SA Government commits to root out violence

President Jacob Zuma says government will continue to take positive measures and work closely with communities to root out the scourge of violent crimes against women and children.

The President was addressing the 50th anniversary of the death of Chief Albert Mvumbi Luthuli that was held in Groutville in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday.

While government has made considerable progress on the gender equality front, President Zuma reckons that Luthuli would have been deeply pained by the high levels of violent crime against women and children in society today.

Although Luthuli died about 50 years ago under mysterious circumstances, President Zuma said the country must take solace in the fact that his legacy lives for generations to come to learn and build on -- to make the country a united, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society.

“The official report was that he was run over by a train. The report remains unconvincing to this day,” said President Zuma.

Luthuli was a committed freedom fighter who outlined South Africa's vision as follows in the Nobel Peace Prize lecture on receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize from the Norwegian Nobel Committee in 1960, which he accepted in 1961.

Speaking in the context of Mandela Month, President Zuma said the values of South Africa’s Constitution should provide a moral and ethical edifice from which citizens can draw sustenance and a sense of purpose.

According to President Zuma, Luthuli was a practical exponent of such values as exemplified in his quest for equality, especially gender equality, non-racialism, openness, respect and his fervent fight against all manifestation of tribalism.

“The values of respect, selflessness, openness and accountability all epitomise who Chief Luthuli was. We are therefore duty-bound to learn from him and find ways in which his ideals and values can find a practical expression in our day to day lives.”- SAnews.gov.za

Address by President Jacob Zuma - Chief Albert Mvumbi Luthuli

Address by President Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Chief Albert Mvumbi Luthuli in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal

 

We greet you all on this important occasion to immortalise a colossus of our struggle for liberation Chief Albert Mvumbi Luthuli.

 On this day 50 years ago, our country lost one of its most illustrious sons and Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Chief Albert Luthuli, under mysterious circumstances. The official report was that he was run over by a train. The report remains unconvincing to this day.

Given the brutality of the racist apartheid regime and its attitude to the leadership of the mass democratic movement, the death of Chief Albert Luthuli will continue to be shrouded in suspicion.

He left behind a legacy of peace, non-racialism, anti-racism and the quest for freedom, justice and a better life for all.

A man of the people, he played several roles in the community. Chief Albert Luthuli was a traditional leader, preacher, Christian, teacher, college choirmaster, sports and cultural activist and a sugar cane farmer.

They sought to silence him through all means possible, including stripping him of the chieftaincy and imposing banning orders because of his political activities.

These attempts only hardened his resolve to end apartheid.

Chief Luthuli is a symbol of peace and unity and in his memory, we must recommit to the South Africa he envisaged.

A committed freedom fighter, he outlined this vision for South Africa as follows in the Nobel Peace Prize lecture on receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize from the Norwegian Nobel Committee in 1960, which he accepted in 1961.

He stated with humility as follows on receiving the award:

“This Award could not be for me alone, nor for just South Africa, but for Africa as a whole.”
He used that lecture to outline the type of South Africa he envisaged and what the oppressed black majority was fighting for. He said:

“The true patriots of South Africa, for whom I speak, will be satisfied with nothing less than the fullest democratic rights. In government we will not be satisfied with anything less than direct individual adult suffrage and the right to stand for and be elected to all organs of government. In economic matters we will be satisfied with nothing less than equality of opportunity in every sphere, and the enjoyment by all of those heritages which form the resources of the country which up to now have been appropriated on a racial 'whites only' basis.

In culture we will be satisfied with nothing less than the opening of all doors of learning to non-segregatory institutions on the sole criterion of ability. In the social sphere we will be satisfied with nothing less than the abolition of all racial bars.”

Importantly, Chief Luthuli outlined succinctly the ANC belief in non-racialism.

