South Africa’s painful apartheid history and its glorious struggle for freedom is meaningless if it does not make our journey through the present and the future easier and more prosperous. History is useless unless we learn from it and fashion its pain into prosperity. Indeed, history can easily blight the present and the future. Let me explain.
Our country has entered a cycle of important commemorations of some of its late heroes and anti-apartheid campaigns. On Monday we celebrated Human Rights Day, which commemorates the Sharpeville massacre of March 21 1960, when apartheid police fired on a defenceless crowd protesting against pass laws. At least 69 people were killed and 180 injured. Many of the victims were shot in the back.
On April 6 many will remember Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, the 23-year-old ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier who was hanged by the apartheid government in 1979. Days after that, on April 10, many others will commemorate Chris Hani, the charismatic Umkhonto we Sizwe, SA Communist Party and ANC leader who was murdered in cold blood by Janusz Walus and Clive Derby-Lewis in front of his 13-year-old daughter in 1993.
At the end of April we will then celebrate our triumph over apartheid and the freedom that was ushered in on April 27 1994 with the first democratic elections in our country.
These commemorations underline the bravery of our people in the fight against apartheid. How many of our latter-day social media revolutionaries, for example, would stand up against an enemy as ruthless as the apartheid government and burn their pass books in front of apartheid’s police and army?
These commemorations will also underline self-sacrifice and service to people. On his last day alive, before he went to face the hangman, Mahlangu reportedly said: “Tell my people that I love them and that they must continue the fight. My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom.”
Finally, these commemorations will put the spotlight on selfless leadership. In the 1960s Chris Hani stood up against apartheid, was arrested, escaped into exile, fought alongside Zimbabweans for their freedom, and fought the ANC leadership’s treatment of its soldiers in the camps, underlining favouritism, poor facilities, bad treatment and abandonment. The ANC changed after he stood up against this, introducing new ground rules. Before his assassination, Hani told his comrades: “The perks of a new government are not really appealing to me. Everybody, of course, would like to have a good job, a good salary and that sort of thing. But for me, that is not the be-all of a struggle. What is important is the continuation of the struggle — and we must accept that the struggle is always continuing — under different conditions, whether within parliament or outside parliament, we shall begin to tackle the real problems of the country. And the real problems of the country are not whether one is in cabinet, or a key minister, but what we do for social upliftment of the working masses of our people.”
Finally, on April 27, we celebrate the triumph of freedom over oppression, of humanity over barbarism.
The next few weeks give us a chance to remember the past. Yet, the past is nothing if it does not illuminate and make the present and future better.
Let us be honest and clear: the brave people that we honour and celebrate over the next few weeks would be shocked and deeply disappointed at what we have become. We celebrated Human Rights Day in a country where women are raped, children are abused, and the law fails the poor every day. Alleged illegal foreigners are harassed every day. Meanwhile, the government of the day is becoming increasingly xenophobic and playing to the Operation Dudula gallery. Human Rights Day? What human rights when children still die in pit latrines and people drink dirty water while leaders steal millions of taxpayers’ money?
Commemoration of the past is crucial for any country. It reminds us of our sins, our failures and our moments of greatness. History, remembered and recorded correctly, also points us to ways on how to proceed into the future as better human beings.
That is where we are failing. In the period since 2007, in particular, our leaders handed our country to the Guptas and other parasites. They undermined our institutions and turned SA into a gangster state. Imagine what Chris Hani or Solomon Mahlangu would say if they heard that the Guptas were appointing ministers and chairs of parastatal boards? What a betrayal that would be. Is this what they fought and died for? Is this what 1994 was about?
The next few weeks’ commemorations are crucial, but for them to have real meaning we must ask ourselves whether we are truly living up to what they mean. Look around you. We are failing the people who brought us here.
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