Address by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala on Freedom Day at JL Dube Memorial Site, Inanda, Durban, 27 April 2021
“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
From this hilltop home of Mafukuzela, Dr John Langalibalele Dube, we can proudly proclaim the words of that great African American spiritual. Free at last!
It is exactly twenty seven years since Madiba cast his first vote right here in Inanda, in our cradle of democracy.
After casting his first vote at Dr Dube’s chapel, Madiba went to Dr Dube’s grave, the Founding President-General of the African National Congress and said: “Mr President, I am here to report that today South Africa is free.”
In the freedom struggle, we also sang, "Siyaya e Pitoli/We are marching to Pretoria”
In ascending to the seat of political power in Pretoria and proclaiming our collective victory over injustice, we did not as Dr Martin Luther King Jnr urged us “satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
By contrast and in the beautiful words of the Irish patriot, Bobby Sands, we said, "Our revenge will be the laughter of our children."
Every day of these twenty seven years of freedom, we have worked hard to build a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous society based on justice, equality, the rule of law and the inalienable human rights of all.
Today, as envisaged in the Freedom Charter, All are equal before the law. Our great Constitution is the rock on which we have built our democratic society.
In the 25th year anniversary of the supreme law of this land, let us each cherish our Constitution and the rule of law as the fruits of our struggle.
In today's celebrations, we are staking our claim to the powerful legacy of Mafukuzela and umama u-Charlotte Maxeke.
One hundred and fifty years ago, this great daughter and son of Africa were born to mothers who gifted them to our nation and the world.
Mam'Charlotte and Mafukuzela are the political heritage of the liberation movement into which they were born - the African National Congress.
Their lives and work are however the treasures of our nation at large.
This great African visionary was taught under the tutelage of the Pan-Africanist scholar and proponent, Dr. W.E.B Du Bois, at the famous Wilberforce Institute in the US.
In 1903, Mam'Charlotte achieved the accolade of becoming the first black South African woman to earn a university degree. In the absence of contradictory evidence, she is probably the first woman in South Africa and on the African continent to attain a BSc at the beginning of the twentieth century.
During these twenty seven years of freedom we have honoured the commitment in the Freedom Charter that: "The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened!"
Fee-free schools and free higher education for the poor is one of the milestones of our democratic society.
In spite of declining tax revenues and a difficult economic climate, NSFAS is a beacon of hope for the African child, the girl child in particular.
Mam'Charlotte wrote in IsiXhosa on the social and political situation occupied by women. In the Umteteli wa Bantu newspaper, she addressed the ‘woman question’. She was one of the first opponents of passes for black women, she helped organise the anti-pass movement in Bloemfontein in 1913 and founded the Bantu Women’s League (BWL) in 1918.
Mam'Charlotte's legacy must be honoured by valuing education, fighting patriarchy, gender-based violence, and protecting our institutions.
We must rise in unison and say that the burning of schools and universities is an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the learning assets of our nation.
We must isolate this criminal behaviour. We must call out the perpetrators as enemies of our revolution.
Let us each be bold and patriotic about coming forward with information about those who destroy our institutions. If this kind of criminal behaviour is not stopped, the African child will again be deprived of an education and a chance to improve our lives.
Please allow me also to express our deep distress at the destruction of the library at the University of Cape Town. The Centre for African Studies at UCT held priceless records of our African heritage as well as unique publications of our freedom struggle.
We condemn those who say let it burn. They have a cockeyed view of what it means to be anti-colonial.
Knowledge is a weapon of liberation. Let us work together to rebuild the African Studies library at UCT. We call on other libraries in our country, continent and the world at large to donate copies of their materials to UCT. We also call on individuals with private collections to consider presenting these to the university. Like a Phoenix from the ashes, let the great African Studies library rise again.
It is cooperation and working hand in hand that builds great institutions. Ohlange is the among the finest of those institutions on our continent. This is the first educational institution built by a black person in our country and it stands strong to this day. Let us nourish Ohlange and protect it for generations yet to be born.
It was the late Dr B W Vilakazi who in 1946 said that Dr Dube was “a great, if not the greatest, black man of the missionary epoch in South Africa”.
Vil-Nkomo wrote on 26 February in Umteteli wa Bantu that Dr Dube was an African hero “who comes in many centuries” an icon who “revealed to the world at large that it is not quite true to say that the African is incompetent as far as achievement is concerned".
And recently, in 2018, Professor Chad Berry had the following to say in the Dr JL Dube Memorial Lecture:
"Our work here is not just about access to education; it is also about access to the kind of education most transformative. One cannot feel a sense of belonging if one does not discover one’s voice, one’s past, and one’s heritage in the curriculum studied."
Mafukuzela and Mam'Charlotte have given us a voice, a heritage and an agenda of radical socioeconomic transformation.
In spite of the gloom forced on us by the coronavirus pandemic, we must cherish the hope that we stand on the threshold of a brighter future.
In the 2021 State of the Nation Address President Cyril Ramaphosa declared this as the year for our rebirth and renaissance. SONA identified four urgent priorities for our nation:
1. Defeat the Coronavirus pandemic;
2. Accelerate Economic Recovery;
3. .Implement economic reforms to create sustainable jobs and drive inclusive growth;
4. Fight corruption and strengthen the State.
Mindful of our local conditions as the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, we have distilled this into a programme of action focussed on:
1. Intensifying the fight against the Coronavirus;
2. Re-igniting economic recovery and job creation;
3. Building Social Cohesion, Fighting Crime and Corruption;
4. Delivering Basic Services in particular Water;
5. Building a Capable and Ethical Development State.
Creating new jobs, supporting manufacturing, boosting agricultural production, localisation in goods and services and igniting township economies must consume our energies. We must turn the coronavirus corner. We must get our economy and our people back on its feet.
Mafukuzela and Mam'Charlotte faced far more daunting challenges under an oppressive colonial regime. We now have resources. We now have state power. In this 27th year of freedom, it is our patriotic duty and our obligation to rally to the frontline of our reconstruction and recovery plan.
The signals are positive. A fortnight ago President Ramaphosa revealed that the expansion of infrastructure at the Durban port will require R100 billion in new investment over the next decade. This will transform the port and expand its capacity for container handling from 2.9 million units to more than 11 million units. That is a formidable projection and plan of action.
On the jobs front, Iast year we stated our ambition to support 100 000 job opportunities for jobless young people, including unemployed graduates. We are pleased that in the midst of Covid-19, we turned devastation into economic opportunity and supported local industries owned by young, black people.
We created 137 000 jobs under Sukuma 100 000, surpassing the target. We congratulate all our departments for embracing youth employment with such demonstrable vigour but still we must quicken the tempo. Unemployment is a moving target. Let us take on the challenge that every economic activity must be an opportunity to create new jobs.
Please allow me to close with Madiba's iconic call to action in his 1996 Freedom Day address:
“For generations to come, the abiding image of a patient citizenry in long voting queues on 27 April 1994, will remain deeply etched in the collective memory of the nation. As the world held its breath, South Africans together made their mark to bring into being one of the truly remarkable events of this turbulent century. Once more, we affirmed a truism of human history: that the people are their own liberators. And so today we meet here to pay tribute to you, the people - the midwives of the new South Africa; you, the true healers and builders of a nation once rent asunder by bigotry; you, the expert builders of a great future that beckons."
In spite of our challenges, we are our own liberators. A great future beckons. Let's make hope and history rhyme. Let us quicken the tempo of our reconstruction and recovery. True liberation lies in taking the next bold step forward.
Together Growing KwaZulu-Natal!
I thank you.