He underlined how the ANC was guiding the country towards this goal in spite of the difficult state of race relations in the country. He stated in the Nobel Peace Prize lecture that the racism problem in the country was acute compared to other parts of Africa and that: ”Perhaps in no other country on the continent is white supremacy asserted with greater vigour and determination and a sense of righteousness.”

He added the racism meted out against black people would have made it easy for the natural feelings of resentment at white domination to have been turned into feelings of hatred and a desire for revenge against the white community.

However, his organisation the ANC had chosen the path of non-racialism for the country, and he declared:

“Our vision has always been that of a non-racial democratic South Africa which upholds the rights of all who live in our country to remain there as full citizens with equal rights and responsibilities with all others. For the consummation of this ideal we have laboured unflinchingly. We shall continue to labour unflinchingly.”

As our country’s experiment with constitutional democracy continues, this is one key lesson that we must take to heart from Chief Luthuli, even during difficult moments when we feel the non-racial project is faltering.

We all have a responsibility to build a non-racial society and to unite all our people, black and white.
Our struggle for liberation had a strong international pillar. Chief Luthuli acknowledged the contribution of the international community while also acknowledging the responsibility of South Africans to be their own liberators.

And in dealing with the problems facing the country, Chief Luthuli uttered the profound words on the need for courage that rises with danger. Indeed we are in that phase in our country where we need to be stronger, and more steadfast in defending and protecting our country and to consolidate democracy. We need courage that rises with danger.

Compatriots,
As we mark 23 years of democracy, we ask ourselves what Chief Luthuli would say if he were with us today.

I have no doubt that while he would be disheartened by the persistent poverty, inequality and unemployment, he would equally be encouraged by the level of progress our democratic government has made since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

He would be pleased that the country has almost reached the universal primary education threshold, ahead of many other developing nations.

He would also be happy that we have managed to expand our social safety net in terms of housing, social grants, and the provision of basic services to indigent families for free, including the provision of financial assistance to over 12 million students through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

The province of KZN has the highest incidence of HIV and Aids. Chief Luthuli would appreciate that we have a comprehensive HIV and AIDS antiretroviral national treatment programme which has saved many lives in our country and makes our people live longer.

He would appreciate the efforts of the leaders of various sectors and the government of this province in particular, to defeat this disease through the flagship project Sukuma Sakhe that is commended by UNAIDS.

The rate of HIV infection remains unacceptably high with over 2000 new infections a week. Young people aged 15 to 25 are the most vulnerable.

In his memory we urge especially our young people to practice safe sex and to refrain from it where possible until they are ready to settle and build strong families.

We urge you to heed the call and join the She Conquers Campaign.

Compatriots,
In Chief Luthuli we celebrate his contribution in the struggle against patriarchy to which he gave practical expression as Inkosi of the Amakholwa people.

He invited women in the village to participate in civil affairs and in the actual conflict resolution deliberations.

At that time, women had just gained the right not so long ago to become members of the ANC NEC.
Lillian Ngoyi had been elected as the first woman to join the ANC NEC in 1956. It is important to recount his courage in wading into a territory which only a few men dared to traverse.
It was this courage that was to become an inspiration for his successor, Comrade Oliver Tambo who agitated without fail, for women’s rights.

It is thus fitting that we remember Luthuli, just like OR Tambo in subsequent years, as a staunch champion of gender equality.

In this regard, it is equally apt to invoke the spirit of OR Tambo in this lecture since he would be turning 100 this year.

 While we have made considerable progress on the gender equality front, Luthuli would have been deeply pained by the high levels of violent crime against women and children in our society today.

We will continue to take positive measures and work closely with the communities to root out this scourge.

I cannot conclude this talk without some reflective conversations about values and ethics, in the context of the Mandela Month. We have just celebrated and commemorated International Nelson Mandela Day early this week.

In this regard, and as Luthuli would have implored us, the values of our Constitution that so many sacrificed for should provide us with the moral and ethical edifice from which we can draw sustenance and a sense of purpose.

