The leadership of the ANC in the North West Province
Distinguished delegates
Comrades and friends
Ladies and Gentlemen
This year 2012, marks an important year for us as South Africans, because it is the historic Centenary of the African National Congress, the very first modern liberation movement on our Continent.
The ANC is the oldest liberation movement on the African continent and has enjoyed a very dynamic relationship with all other liberation movements which existed and some still do exist on the African continent.
On the 27th of April, South Africa will be celebrating 18 years since it gained freedom Apartheid and Colonialism of a special kind. On 27 April 1994, democracy was born and an end to white minority rule was won. This was no miracle but a hard fought battle claiming many thousands of lives. We cast our ballots and many of us did so in the Bantustans which apartheid had created, we cast our ballots and had our eye on the future which we knew had to be a better life for everyone.
April 27, 1994 was more than achieving the right to vote for the government of our choice, it meant an end to degradation of Blacks in general and Africans in particular, it meant an end to segregated schools and hospitals and clinics, it meant an end to the Apartheid spatial development, a reality we are still struggling to today to overcome. It meant also an end to institutional racism and ethnic divisions. The ANC was founded to unite the African people and to build a united non-racial, non-sexist, united and democratic South Africa.
The national democratic revolution is our journey to ending all forms of entrenched behaviour that came with apartheid and colonialism. We will stop at nothing less than the complete transformation of our society.
Today comrades, we are celebrating our freedom that was attained through struggle, determination and selfless sacrifice. Many of our heroes and heroines paid the ultimate price and unfortunately did not survive to witness this freedom that we are enjoying today.
One of the comrades who did not witness the freedom we have, was Solomon “Kalushi” Mahlangu, the one we are gathered here to commemorate.
Programme Director, I count myself profoundly privileged to stand before you today, to deliver this keynote address this afternoon to honour and sustain the memory of a truly outstanding South African.
I am grateful for this opportunity of having to reflect on the importance of the life of this great hero of our revolution, and a martyr of our struggle.
Solomon Mahlangu was a young liberation movement activist who left South Africa in the wake of the June 1976 Soweto Uprising to go to exile.
This year marks the thirty-third anniversary of the cruel curtailment of the young life of Comrade Solomon Mahlangu on 6 April 1979.
The seed for the total undermining of the machinations of the Apartheid Regime was laid by none other than Solomon Mahlangu himself when, on his way to the gallows, he heroically declared: My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight.
While enjoying the freedom that Solomon Mahlangu laid down his life for, we have every obligation to honour the ideals for which he died.
Let us not forget what he stood for and what he believed in a non-racial, non-sexiest democratic South Africa. Let us honour his memory and legacy by ensuring that we are united in diversity as a country, and as an organisation.
On their return to South Africa Mahlangu and his friend both cadres of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), were captured after a skirmish with the police and several white civilians who were assisting the police. Two of the civilians were killed.
Although the Court of law found that Solomon had personally played no direct part in killing them (either by shooting or throwing a hand grenade), he was found guilty of murder through ‘common purpose’ and sentenced to death.
The common purpose clause in the Terrorism Act of 19. made it possible for the apartheid courts to ignore justice and apply politics to their decision making. A fact we need to be wary of even today.
Solomon Mahlangu was executed on the 6 April 1979, the anniversary of Jan van Riebeeck’s establishment of the first colonial settlement in South Africa.
This symbolism should not escape us, the macabre sense of violence owned by the apartheid regime mirrored the antics of the Nazi party in Germany.
Mahlangu was not a wealthy person, he was like so many Black South Africans, the product of a poor home. He joined MK and knew that he would give his life. He also knew, like so many young people of his generation that he could expect nothing for himself, other than the freedom of all the people of our country.
Throughout his hardships, He showed fearlessness, courage and dedication to the people`s cause. He believed in the cause of freedom. He symbolised the spirit of the youth of 1976 and the fighting traditions of our people.
Since 1994, the society we have decided to build is one that draws its inspiration from the ideals for which Solomon Mahlangu paid the supreme sacrifice.
Today he would have joined Udiah and say:
Liberated, I'm free from you
Liberated, bondage is through
Liberated, I'll speak my view
Liberated, life to pursue
Oh come and hear the news
I am now free to choose
There is no more abuse
Gone are the loathsome blues
An end to oppression
Freedom of expression
There'll be no concession
Gone is the depression
Solomon Mahlangu resolutely opposed the evil system of apartheid colonialism which condemned us to a life of poverty, suffering and extreme hardship. Life was very difficult for people to survive under the apartheid government. South Africa was a dark cheerless country for Black people.
The notion of human rights did not exist, even Christianity was used as a tool against the majority of the people, the Dutch Reform Church, preached that we were not equal in the eyes of God and that calvinistic doctrine even declared that the colonisers were given a covenant by God to rule South Africa.
We must remember the words of Nelson Mandela when he told us that, with freedom comes responsibilities and that the obligation is placed on all of us to reconstruct and build South Africa.
As a nation today we enjoy a system of vibrant multi-party democracy, with a progressive Bill of Rights which recognises political, socio-economic and environmental rights and obligations, and with separation of powers among the executive, the judiciary and the legislatures. Beyond the formal processes of regular elections and legislatures, various forms of legislated and other forums ensure popular participation.
