquestionable morality with proven credentials as a patriot. Having risked their lives for the British Empire with other having fallen, he and many other Black soldiers returned home not as heroes but as discarded lepers 1 whilst their fellow white soldiers were showered with distinguished honours. That’s my father. 3. He still lives in our home in Dube, which is named after the founding president of the ANC, John LangalibaleleDube, in Thabo Street, itself named after an old ANC and Communist Party stalwart Thabo Mofutsanyana. That’s the name Govan Mbeki chose for his famous son. Thabo Street also produced five death-row political prisoners. All ANC. Others survived and others died. 4. Again, the troubling Marikana conversation with my father weighed heavily on my shoulders. He had said: “No son of mine should become part of a government that has just killed with riffles its own people in the manner we saw on TV. Take a stand and leave the Cabinet.” But quickly added: “I do not say leave the ANC”. He repeated; “Leave the Cabinet”. One is always careful to argue against this ancient soldier well-known throughout Dube Village as a tough disciplinarian. 5. My response was a measured one in that one does not necessarily have to leave to make a statement as I felt that, in a modest way, I could still make a valuable contribution. There are good men and women in our 2 government who are all committed to making their mark towards making ours a better country and for its citizens, a better life. 6. He concluded: “It’s your call. But you know my view. I’m ANC and I will die ANC.” As we hung up, one was unsure of any assurances to him. The conversation is imprinted on my mind. It was a haunting conversation. But one question bothered me.Could it be that one may have grossly underestimated the situation? It may be so; perhaps not… What is clear is that his shaky voice on Marikana echoes inside me inasmuch as Marikanacontinues to do to all compassionate and right-thinking people in our country and around the world. 7. This exchange between father and son is instructive here at Fort Hare University, at this colloquium, whose theme is Legacies of the Forefathers and the Youth of the African Continent Today. 8. The founding father of our nation, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and many other leaders, luminaries and forefathers havetheir footprints imprinted on this institution. Through the force of their example they have taught us – and themselves have been able to transcend – 3 to rise above many of the social ills which this University is well known for taking a stand against and which colloquia of this nature should be also be seized with. These include racism, ethnicity, tribalism, violence against women and children and other important issues such as the struggle against poverty, unemployment, inequity,disease in order to strengthen Africa’s political emancipation and to chart the path ahead for economicjustice. These are critical elements of Africa’s Renaissance. 9. Our Cabinet and the government at large has its policies, including the Freedom Charter, premised upon the founding ideals and principles of our forefathers. This is the essence of their legacy – bestowed to our generation particularly the young people, the youth of today. 10. It is enlightening that there should be ongoing discussion between our generation and their generation through the medium of folklore, culture, art, song, dance, poetry, prose. Through discussion about wars-of- dispossession, resistance against occupation, the struggle against white domination. In a word, through historical discourse which informs the regeneration of our renaissance. 4 Celebrating the ANC as a legacy project endowed to us by past generations. Is it still in safe hands? 11. Thejourney of the ANC which started 100 years ago, celebrated this year in 2012, continues to echo across the African continent where the ANC has played and continues to play a significant historical role in continental affairs for Africa’s Renaissance. The philosophy and vision of Africa’s Renaissance is captured by President Thabo Mbeki on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the African Union this year: “The liberation of South Africa in 1994 marked the historic realization of the strategic task to liquidate colonialism and white minority rule on our continent. Africa could now renew its focus on the equally strategic matters of African integration and unity, and economic development.” 12. Of critical importance in respect of the legacy of our forefathers and what they have endowed to us is the question: how do we the generation of today, measure up not with regard to only the past 100 years, but most importantly the future which is to be constructed with the help of the tools left with us by our forebears? 5 13. Whilst Africa’s Renaissance is of paramount importance to all of us in the continent, in each country citizens ought to have strong political, economic and civil society structures aimed at advancing the interests of those countries, while at the same time resonating with the revival of our continent. Likewise, in our own country South Africa, we are better placed to play a role in Africa’s reemergence on the understanding that we too have vehicles to achieve this continental mission. 14. For purposes of today’s lecture at this colloquium, organized under the auspices of the Fort Hare African Renaissance Student Society, it is imperative not merely to speak about questions all over Africa, important as they are. It is crucial to pay particular attention to the ANC as a legacy project and to answer the question: Is the ANC still in safe hands? 15. The ANC as a special instrument of liberation bequeathed to us as a legacy from our forefathers is and has been a unique and special vehicle that serves numerous purposes. It is essentially a defender, protector, fighter for the underdog; a refuge centrefor the powerless; a thunderous voice for the voiceless; a Parliament for the disenfranchised. 6 16. It attracted to its safety and comfort people from all walks of life: traditionalists, believers, non-believers, conservatives, liberals, unionists, women, youth, members of the Fourth Estate, Marxist-Leninists, and people from different social classes – peasants, workers, the middle- class and the bourgeoisie. 17. The ANC, quintessentially magnetic, therefore attracted all these groupings all bound by the common desire and promise of a better life, a better country, a better future. Hence the credo – a united, non-racial, non- sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. 18. As it begins what is hopefully the journey of its next 100 years a question arises: Quite apart from advantages and opportunities along the way, what are the risks and threats that confront it going forward which may stymie its progress long after its forthcoming Mangaung national elective conference which must chart the way for the next 100 years? 19. Several risks can be identified and are relatively easy to mitigate and eliminate. However, let us shine the light of focus upon one risk that may lead to the demise of the 7 ANC. Although this risk does not have a name yet, it isa process that is clearly identifiable if subjected under the harsh tools of analysis where upon it becomes crystal clear, rendering whoever refuses to see, as suffering from the most acute form of denialism. The following adage will then apply: None are so blind as those who have eyes and yet refuse to see. We the current generation must urgently address it if we are not to lose this legacy instrument from our forefathers. And to continue to say, the ANC LIVES! THE ANC LEADS! 20. The ANC as a vehicle of freedom against oppression has developed a historically protective nature to all those who seek refuge in it, for the reasons earlier stated. It has therefore developed an automatic propensity to be protective and closes ranks to protect its persona, its own, its structure, its space and theatre of activity. This is highly commendable and is an important element in the historical strength and character of the ANC. 21. What this implies, quite often is that, whenever the ANC and or its members are under attack its defence and protective mechanism gets triggered. This has been its survival mechanism because no organization will do the opposite. 8 22. This has prompted Deputy President KgalemaMotlanthe to remind us that even when ANC members are faced with difficulties, challenges or even attacks emanating from their mistakes associated with ill discipline, they still can be corrected and re-education. He stated: “In the ANC the philosophy is that people can always be corrected by undermining their weak points and supporting their strong points. The approach of the ANC is that it abandons only the most incorrigible.” 23.
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