These values have a universal appeal as they are premised on Ubuntu – the sense that our survival and wellbeing is interdependent – that I am because we are.

Chief Luthuli was a practical exponent of these values as exemplified in his quest for equality, especially gender equality, non-racialism, openness, respect and his fervent fight against all manifestation of tribalism.

The values of respect, selflessness, openness and accountability all epitomise who Chief Luthuli was.
We are therefore duty-bound to learn from him and find ways in which his ideals and values can find a practical expression in our day to day lives.

I thank the members of the Luthuli family and the Luthuli Museum management for the sterling work they continue to do in ensuring that the legacy of this giant of our liberation struggle lives on.
Through the museum, generations will be able to find out more about this gentle giant of our struggle and this icon of the African continent.

We lost our leader 50 years ago in suspicious circumstances, but we must take solace in the fact that his legacy lives for generations to come to learn and build on: to make our country a united, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society.

Long live the spirit of Chief Albert Luthuli!
I thank you.
Source

Pityana asks MPs to vote according to conscience

“Zuma and his cohorts conduct themselves in a way that represents a betrayal of the liberation movement”

By Moira Levy
21 July 2017

Sipho Pityana (right) with (from left)Nelson MandelaBay Mayor Athol Trollip and city council speaker James Lawack at a protest in Port Elizabeth in April. Photo: Joseph Chirume

Convenor of the Save South Africa Campaign and chair of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) Sipho Pityana described the practice of voting according to party lines as a “major handicap of Parliament”.

He said the idea that Members of Parliament (MPs) could risk losing their seats if they defied their party’s voting position was a “major drawback for our democracy” and took the opportunity to recall that South Africa was supposed to come up with a “reconfigured electoral system” many years ago.

South Africa’s electoral system, in place since democracy began, was not meant to be permanent. It was understood from the start as a transitional arrangement that was supposed to have been revised after the first term of ANC rule.

The current practice, says Pityana, “undermines Parliament” because Members cannot act according to their conscience and “what their political judgement tells them is the right thing to do”. This procedure may not ensure that the outcome is in the best interests of the country. “It was always understood that the parliamentary system that we have has limitations, but it was [meant to be] a transitional one.”

Asked about how South Africa was going to find a way out of its current crisis, his response was that the mission of the Save South Africa Campaign and Casac was “about the restoration of accountable leadership, leadership with integrity and honour, [that acted] within the context of our constitutional democracy”.

He added to the chorus of criticism of President Jacob Zuma. “The bottom line is that the tone is set by Zuma and his conduct is everything that a leader presiding over a constitutional democracy shouldn’t be.”

Pityana has drawn praise and anger over his denouncements of President Zuma and repeated calls for the President to step down.

In his public appearances, Pityana has always appeared wearing an ANC scarf or has in some way indicated his continued support for the ANC and its role and legacy as a liberation movement. He sees no contradiction in that, although he warns that this year, culminating in the December ANC elective conference, may have a decisive impact on current ANC members who still identify with the movement that brought democracy to South Africa.

Right now he is comfortable in his support for the ANC while at the same time calling for a leadership change.

Our Constitution has the “values of the struggle for liberation” at its core, he says, with the emphasis being on “human rights, socio-economic rights and the interests of the poor.” Those rights, indeed the Constitution itself, must always be protected, he said.

“We decided that we were not going to go through what we saw our allies [experienced] in anti colonial struggles elsewhere, when soon after taking power [they] became the oppressive forces against the masses.” That is entrenched in our Constitution and is consistent with what the ANC as a liberation movement stands for. “It is what the ANC and any liberation movement is about.”

The Save South Africa Campaign, Casac and other civil society formations are not driven by a desire to see the ANC fail, explains Pityana, or for its diminishing support to result in a loss of its constitutional majority at the 2019 election. Their focus is on protecting and restoring the founding principles of the Constitution, which provide “a plethora of checks and balances” needed to hold a majority party accountable.