We now live in a democracy, we have elected our own government.
Democracy is a political system that includes the legitimacy of a government; a Bill of Rights that must guarantee freedoms; democratic governments that rely on the rule of law; checks and balances against abuse of power; and a strong independent press.
The Polokwane Declaration of the ANC states that: "The democratic freedoms that we won became the cornerstone upon which we are advancing towards a better life for all.
While we have made great strides in the transformation, reconstruction and development of our society since we were elected to power in 1994, we are equally mindful of the many challenges that face us in our vision to fully redress socio-economic imbalances created by decades of apartheid. These include unemployment, poverty and inequality in our society.
We have the common responsibility to work hard to contribute to the solution of the challenges we have as a nation.
In 1976 the Solomon Mahlangu generation correctly identified the challenges and tasks they had to confront. They went into exile to train as soldiers of liberation.
Today we should use education and skills to fight poverty and unemployment. We should continue to serve our people, to accelerate service delivery and be committed to our manifesto in creating a better life for our people.
Mandela told us: “To be free isn’t merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
The ANC is an organisation that is highly thought of due to the long struggle against apartheid, and a transition to democracy that was conducted with integrity and dignity that awed the world.
The 52nd National Conference of the ANC, declared, quite correctly, that South Africa is on the correct path, advancing yet further towards the complete liberation of all our people each day.
The ANC will consistently improve the role played by legislative organs of government as tribunes of the people, and as platforms to monitor and advance the programme of change. It will continue to promote the transformation of the judiciary and to consolidate the legitimacy of this important arm of the state in a constitutional democracy.
Informed by the doctrine of separation of powers, the ANC will encourage mutual respect among the three arms of the state - the legislature, the executive and the judiciary - in dealing with matters of common interest.
What we need to guard against is corruption, greed, nepotism and infighting, all of which affect governance and service delivery. Corrupt civil servants have no place in the employ of the government, corruption at whatever level it rears its ugly head must be rooted out without any feelings of sympathy for those who choose to steal from the poor.
The ANC is the only organisation that has taken action against corruption and we need to ensure that we continue to expose corruption no matter how much it would hurt, we must become social activists in defence of the people, and even if a member of our own families are corrupt we have to expose them so that our country can move forward faster.
This month is the commemoration of 18 years since the 1994 genocide which led to the killing of close to one million people in ten days in Rwanda. The Hutu and the Tutsi treated one another as enemies, and the consequences therefore resulted in massacre ever experienced after the world war two.
It’s a caution to us as the organisation not to treat one another as enemies rather as fellow ANC comrades.
More importantly, ethnic division was deepened by the apartheid regime, we must not succumb to this evil , we are a country with diverse cultures and it does not matter how we all came to be here in the place called South Africa, what is important is that we are all here and we all South Africans.
The freedom charter says that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.
We must understand that for any revolution to succeed, it requires unprecedented levels of political discipline and maturity.
Let us work together to help the ANC led government to redouble its effort to create jobs and reduce poverty.
We look upon all the ANC members to defend the country`s Constitution, which is the cornerstone of the rights and dignity of our people, especially the vulnerable and marginalised.
Unity is paramount among members in addressing the challenges we face as the movement.
To give a scenario on Chinese politics, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politics during the cultural revolution of China was structured in a complex faction, a faction built on the patron-client relationships between the leaders and the followers, and a leader’s power was based on the strength of his faction. Factionalism has played such a crucial role that it was the cause of all the major intra-struggles in CCP history.
Pre-1949 factional struggles in CCP history, factionalism reflected a political crisis in which the CCP leadership has either collapsed or being seriously challenged.
ANC members should be aware that factional politics are politics of conflict, before the Cultural Revolution (CR) unfolded in 1966; factionalism was barely noticed in the study of Chinese politics because the field was predominated by unity analyses.
These analyses saw Chinese politics as a united entity, integrated by ideology and organisational, maintained by disciple and a strong leadership, and safe guarded by the people’s liberation Army (PLA) commanded by the Party.
Comrades factionalism undermines political stability and party growth, not only that but it also leads to government gridlock and causes voters to lose confidence in the democratic system.
The division that persists in the North West Province’s African National Congress is becoming a virus that is plunging governance and the stability of politics into a crisis.
An appropriate premise is a reminder of the core values of the ANC, namely, selflessness, honesty, respect for leadership, unity, humility, and discipline.
In conclusion, Comrades as we remember today, the 10th of April the day, when Comrade Chris Hani fell down, the day South Africa was robbed of its own human jewel of jewels.
At the time of his death Cde Hani was the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party. He had served in the National Executive Committee of the ANC since 1967. He was a commanding officer of rare quality, who always led from the front as National Commissar of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
As we strive to create a national consensus for economic growth and to wage a concerted struggle against poverty.
Comrade Chris Hani never became conceited or arrogant. He was always readily accessible to all in MK. As the government we are working tirelessly in bettering the lives of our people.
52nd National Conference of the ANC Adopted a Strategy and Tactics (150), which states that the character and strength of the ANC must continue to reside in and derive from its mass base. As the leading force in government, the ANC should continually improve its capacity and skill to wield and transform the instruments of power.
We may all differ at certain points on issues, but the common goal will always be same – the achievement of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
I thank you.
