Congress'(ANC's) ceremony to receive the remains of four MK soldiers in Langa,
Cape Town
12 May 2007
We are here to engage in an act of historical significance, to restore the
dignity of our struggle heroes. This is a symbolic act to welcome our cadres
back into our midst, in acknowledgement of their contribution for our freedom
and to give their families peace at last. Apartheid has repeatedly robbed our
people of the right to life and freedom but most importantly it has robbed our
people of the dignity to grief for their loved ones. But today we are
celebrating a victory through this process of restorative justice by giving
back our cadres their names and reclaiming our once painfully denied
history.
Part of the apartheid purpose was to wipe these cadres from our memory and
our history by burying them in random and unknown places, concealing the
whereabouts of their burials. This was a brutal and inhumane act of oppression
that denied countless people of their natural God given right to live and be
remembered. Just like apartheid could not survive, that plan to wipe them from
our memories could not survive either and that is why they are here with us
today.
We welcome back today the remains of Solwandle Looksmart Ngudle, of Peter
Johnson, of Thembisile Mkhalipi and Andile Mrumse. Looksmart Ngudle is one of
our first martyrs from the Western Cape, particularly from Mkhonto We Sizwe and
was killed in detention. Peter Johnson went to Robben Island a criminal, left
the Island a revolutionary and returns today a hero and a martyr for all our
people. Andile Mrumse and Thembisile Mkhalipi were part of the generation of
the 1980s that gave so much energy to this Western Cape. They were born in the
student struggle, graduated in the armed struggle and return to us today as
heroes and martyrs. Today is therefore a significant and symbolic act to ensure
that their memory is brought to life and not left to fade away in a historical
slumber without recognition or acknowledgement.
There is currently another attempt to erase our heroes and martyrs from our
memories and our history. Many decades ago they were buried in places that they
thought we would never find and in ways they thought we would never identify
them but they were proven wrong. Today in Cape Town and all over this country
there are a few disconcerting individuals, who are mobilising hostility towards
the renaming process, as a means to deny the people of South Africa, the
ability to find equal comfort, equal ownership and an equal sense of dignity in
seeing all our heroes as a collective, being reflected around us.
This is an ill and disturbing way to prevent us still, from remembering our
heroes by not allowing us to name our streets, squares and buildings after
these martyrs of ours. In Cape Town they call it the apolitical way to
renaming. There is nothing apolitical in what these comrades have done. They
were political in what they have done, they liberated us politically and
economically and their names deserve to be reflected in our squares, buildings
and streets.
The act of renaming our streets is a duty of restorative justice and
restorative dignity, to give us all collective ownership of our country through
a bold reflection of all heroes in a way that will finally make us all feel
welcome in our country. While the Western Cape bores the deepest scars of a
province that has fallen victim to the teachings of the apartheid system, it is
still a province whose diversity is the cornerstone of its prosperity. So as we
welcome home our heroes who lay in the wilderness, awaiting this moment, to be
found, to return home and restore the peace of their families, let us free
ourselves from the psychological bondage of apartheid which still enforces
separatism and prejudice amongst us.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Western Cape Provincial Government
12 May 2007
