Symbols and remembering: Let Madiba’s Legacy Guide Us
Parliament calls on all South Africans to follow the example set by the country’s leadership under the late President Nelson Mandela, and find political solutions, in dealing with sensitive and emotive issues such as the country’s statues and other symbols of our past.
All of us have a duty to work expeditiously to correct all past injustices and acknowledge the pain of our people. While doing so we also have a duty to uphold the laws of our country and work towards social cohesion and avoid counterproductive actions that could polarise our society.
Parliament in dealing with critical issues of transformation takes its cue from the approach championed by Madiba and his contemporaries towards reconciliation and nation building. For them reconciliation meant working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.
During the first democratic Parliament, the then Presiding Officers working together with political parties in Parliament oversaw an inclusive and consultative process to deal with apartheid symbols within the Parliamentary precinct. This led to the removal of a number of these from public display.
The 20 years of democracy project inherited from the fourth democratic Parliament is continuing. As part of this project, a multi-party Political Steering committee is discussing various ways of memorialising the past for the benefit of posterity.
Conversations between stakeholders include renaming of buildings and public spaces based on shared reflections on the heroic efforts by all who contributed to our democratic breakthrough and birth of a new nation.
Parliament recognises the depth of feeling of our people regarding symbolism and remembering and the need for even greater speed in dealing matters of transformation. This Parliament will do, within the parameters of the law and as part of a political process as President Jacob Zuma correctly advises.
