Programme Director;
Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela;
The Minister of Arts and Culture; Mr. Paul Mashatile
The Premier of Gauteng; Mrs. Nonkonyane
The MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture; Mr. Lebohang Maile
National Heritage Council;
The CEO of NHC, Advocate Mancotywa;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
It is with humility and great pleasure that we have accepted the invitation to attend this very important occasion of the Presentation of the UBUNTU AWARD to one of our stalwarts of the struggle for freedom and peace.
Chairperson, I wish to extend my gratitude for this opportunity to give our Keynote address to this historic event in the history of Heritage, Culture and Moral Regeneration in the Republic of South Africa.
We have as a country and as a people come out of a very painful history of apartheid colonialism. An Apartheid Colonial System that was determined to destroy our people through the degrading of their humanness, culture, heritage freedoms.
Since the 1994 democratic breakthrough, the government of the Republic has put systems in place that will systematically and structurally replace apartheid structures that where designed to undermine the rights and freedoms of our people.
Our developmental state established these structures and systems in order to counter-act the doctrine of apartheid that rested on conflict, racial discrimination, tribalism and ethnicity, exploitation, apathy and sexism. In this regard, the democratic state replaced those systems and structures with democratic structures whose sole aim is to reconcile, unify, and inculcate patriotism, nation building and social cohesion.
Thus, South Africa’s concept of UBUNTU is understood as ‘humanity’, brotherhood and sisterhood, South Africanness, humility, working together, is a way of positive life; solidarity and sacrifice’.
It is in this regard that South Africans who contributed immensely in the realization of the principles of UBUNTU are recognized and honoured for their contribution in the struggle for liberation and democracy; freedom and peace. This is recognition of outstanding personalities in our society who contributed in our shared heritage of struggle; a heritage of better life for all; a heritage of Moral Regeneration; a heritage of pushing back the frontiers of poverty, underdevelopment and ignorance.
It is therefore befitting to witness this evening that one of those combatants in the war against moral de-generation; a war against the deconstruction of the South African soul and a war against divisions, poverty and underdevelopment, will be awarded this accolade tonight.
Mama Winnie Madikezela-Mandela needs no introduction to the people of the Republic of South Africa. She needs no introduction the struggle of the peoples’ of Africa. Mama needs no introduction to the poverty, hunger and diseases that faces the people of the world. She talked the walk and she walked the talk.
Like Mama Sisulu; Mama Madikizela-Mandela is the one who loved her country and her people!South Africa pays tribute in gratitude for her colossal contribution to the struggle for the national liberation and social emancipation; reminded by her immaculate verve story that she vestiges one of the deluxe and most seasoned cadres of our movement, the African National Congress (ANC).
She undoubtedly had a revolutionary consciousness from her early age as a teenager and found herself in the fore-front of the battle trenches for freedom and democracy. An off-spring of a peasant farmer (her father) and a housewife, (her mother), where she learnt how to serve.
A servant of our country and the democratic state.A pillar of strength of the ANC Youth League leadership of the 50s.A volunteer for the Freedom Charter campaign; a leader of the South African Women; a member and leader of the ANC Women’s League; a social worker and committed civil servant for many decades; an activist of the United Democratic Front (UDF) till the end; a care-giver to many children and those with disabilities flaunted her inherent servitude. Umasokolara!!!
Her monumental contributions into the fight to defeat apartheid colonialism are crystal clear.
The life Mama and Tata Mandela suffered under during the days of the colonialism of special type bears evidence to the verity that they worked diligently to ensure that freedom and democracy was enjoyed by all South Africans.
Until today, Mama is an ‘African Rose’ because of her simplicity’ and nature; a scenery because of her naturalness; a revolutionary because of her commitment to her country and people; a heartwarming creature because of her personality; a touchable soul because of her originality and humility! She is one of those persons whom everybody liked immediately because she is full of love and respect!She knew organization; she knew how to work in a collective!
As Antonio Gramsci said in his Cultural Writings in the 19th Century:
“The collectivity must be understood as the product of a development of will and of collective thought attained through concrete individual effort and not through a process of destiny extraneous to individual people.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered here, this evening, to pay homage to one of the stalwart of the South African struggle for freedom and peace. We are assembled here, today, to bestow the highest accolade to the woman of honour; a woman of integrity and a woman of stature in the corridors of superstructure; comrade Honourable Winnie Mandela.
We bestow this because our nation is inspired by your selfless dedication, before and after 1990 unbanning of the liberation movements, your commitment and dedication to your people is inspiring millions of South AfricansWe do this electrified by your unwavering commitment you displayed in the revolutionary struggle for social justice and equality. We are rejuvenated by your displayed dedication to the war for peace and human sacrifice. We are exuberant by your exuberance in the battle trenches for peace and human solidarity. We are invigorated by your vigor to struggle for freedom and total emancipation of women, youth and people with disabilities; and the elderly.
Ladies and gentlemen, in this tribute of one of our own, our luminary Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, allow me to recite at the outset a befitting truism of Michael Lowy, an author of a book titled the “Marxism of Che Guevara” which epitomizes the values and virtues of someone who qualifies to receive this honour that is named after the humility of our people and peaceful nature of our struggle, the UBUNTU AWARDS.
Michael Lowy writes:
“Che was not only a heroic fighter, but a revolutionary thinker, with a political and moral project and a system of ideas and values for which he fought for and gave his life for. The philosophy which gave his political and ideological choices their coherence, colour, and taste was a deep revolutionary humanism. For Che, the true Communist, the true Revolutionary was one who felt that the great problems of all humanity were his or her personal problems, one who was capable of feeling anguish whenever someone was assassinated, no matter where it was in the world, and of feeling exultation whenever a new banner of liberty was raised somewhere else”.
Like Che, Mama Winnie, like his comrade Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela, a husband, she was born in struggle, and was baptized in the revolutionary flames of the African National Congress (ANC) and the entire congress movement in South Africa, which blaze continue to rage to this day in promotion of global peace, non-racialism, non-sexism, human dignity and prosperity for all.
All these values are an embodiment of all the men and women who will receive this award tonight and in future. We also take this opportunity to call on all South Africans to adopt these values, to practice these values and to live these values.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the art of leading a winning battle for a victorious war and a glorious victory!
Thank you!