He repeatedly returned to his conviction that the Constitution set in place by people “of the calibre of Mandela” addresses the people’s needs first and not the interests of the few.

He described groupings like Casac and the Save South Africa Campaign as part of a “broad-based” movement that is “non-partisan in that we have people who don’t belong to political parties”. Their collective call is for a leader who subscribes to the Constitution.

“We are a project that is about delivering an equitable society and that means that we must be genuine about putting the poor first” and improving their circumstances.

He warned that a single dominant party could present a situation in which the Constitution and its supporting structures, like the Chapter Nine Institutions, could be undermined. “We have to protect [the Chapter Nine Institutions] because they are there to play a very important role.

“Zuma and his cohorts are happy to defy the long-held traditions and policies of the ANC and conduct themselves in a way that represents a betrayal of the liberation movement,” he warned.

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Published originally on GroundUp .

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Motherwell residents watch garbage pile up for six months

Residents claim dumping site last cleared in December

By Joseph Chirume
21 July 2017

Rubbish piling up on Mokgatho Street, NU10, Motherwell. On the right is Buyelwa Tetani’s house. Photo: Joseph Chirume

Residents in Motherwell in Port Elizabeth have been living next to piles of uncollected rubbish for the past six months they say. The mounds of garbage on Mokgatho Street, NU10, have started to encroach on people’s yards. The residents are now threatening to march to the municipal offices.

Buyelwa Tetani, who lives next to the mounting garbage, said: “This is an illegal dumping site and people from other areas come to dump their rubbish here. The place was last cleared by the municipality in December. I reported it on several occasions with no success.”

Tetani said dead dogs and animal skins were among the things dumped.

“We also have a problem with people who create fires at this place. The smoke always makes us cough. We no longer hang out our washed clothes because of the smoke … There is a bad smell all over this place,” said Tetani.

The 59-year-old grandmother said maggots bred in the rubbish and the dump attracted rats and scavenging dogs. She said she was also afraid the fires would burn her home down.

“If I had money, I would hire a truck to fetch all this rubbish. Unfortunately I am unemployed, so I cannot afford it,” she said.

Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said, “We have seen municipal trucks cleaning other dumping sites here in Motherwell. Why are they not doing the same with this place?”

The resident said they would embark on protest action if it was not cleared soon.

Spokesperson for Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Kupido Baron asked for the exact street address so that he could “pass the information to our waste management department for action”.

Subsequently, he said he was awaiting a response.

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Published originally on GroundUp .

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It's cold outside Zuma's ANC. But there's little warmth left inside

A protest in support of Raymond Suttner released from detention in 1988 by apartheid authorities.
Robert Botha/Times Media Group

In the liberation struggle against apartheid a small number of white people joined the battle to overthrow the South African regime. One of them, academic Raymond Suttner, was first arrested in 1975 and tortured with electric shocks because he refused to supply information to the police. He then served eight years in prison because of his underground activities for the African National Congress and South African Communist Party.

After his release in 1983 he was forced - after two years - to go underground to evade arrest, but was re-detained in 1986 under repeatedly renewed states of emergency for 27 months – 18 of these in solitary confinement.

First published in 2001, Suttner’s prison memoir “Inside Apartheid’s Prison”, has been made available again, now with a completely new introduction. The Conversation Africa’s Charles Leonard spoke to Suttner.

Why did you write the book?

I was hesitant to write it because there is a culture of modesty that is inculcated in cadres. I used to think it was “not done” to write about myself. I also thought that my experience was a “parking ticket” compared with the sentences of Nelson Mandela and others. But I came to feel that I have a story to tell.

Nevertheless I hope that resources will be found so that more stories are told, not only of prison but the many unknown people who pursued resistance in different ways in a range of relatively unknown places.

You were imprisoned and on house arrest for over 11 years. It was based on choices you made. Would you make the same choices today?

