South Africa, at the 140 years birthday celebration of the Inanda Seminar
7 March 2009
Salutations
I am delighted to be here today to join the community of this seminary in
the celebration of the 140th anniversary of this great institution that has
been on the side of those who resisted and fought colonialism. Somehow, I am
part of this community after having spent a significant period of my life at
this school as a student. I feel humbled to have been invited to be among your
speakers when there are so many alumni of this seminary who have given life in
the outstanding role they are playing in our country today to the motto of this
institution â "Shine where you are"!
There is something special about this seminary that should not be missed,
lest we overlook an important part of our history. This seminary was opened to
African girls at the time when formal education was limited to the few, and
mainly men. To offer education to girls was a serious challenge to the
institution of patriarchy which must have been at its strongest in the 19th
century. Even today, access to education for girls is one of the targets set
out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for gender equality and the
empowerment of women. It is a dream that many countries yearn for.
It is, therefore, fitting that we should be celebrating this anniversary
today on the eve of the International Womenâs Day. We join those women, all
over across the world, who are ready to stand up and claim their place in
history like products of this seminary who shine wherever they are.
Programme Director,
This seminary is a product of a particular era in the history of our
country. The seminary was founded a year after the discovery of diamonds in
Kimberly, a development which was to transform the political economy of our
country. Not only did this heighten colonial greed for African labour to work
on these mines and the imposition of cruel measures such as the hut tax; this
also intensified the process of the colonial destruction of many independent
African kingdoms. The discovery of diamonds was to be followed by that of gold
twenty years later which resulted, among others, in the emergence of the big
city of Johannesburg.
African men were forced by conditions of the time to head for the mines as
migrants workers, leaving their wives and children behind.
This shook the foundations of African family structures as they had existed
until then and created conditions for the underdevelopment of our rural
areas.
African people were dispossessed of their land and marginalized from benefiting
from the discovery of diamonds and gold. Whites came to own 87 percent of our
land, with Africans locked in reserves and urban slums which were located in 13
percent of our country. We are still dealing with this legacy to this day. The
majority of black people are still in townships, squatter camps and the rural
areas which are in our second economy. Our first economy is the Johannesburg
and the Durban of this world.
Ladies and gentlemen
The struggle we fought until 1994 was aimed at halting the process I have
just described to build a united, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa. This
seminary made an important contribution to this struggle. Thinking back to the
140 years of this seminary's existence is like walking through the heritage
route of the liberation struggle that brought us our freedom in 1994. It is
fitting that the seminary is among the pilot schools identified for the
Historic Schools Restoration Project.
The history of the anniversary we are celebrating will be incomplete if we
do not invoke that of the American missionaries whose work in this part of our
country gave birth to the seminary. The contribution that these missionaries
made defies stereotypes about the role of missionaries on our continent which
tend to reduce them to agents of imperialism and the colonial subjugation of
the indigenous people. The seminary and the Adams College that these
missionaries established, for example, produced great personalities such as
Pixley ka Seme, Dr John Dube and Chief Albert Lithuli.
It was ka Seme who conceived the idea that was to lead to the formation of
the African National Congress (ANC) that is today the ruling party. John Dube
was the first President of the ANC. The Ohlange Institute, which Dube
established for the education of Africans, played a very important role in
grooming the leaders of this country. This is the Institute where former
President Mandela voted for the first time in 1994, in honour of this
distinguished leader of our movement.
Programme Director
The heritage trail through which we travel in celebrating the 140th
anniversary of this seminary cannot but take a global view of Inanda as a place
not only at the centre of our struggle, but also of enlightenment and rich
spirituality.
We are in the midst here of not only Ka Seme and John Dube, but also of George
Champion who is known for his contribution in the ANC in Natal and the
development of the trade union movement in our country.
The Phoenix Settlement, also here in Inanda, is known as a place where
Mahatma Gandhi developed his philosophy and strategies of struggle against
colonial rule. Perhaps, had it not been for Inanda, the world would not have
had a Mahatma Gandhi!
The presence of Ghandi in Inanda as well as that of the missionaries at this
seminary made these places an important spiritual centre in our country. Also,
Inanda is home to the holy site of multitudes of the Church of Nazareth.
How many countries in the world can have in one place the spirituality that
this seminary represents, Ghandi's wisdom, and the religious ingenuity of
Bishop Isaiah Shembe?
Inanda is also remembered as a place of enlightenment. This seminary
produced many great minds. And it was also from here that Gandhi ran his
newspaper, Indian Opinion, and John Dube his Ilanga lase Natal. Both newspapers
are still in circulation to this day, continuing to influence and enrich the
discourse in our country.
The scenic beauty and enchantment of Inanda is not complete without
mentioning the artists from this place, who include our own Sipho Gumede, Busi
Mhlongo and many others. All these make Inanda and its Heritage Route not only
a tourist marvel, but also a very important place with poignant historical
significance in the country.
Ladies and gentlemen
This seminary has a role to play in helping us move forward as a nation to
realise the dream that inspired heroines such as Victoria Mxenge, Miriam Makeba
and Ma Tambo. As a girls' school, this seminary is best positioned not only to
provide our country with critical skills that we need, but also to contribute
in reversing the inequality between men and women in all spheres of our
society. We want to see women, at least in equal number to men, in workplaces,
our Parliament and Cabinet.
We are free today, we can vote and go anywhere in the country without been
asked for passes. But we still have a long road ahead of us before we realize
the dream of those women and men who fought for our freedom. The new
Administration that will lead our country in the next five years has committed
itself to addressing these outstanding challenges in the areas of health,
education, rural development, creating descent jobs, and fighting crime and
corruption.
But we can only succeed in overcoming these challenges when we work
together. I am encouraged by the outstanding performance of students who
graduate from this seminary because they are of a class that will shine
throughout our country as leaders in their own right in the new struggle to
create a better life for all.
In the past women training for a professional career were told that they can
only be teachers or nurses. Today, this is no longer the case. We have women
engineers, medical doctors, scientists in various fields, and some are even
leaders in Parliament.
We are in discussion to create a dedicated ministry for women affairs to
serve the new Administration as a mechanism for making the cause of gender
equality a reality. This seminary is also well positioned to produce a cadre
ship of women who will play a role in developing our rural areas. It is women
who bear the burden of the underdevelopment of our rural areas, as many of
them, for example, have to walk long distances to fetch water. The next
Administration is planning to establish a ministry for rural development
because, we believe, and that it is in these parts of our country that the
majority of our people are located.
Programme Director,
This seminary has been part of our rich history in its 140 years of its
existence. It was with us when diamonds and gold were discovered and when the
Zulu Kingdom fell in 1879. It was also here when Chief Langalibalele led his
gallant warriors against the colonisers, and when Chief Bambatha surrendered
after a long fight for the rights of his people. It is here with us today; and
it is, indeed, part of a future ahead of us. The students who graduate from
this seminary shine and shine wherever they go.
However, those of us who will stand up to shine just for recognition will
not be fulfilling the mission of what this seminary represents. We must shine
by giving back to the country and our society the wealth that this seminary has
invested in us through its teaching and spiritual counsel. This is the message
of the theme of the seminary for this year: "From everyone who has been given
much, much will be required."
Ladies and gentlemen
History has given us so much by giving us the privilege of being part of the
rich past of this seminary and Inanda. Those of us, who have been privileged to
live through the heritage trail the seminary has travelled over the past 140
years, have lived in the midst of giants who stand out tall in the history of
our struggle. We may not fit in their shoes; at least, we can emulate them by
giving back to our country and society what having walked their path has given
to us.
I thank you!
Issued by: The Presidency
7 March 2009
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za
