ADDRESS BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS KGALEMA MOTLANTHE DURING THE CENTENARY FUNDRAISING DINNER
26 August 2011 Programme director, comrade Josias Moleele; The National Chairperson of the ANC, comrade Baleka Mbete; Members of the National Executive Committee of the ANC Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps; Comrades; Ladies and gentlemen: It gives me much pleasure to address this fundraising dinner in preparation for the African National Congress (ANC) Centenary celebrations scheduled for January 8 2012. This Centenary celebration for which we are preparing is not only for us South Africans. It is for the entire African continent and the progressive world at large, since people from all over Southern Africa - chiefs, commoners and the educated - were an essential part of the formation of the ANC in Mangaung, Bloemfontein, on January 8 1912, having heeded the call for unity as the precondition to defeat colonial oppression. Africans, especially in Southern Africa, confronted the same colonial conditions. Therefore the formation of the ANC provided all of them with renewed hope to overcome these odious conditions that depersonalised them and reduced their lives to unending misery. Because of their unwavering support during our darkest hour, our international friends outside our continent can also claim, with a measure of legitimacy, that they are also members of this organisation. Chairperson, As you know the ANC was conceived out of the need to eradicate human oppression. Since its formation in 1912, the ANC has always sought to rid our nation, South Africa, of political oppression, social discrimination and economic exploitation. We need to understand the 100 years of the ANC in a rounded way, and that means connecting the important historical turning points and milestones in the twisting and turning of our history, so that we emerge with a coherent, integrated picture of where we are today and what we will bequeath to posterity. I have just said Southern Africa as a whole was an integral part of the formation of the ANC. The reason for this is simply that the borders of our country as they stand today were fixed and finalised through the Act of Union in 1910. The Act of Union which brought about the Union of South Africa was an exclusionary act that saw South Africa primarily through European prism, to the exclusion of Africans. The formation of the ANC was a response to this exclusionary development. The ANC was conceived of as a Parliament of the People since Africans, whom it represented, were excluded from the body politic. In effect it took the ANC 82 years of relentless struggle, from 1912 to 1994, to actualise this dream of being part of the actual parliament of the people. In this respect, patience is virtue; participation in the struggle for liberation and meaningful change in the lives of the people means having faith in posterity, the succeeding generation. Flowing from this is the obligation that those of us today participating in this democratic parliament should do so in a manner that makes this Parliament a tribute to the people. It has to respond to social development, addressing the yearnings of our people. The earlier generation determined the obligations of its age; liberating the oppressed South Africans. On the other hand, our generation's defining mission is the uprooting of apartheid legacy in all its manifestations; including in the social, economic, political as well as the provision of bulk infrastructure. Happily, with the achievement of democracy and the eradication of the constitutional and legal basis of apartheid in 1996, this phase of our struggle is over. The second phase of the struggle with which we are engaged right now is to eradicate the apartheid legacy so that in its place we can build a society responsive to the needs of all our people, irrespective of race, gender or religion. In this connection, we note with pride that, having achieved the critically invaluable goal of liberation, the ANC is celebrating its Centenary as a governing party. Programme Director, One of the defining moments in the evolution of our history was the first tentative steps towards embracing the notion of non-racialism as the key to unlock the new society we all desired. What stands out distinctly in this regard is the trail of inter-racial solidarity as represented by co-operation between the ANC and the African People's Organisation (APO), formed in 1902 under the leadership of Dr Abdullah Abdurrahman, which mobilised mainly among Coloured communities. Although non-racialism did not start off as a fundamental principle of the South African Native National Congress, as the ANC was called then, one can contend that even then these congenial conditions fertilised the soil from which it would later sprout. Subsequently, the momentum towards non-racialism would gather more speed, fuelled by a shared concern among the oppressed about the increasingly insufferable living conditions. The importance of inter-racial unity in the face of oppression was thus first stressed by South Africans in 1927 at the International Congress against Imperialism in Brussels. The South African delegation, consisting of Josiah Gumede, President of the ANC, James la Guma, a leader APO and the Communist Party, and Dan Colraine, a white trade unionist, drafted the historic 'Thesis for the Defence against Imperialism in South Africa'. This thesis insisted that unity of all workers and oppressed people in South Africa, irrespective of race, colour or creed, was vital for the struggle against British imperialism. Chairperson, Apart from the ANC, some of the