Yes. I did what I believed was right at the time and even if things are not turning out so well at the moment that does not invalidate those choices. I saw the liberation struggle as having a sacred quality and considered it an honour to be part of it.

I was very influenced by the great Afrikaner Communist Bram Fischer. He had nothing to gain personally and could have been a judge, the president of the country or anything else. Instead he chose a life of danger and later life imprisonment. I was inspired by that example, amongst others, to do what I could.

When one embarks on revolutionary activities there are no guarantees of success. I was not sure that I would come out alive. I did what I believed was right and would make the same choices again.

So those choices were worth it?

Definitely. This was not a business venture where one could answer such a question through balancing profits and losses. For me joining the struggle, as a white, gave me the opportunity to start my life afresh by joining my fortunes with those who were oppressed. It gave me the chance to link myself with the majority of South Africans.

That was a more authentic way of living my life than whatever successes I may have achieved, had I simply focused on professional success. Most importantly I see this choice – to join the liberation struggle – as giving me the opportunity to humanise myself as a white South African in apartheid South Africa.

Do you still feel the damage after all these years in prison?

Yes. I have post-traumatic stress. I am not sure that it will ever be eliminated or that I always recognise its appearance. Many of us live with scars from that period.

I have not always acknowledged or understood that I have been damaged but it is directly related to my having fibromyalgia (a disorder characterised by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues), according to the specialist who diagnosed it. She cautioned me about returning to my prison experiences, in this book, fearing the possibility of it setting off physically painful symptoms. That didn’t happen as far as I am aware and returning to the scene of trauma may be part of healing, according to some.

Why did you break with the ANC over 10 years ago?

I had not been happy with many aspects of Thabo Mbeki‘s presidency but that did not mean I should align myself with his successor Jacob Zuma. Zuma’s candidacy was promoted not only by ANC people but especially the South African Communist Party (SACP) and trade union federation Cosatu’s leaderships, presenting him as having qualities that were not valid. In particular the claim that Zuma was a man of the people with sympathy for the poor and downtrodden was untrue.

It was already known that he was linked with corrupt activities before he was elected as ANC president in 2007. But what was decisive for me was Zuma’s 2006 rape trial. There was something very cruel in the way the complainant, known as “Khwezi”, was treated, in the mode of defence that Zuma chose. I found that unacceptable.

Is it not lonely outside the ANC?

Raymond Suttner in 2001, when ‘Inside Apartheid’s Prison’ was first published.
Raymond Preston/Times Media Group

I miss the comradeship that I understood to bind me to people with whom I had shared dangers, joys and sorrows. When you are together in difficult times it creates a special bond. I did not conceive of that being broken.

But when you break away in a time of decadence, what is it that one misses? I cannot resume relationships on the same basis as those which I previously counted as comradeship. Our paths diverged. I went out into the cold and some with whom I used to be very close chose to link themselves with a project that has meant corruption, violence and destroying everything that was once valued in the liberation tradition.

These former comrades have all been accomplices in Nkandla (Zuma’s private rural home which was upgraded at a cost to the country of R246-million to taxpayers), the social grants scandal and many other features of this period which have seen some individuals benefit unlawfully and at the expense of the poor. I do not say that every person I know has been improperly enriched. But all those who have been in the ANC/SACP/Cosatu leadership have endorsed, indeed even provided elaborate defences of some of the worst features of the Zuma period.

In the new introduction to the book I use the word “betrayal” and I choose it to refer to these people, many of whom were once brave, who turned their backs on those from whom they came or whose cause they once adopted as their own.

Yes, it’s lonely. But that loneliness cannot be remedied by resuming bonds
with people who have taken fundamentally different paths. I now build relationships with others from whom I am learning and growing.

Raymond Suttner, Emeritus Professor, University of South Africa and part-time professor Rhodes University, Rhodes University

This article was originally published on The Conversation.