The Year of Charlotte Maxeke: Promoting Human Rights in the Age of Covid-19
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
1 THE YEAR OF CHARLOTTE MAXEKE: PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF COVID-19 The Year of Charlotte Maxeke: Promoting human rights in the age of COVID-19 2 CONTENTS Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 Socio-Historical Context ....................................................................................................... 3 The Political Economy of Health Provision and COVID-19 .................................................. 8 A Tribute to Charlotte Maxeke ............................................................................................. 8 Strategic Objectives ............................................................................................................. 9 The Launch and the Official Program ................................. 0Error! Bookmark not defined. Marketing And Communications ........................................................................................ 09 The Year of Charlotte Maxeke: Promoting human rights in the age of COVID-19 3 1. INTRODUCTION The Department of Sport Arts & Culture, in consultation with its partners in government will once again lead in the planning and commemoration of the 2021 Human Rights Month and Human Rights Day. The Department of Justice and the Presidency, including the GCIS would be the main partners for this commemorative programme. Given the declaration by the President for a national state of disaster owing to the rampant spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant loss of lives and livelihoods, it stands to reason that this pandemic should inform the substance of the theme for 2021. Also, 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of struggle icon and human rights campaigner Charlotte Maxeke. Had she lived, she would be 150 years this year. As a way to memorialise and remember her, her life story would also inform the 2021 theme for Human Rights Month. The concept note also gives a socio-historical context to the commemoration, critiques the political economy of COVID-19 as well as foregrounds the life story of the celebrated trailblazer Charlotte Maxeke. Finally, the concept note would also propose strategic objectives for the commemoration, the draft programme for commemoration, including the format. 2. SOCIO-HISTORICAL CONTEXT TO HUMAN RIGHTS DAY (AND HUMAN RIGHTS MONTH) Owing to the growing repression by the apartheid state and attendant human rights abuses that were sell-evident at the time, opposition to apartheid led by the broader liberation movement grew. By the early 1960’s, it had become apparent that the apartheid machinery was gaining traction and getting more draconian in approach that it has ever been envisaged before. With the defeat of the United Party in 1948 by a more white radical Afrikaaner political formation i.e. the National Party, apartheid immediately became official policy of the new National Party government. With this new development then came a plethora of laws which gave a very clear signal of a new political epoch, marked by a plethora of oppressive and intrusive laws. The Year of Charlotte Maxeke: Promoting human rights in the age of COVID-19 4 The pass laws, among many other pieces of oppressive laws were introduced. The pass in particular sought to restrict and control movement of blacks, in particular Africans. At the very heart of the pass laws was the idea that blacks were an aberration, an unnecessary irritant whose movements needed to be controlled and curtailed. In other words, the pass laws were meant to deny African people of their right to dignity and citizenship in the country of their birth. Given that the pass laws tore into the very essence of the South African society, its being, its identity and its values; leaders of the mass liberation movement had to take stand; which they did. In this regard, a number of protest marches planned across the length and breadth of this country were planned as a way to say to signal to the white racist apartheid regime, that the oppressed black majority will not wittingly stand idle in the face of oppression, but will instead stand up and fight to the bitter end. The Defiance Campaign called by leaders of the Congress Movement was meant to be a series of peaceful protests against pass laws across major centres of this country. Peaceful protest was this the political modus operandi at the time until the broad liberation movement was pushed to the edge and thereby forming armed wings such as Apla and Mkhoto-we-Sizwe. However, given the moral and ethical depravity of the apartheid regime, it made sure that its state security apparatus on the day of the major protest on 21 March 1960 in Sharpeville was armed to the teeth and would brutally crash the peaceful protest with live ammunition. The Sharpeville protest was led by the Africanist breakaway faction of the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), and was now a fully-fledged political force. The violent crackdown at this protest saw at least 69 people, including women and children massacred, while also leaving over 180 injured. It is reported that more deaths followed as apartheid security forces rounded up activists and their families in the aftermath of the massacre. Subsequent protests and strikes were met with major repression, culminating into the total ban of both the ANC and PAC. The Year of Charlotte Maxeke: Promoting human rights in the age of COVID-19 5 Sharpeville remains a signature event in this nation’s historical timeline, and its contribution need to be foregrounded, as it certainly ought to be case with many other parts of this country, which, like Sharpeville, took the fight to the apartheid regime, and like Sharpeville, they encountered the worst of the apartheid’s brutal force. Sharpeville, as a signature event (not so much it is supremely significant in comparison to many other places that have had to endure apartheid’s brutality) will always take its special rightful place in the nation’s liberation narrative. Like June 16, 1976, it assisted in foregrounding onto the international stage the plight of the African masses against a senseless and cruel white apartheid regime. Sharpeville exposed the apartheid regime for the pariah state it was. 3. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF HEALTH PROVISION AND COVID-19 The deep inequalities in society premised fundamentally along the contours of race, class, and gender, continue to stymie the nation’s effort towards cohesion and nation building. It is an indisputable truth that black people account for the overwhelming majority of the poor and working class while most white people are in the higher earning bands. These deep inequalities also have a gender dynamic since black women would account for a sizable number of the working class poor – accounting for well over 50% of the total. With the declaration of the national disaster by the President, as a way to stamp out the rampant spread of the COVID-19, including putting breaks on potential deaths, the mostly black working class poor was left stranded and with livelihoods lost as a result of the economic shutdown across many key sectors. Given the appalling living conditions of the working class poor, stricter adherence to all the necessary COVID-19 health and safety protocols became a challenge. For example, given the living conditions of squalor, most could hardly social distance during the hard lockdown. Also, given the economic shutdown, and loss of income in the informal sector and in the broad unskilled categories of employed, accessing basic preventative necessities such as masks and sanitizers became a challenge, notwithstanding the temporary R300 temporary monthly grant to the unemployed as emergency relief. The public health sector on which the majority of the poor and working class depend, remains The Year of Charlotte Maxeke: Promoting human rights in the age of COVID-19 6 overstretched and almost at full capacity, meaning that the right to basic health of the poor may unwittingly be compromised as a result, even as it is being reported that the private health sector is also almost at full capacity. The emphasis should still be on the poor and working class as it is the state’s duty to primarily protect the most vulnerable of its citizens. 4. A TRIBUTE TO CHARLOTTE MAANYA While the international community observe annually 21 March as the “The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination”, the democratic government declared March 21 Human Rights Day to commemorate and honour those who fought for our liberation and the rights we enjoy today. In line with the Department’s mandate as the custodian of the government’s commemorative programme, including key anniversaries, the Charlotte Maxeke Institute, an NPO, approached the Ministry via a correspondence entitled “150th Year Celebration of Charlotte Makgomo Mannya-Maxeke”. Had she lived, Maxeke will have been turning 150 years in 2021. As has been the case with most of our struggle icons, most notably Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo, there is a strong view expressed in the correspondence to the Minister that Mme Maxeke must also be accorded a special place in our collective memory by appropriately marking her life in 2021, and thus ensuring that millions of young people, especially younger women, draw solace and inspiration from her life of service and sacrifice. Given the staying power of patriarchy and the continued subjugation and violence against women and girls, dedicating 2021 to the life of Charlotte