many tributaries to the river of non-racialism included the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Organisation, the Congress of Democrats and the South African Congress of Trade Unions, up to the point of the Congress of the People in Kliptown in 1955. To extend this metaphor further, one can conceive of the Freedom Charter as the sea into which this huge river decanted. The Freedom Charter, a document that clearly and boldly spelt out the post-apartheid society, was a culmination of this growing momentum of non-racialism. Through the Freedom Charter the Congress Movement set out distinctly its vision for a future South Africa- a South Africa in which all people have a place. When that visionary preamble that says: 'South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white', was penned, it manifested a historical momentum in the same way that it prefigured the 1994 democratic dispensation. That clause was a step on a journey that began years before and that eventually culminated in the Constitution of South Africa, which says: "We the People of South Africa believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”. As it posited the principle of non-racialism, the Freedom Charter offered an alternative thematic agenda against the prevailing dominant system of white supremacy. >From the adoption of the Freedom Charter, South Africa epitomised internal >struggle between these two poles, with the Freedom Charter finally being >vindicated by history. It offered an alternative worldview to South Africans even as it undercut the neo-Fascist apartheid system that had till then succeeded in destroying any semblance of unity, from sports to education. As we are about to celebrate hundred years of history, we should also ask ourselves what we are consciously doing to hand over the baton to those coming after us. While the first generation defined its mission as defeating apartheid and colonialism and our present generation has the task of eradicating apartheid legacy, we need to exercise our minds about what the next generation will face as it continues from where we will have ended. Dear Comrades For the better part of its long history the ANC has been driven by the need to build a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, just and prosperous society. The Centenary of the ANC marks a milestone in our history as a liberation movement. It reflects our proud history and heritage. It also bears testimony to the validity of our traditions, values and principles that have over the years defined who we are even as they found a permanent place in the hearts of the masses of our people. In all, these centenary celebrations will therefore: · Celebrate the achievements of our movement; · Leave an imprint on the South African consciousness about the role of the ANC as the spearhead of the liberation of the South African people; · Leave older generations and participants in the liberation struggle with memorabilia that can be passed on from generation-to-generation; · Keep the memory alive by offering the younger generation access to the story of liberation. Our history of anti-apartheid struggle was in effect the history of international solidarity, from the very beginning. It was thanks to the newly liberated African nations that we were able to be hosted, fed, educated, trained, armed and provided with the wherewithal to enable us to regroup, grow and consolidate ourselves so that we could wage an unrelenting struggle on the apartheid regime. Our struggle for freedom would have been well-neigh impossible without this succour. It is also noteworthy that beyond our continent we also received life support from many countries, including, among others, the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, Cuba, Vietnam, China, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and many other countries of the world. International solidarity has been a pillar of strength for our movement, and remains a key policy thrust of our new government today. Within this overarching objective are the specific goals of promoting South-South relations, as well as conditions of peace, stability and prosperity on the African continent, post-conflict resolution in Africa and the transformation of the multilateral institutions. South Africa plays an integral role in efforts aimed at resolving conflicts and ensuring post-conflict reconstruction in our continent. We believe the same mobilising principle that upheld international solidarity against apartheid, termed by the United Nations 'a crime against humanity', still has the potency to bring the full force of unity of the developing South to bear on fundamental social, economic, and political transformation of the global institutions of governance. Programme Director, The coming Centenary celebrations of the ANC mark an important era in terms of human progress. It is an event of historic proportions, at all levels, national, continental and global. It represents the endurance of human spirit against odds and reaffirms the irreducibility of universal human values and the eternity of the first principles. Above all it validates human solidarity as a bulwark for the safeguard of cosmic justice. As one big ANC family all of us should be sure to be part of this historic enterprise of celebrating the Centenary of our movement, a vehicle for liberation, and ask that you help us in whatever way possible to make this occasion a memorable celebration of human freedom. Once again I thank you very much for your positive response this evening! Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . 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