during the debate on Inkosi Albert Luthuli in the KZN Legislature
19 July 2007
The honourable speaker
Luthuli as unifier
Inkosi Luthuli's guiding philosophy was that of unity in the quest to build
a new country in which all could live as they pleased subject to the laws of a
legitimate state. Inkosi Luthuli was a unifier. Kenneth Wilburn of the
Department of History at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina,
notes that during Luthuli's time as President, the African National Congress
(ANC) formed alliances with Indian, white and coloured organisations.
I quote: "The ANC soon made an alliance with the South African Indian
Congress (SAIC), whose activism between 1893 and 1914 had been led by Mohandas
Gandhi, the Mahatma." Wilburn states further that "alliances were also made
with the South African Coloured People's Organisation, the white Congress of
Democrats and the South African Congress of Trade Unions. Together these groups
came to be called the Congress Alliance."
Luthuli had joined the ANC in 1944 and became its President-General in 1952,
a position he retained until his death in 1967. The Congress Alliance was
instrumental in the development of the Freedom Charter, which was ratified at
the Congress of the People, in Kliptown, in June 1955. The Congress of the
People was a historic gathering that included men and women of all races,
liberals, believers and non-believers, communists and capitalists.
They represented the black (ANC), white (Congress of Democrats), Indian
(SAIC) and coloured (Coloured People's Congress) compatriots, including the
multi-racial South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). The congress was
held to develop a new vision for a future South Africa that reached beyond
protest politics.
It built on the foundation for co-operation and non-racial unity set earlier
by doctors AB Xuma, president of the ANC, GM Naicker, president of the Natal
Indian Congress and YM Dadoo, president of the Transvaal Indian Congress. In
1947 they signed the Three Doctors' Pact, which called among other things for a
full franchise for all.
Luthuli the traditional leader
Inkosi Luthuli understood and respected the role of traditional leadership.
He was elected to the position of Chief of AbaseMakholweni in Groutville in
1935 and served his people regardless of their class or political affiliation.
He was ordered to relinquish his position by the regime in 1952. In the eyes of
his people he remained Chief even after government had stripped him of the
position. We have taken the significant stride of passing the Traditional
Leaders and Governance Act, Act 5 of 2005 and the Royal Household Act.
These pieces of legislation are the first to give recognition to His Majesty
the King and the Royal Household. The latter entrenches the Sovereignty of the
Zulu Monarch and the Royal family. Mr Speaker, the recognition of the Monarchy
as the custodian of Zulu heritage within a democratic order is one of the most
important milestones in the preservation of our cultural norms and value
systems. We have now positioned the Monarchy at the core of all indigenous
systems. This move ensures the continued relevance of this institution and its
value systems for generations to come.
Luthuli the educator
Inkosi Luthuli will be remembered as an educator of important values such as
self-respect, dignity, respect for authority and an understanding of the
precise role that one has to play in society. A product of mission schools, he
trained as a teacher at Edendale, near Pietermaritzburg. All the qualities he
gained in this process helped him advance the cause of society's moral
upstanding, a quality that we all are presently grappling with.
Luthuli the peace-maker
Inkosi Luthuli was a negotiator and peacemaker. During his nine-month tour
of the United States in 1948, Inkosi Luthuli advocated non-violence as a means
to end the racist policies of the National Party. He believed for most of his
life that from religious teachings, it was possible for non-violence to triumph
over the evil that was apartheid. He maintained that "no true peace and
progress can be secured in any country as long as there are others in that
country denied full democratic rights and duties."
His efforts were recognised internationally when he was awarded the Nobel
Prize for Peace in 1961, becoming the first African to receive the honour. He
spent his prize money on two Swaziland farms which were later to become
political havens for South African exiles. In his acceptance speech, Inkosi
Luthuli called for international sanctions against South Africa and a
non-racial, democratic government.
Luthuli detachment
Inkosi Luthuli believed in the four pillars of struggle peaceful resistance,
international mobilisation and solidarity, the political underground and the
armed struggle. Sugarcane fields near Tongaat became a site of struggle.
Throughout his confinement to Groutville, Inkosi Luthuli organised sugarcane
farmers around issues of the day and together they won many concessions. In
reviving the Groutville Cane Growers Association Inkosi Luthuli taught the
community better farming methods. He hoped to start an Agrarian Revolution by
stimulating the local economy through sugarcane farming. The reality of
restrictions on land ownership for African people served as a political
rallying point to organise the people against the National Party regime.
