Message of support by Deputy President Ramaphosa on the occasion of the annual commemoration of the legacy of Kgoshi Mampuru II, Jane Furse, Limpopo
Your Royal Highness, Kgoshi Sekwati Mampuru III,
I thank you and the Pedi-Mamone Traditional Council for inviting me to participate in the Annual Commemoration of Kgoshi Mampuru II.
This commemoration is an indispensable part of our national memory, collective existence and tenacity as a people.
When we ponder on Kgoshi Mampuru II's life and death, we are compelled to reflect on human values and human interaction.
Kgoshi Mampuru's barbaric execution was committed in the name of colonial civilisation and enlightenment.
The lingering brutality and historical trauma that surround his death remind us of an unjust social order that was based on violence, subjugation, and dispossession.
His horrific execution was designed to crush, silence and humiliate his people.
On this occasion, we reflect on how black South Africans were brutalised, stripped of their dignity and disenfranchised in the land of their birth.
This is a day that must inspire us as a nation to work harder for the complete restoration of the dignity of our people.
As we commemorate Kgoshi Mampuru II - as we remember all our leaders who fought colonialism - we must ask ourselves, collectively and as individuals, what it is we are doing to make us worthy custodians of their heroic legacy.
When we gather in Kgoshi Mamapuru II's name we must be able to ask what it is we are doing daily to improve the lives of the people he loved and for whom he paid the ultimate price.
As we gather here, we must take stock of the progress we have made to emancipate our people from the bondage of racial hatred, poverty and underdevelopment.
Certainly we have made significant progress.
But we still need to do a great deal more.
Starting with the Reconstruction and Development Programme we have sought to attack poverty, deprivation and inequality.
We remain committed to the building of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, just and prosperous society.
Inspired by the adage, motho ke motho ka batho, we are building a caring, developmental state that puts people first.
Since 1994, we have adopted a constitutional dispensation that lays a firm foundation to end institutionalised racism and human suffering.
We have restored the health of our state resources for the benefit of all.
We have provided social assistance for the elderly, the disabled and vulnerable children.
Today South Africa is a beacon of hope because of its progressive laws, sound economic management and a thriving human rights ethos.
We have improved access to education, health, housing and water and sanitation.
This is how the ANC-led government through its pro-poor policies is actively restoring citizenship and the dignity of our people, the dignity of Kgoshi Mampuru, Kgoshi Sekhukhune, King Makhado, King Hintsa, King Cetshwayo, King Ngungunyane.
The South Africa we know today is a shadow of its former self.
But we remain afflicted by endemic poverty, massive inequality, and high levels of unemployment.
Race still divides us. Discrimination persists.
This is a reality that we must root out from our land if we are to truly restore the dignity of all our people.
It is a day that must remind us that in the course of our long and bitter struggle against apartheid-colonialism, there were white people who transcended their privileged status and stood on the side of justice.
We must therefore know that those who harbour prejudice and cling to racial superiority are spitting on the graves of those who suffered with blacks to liberate this country.
Whatever the odds, the unity of all our people and the rebuilding of our nation must remain paramount and sacrosanct.
As South Africans, we must continue to exemplify the generosity of the human spirit. We must guard against the temptation to be dehumanised to the point that we are driven to the fringes of naked barbarism.
It was the barbarism of colonialism that mercilessly took away the life Kgoshi Mampuru II, but it will be our humanity, goodwill and foresight that will secure and guarantee our collective future.
Traditional leadership remains an important part of nourishing our spiritual and communal wellbeing.
We must guard this institution and shun those who use it to abuse power and to enjoy ill-gotten spoils while our people remain neglected.
Traditional leaders must serve their people as a whole and must do so under the constitutional framework that respects and preserves their existence.
Together with our traditional leaders we must fight corruption and greed.
With our traditional leaders, we must continue to devise strategies to wrestle our people from unemployment, inequality and poverty.
Government can never transform society alone.
We look to our traditional leaders to inspire our young people to stay in class and to make the best use of the opportunities that our government is affording them in higher education.
Collectively, we have a duty to free our people from bondage, ignorance and illiteracy.
It is our duty to strive for the prosperity of all and not the profit of the individual.
We are called to create value, to give hope and we to share the benefits of our work.
That is the best way to honour the memory of Kgoshi Mampuru impact investing and all our leaders who stood up to the indignity of colonialism and apartheid.
I thank you.