He continued to host joint congress executives and other leaders in secret.
One rendezvous was an isolated school building, deep in the sugarcane fields on
the Natal north coast. Underground work of this and other kinds continued as an
important part of the work of the democratic movement until liberation in
1994.
In his statement 'The road to freedom is via the cross' he had this to
say:
"In this effort I always pursued what liberal-minded people rightly regarded as
the path of moderation. Over this great length of time I have, year after year,
gladly spent hours of my time with such organisations of the church and its
various agencies such as the Christian Council of South Africa (CCSA), the
Joint Council of Europeans and Africans and the now defunct Native
Representative Council (NRC).
"Who will deny that 30 years of my life have been spent knocking in vain,
patiently, moderately and modestly at a closed and barred door? What have been
the fruits of my many years of moderation? Has there been any reciprocal
tolerance or moderation from the government, be it nationalist or united
party?
No! On the contrary, the past 30 years have seen the greatest number of laws
restricting our rights and progress until today we have reached a stage where
we have almost no rights at all." The Defiance Campaign of 26 June 1952 was the
ANC's first widely supported call to protest against the National Party's
policies of apartheid. Out of the Defiance Campaign and the Doctorsâ Pact came
the idea of convening a popular parliament to create a constitution for all
South Africans. Inkosi Luthuli mobilised the people of Groutville and South
Africa around several mass campaigns.
Luthuli the internationalist
Even though he was banned, he always took the first opportunity afforded to
him to address mass rallies and groups in Johannesburg and other areas. Inkosi
Luthuli was also the first person to call for sanctions against South Africa,
starting a movement that was to gather untold momentum in later years of the
struggle. For sustainable sanctions, the support of the international community
was of essence.
In a joint statement to the United Nations with Dr Martin Luther King
Junior, Inkosi Luthuli's Appeal for Action against Apartheid in 1962 emphasised
his understanding of international solidarity to end apartheid. In his travels
abroad Inkosi Luthuli stressed his understanding that the freedom of South
Africa was inextricably linked to that of the rest of Africa. He believed South
Africa itself could not be free until all the oppressed peoples of the world
were free.
In a statement issued by the National Executive of the ANC on the 25th
anniversary of the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe in December 1986, the ANC
said of the 1960s: "It belonged to the effort we made in 1967 when, as a
combined force of ANC and Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) fighters, we
crossed the Zambezi into the then Rhodesia in order to hack a path home and for
our brothers to entrench themselves in their mother country. That daring effort
is known today as the Wankie Campaign.
"Our forces were named, in memory of our great leader, the late
President-General of the ANC, Chief Albert Luthuli and are known since then and
for all posterity as the Luthuli Detachment. From then on our revolution caught
alight with renewed intensity and our people have surged ahead in united mass
action such as never before seen in the history of our struggle." It was within
this historical context that Luthuli's legacy was built and sustained.
Current context
Mr Speaker, we learn from Inkosi Luthuli's legacy that all humanity is
created equal. We learn that race can no longer be used to justify the
oppression of one by another. Mr Speaker, we continue to commit ourselves to
the belief that this province owes its peaceful existence to the leaders of our
people, irrespective of political affiliation, who have put aside their
differences and committed to working together. Inkosi Luthuli's example of
co-operation towards a common goal forces us to ask what it is today that will
stop us from working together. What stops our leaders today from working
together across race, across class and political lines, to build a better
KwaZulu-Natal? Inkosi Luthuli was for all. We are all for his noble ideals.
Luthuli like Nelson Mandela whose birthday we celebrated yesterday has
taught us the value of reconciliation and reconstruction. Let us emulate the
example of Luthuli. Let us work for peace, partnerships for economic growth and
a new morally upright KwaZulu-Natal. We have made significant progress towards
achieving these goals. But we need to forge ahead to practically translate
Luthuli's ideals of non-racialism, non-sexism, unity of purpose, peaceful
development and economic freedom in a democratic KwaZulu-Natal. These are the
ideals that we, as Luthuli's people, must strive to reinforce in all our
developmental endeavours.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
19 July 2007
