Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Dedicated to Ingrid Jonker: The Struggle is not complete, nor will it ever be
complete
Ingrid Jonker was an Afrikaner woman who died at an early age. She was what is
called a genius. The Oxford Dictionary defines a genius as exceptional
intellectual or creative power or other natural ability; an exceptionally intelligent
or able person. Genii in some mythologies: a spirit associated with a person,
place, or institution; the prevalent character or spirit of a nation, period. Ingrid
was a poet, writer and genius who, in the 1960s, was the opposite of
Afrikanerdom and an African. She wrote a historical poem entitled Die Kind is
nie Dood Nie, The Child is not Dead.
Africans, particularly black South Africans. As was usual those days, she was
declared insane, mad and un-Afrikaner!
Ingrid Jonker, in the aftermath of the massacre at Sharpeville and Langa and
other South African centres, experienced brutality at Philippi, where she saw a
mother holding a dead child, shot in the head, at the station. She looked at the
mother and child, and the human spirit came to her, the child is not dead,
Die kinder is nie Dood nie.
The ANC leadership, sensing that the banning of the organisation was imminent
because of the passage of the UNLAWFUL ORGANISATIONS ACT, No 34 OF
1960, issued the following statement: The attempt to ban the African National
Congress, which for half a century has been the voice of the voteless African
majority, is a desperate act of folly, committed by a Parliament which does not
contain a single African. We do not recognise the validity of this law, and we shall
not submit to it. The African National Congress will carry on in its own name to
give leadership and organisation to our people until freedom has been won and
every trace of the scourge of racial discrimination has been banished from our
country. We call upon all the peoples and Governments of the whole world to
help us in this noble struggle, a part of the aspirations of all humanity for peace
4
and brotherhood. We call upon the United Nations to quarantine the racialist
Vervoerd Government by imposing full economic sanctions against the Union of
South Africa ( April 1960).
Recalling that the Nationalist Party came to power in 1949 on the agenda and
programme of Apartheid. By 1960, they had unleashed untold repression unto
the African people in particular and black people in general. No less than sixty
repressive and segregationist laws had been passed by the minority regime. And
our people had had enough of all this and the Defiance Campaign had energised
them into intensified mass action. The unity of the African, Indian, Coloured and
progressive white people represented a clear progressive threat against an
apartheid edifice. The people, under the leadership of the ANC and the Congress
Alliance, had already adopted the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People
at Kliptown on June 26, 1955 and the regime had responded by arresting the
leadership and putting them on a treason trial which badly flopped before their
eyes. The child was not dead, but alive.
To get a sense of what the people faced in 1960, let us only cite the economic,
social and cultural environment in which they lived. The South African economy
had emerged from the WWII in a somewhat changed way. After 1932 South
Africa experienced a period of sustained and rapid growth. In 1960 the physical
volume of manufacturing output was six times as large as in 1930. (The index,
based on 1930= 100, stood at 603 in 1960). The number of industrial workers
more than quadrupled, from 158 000 in 1930 to 653 000 in 1960 the contribution
of manufacturing to national income in 1930 was less than that of agriculture
and mining. But soon afterwards, during the Second World War, manufacturing
overtook both of these sectors. By 1960, manufacturing contributed considerably
more than agriculture or mining (Jones and Muller, p167). Giant factories had
emerged, such as African Explosives and Chemicals Industries (AECI) and a large
army of African workers started being better organised and politicised. Places like
Sophiatown, District Six, Alexandra, and others were beginning to mould a new
African, a new person in a complex cultural and social environment which
became a threat to the Apartheid regime. A new non-tribal and increasingly
urbanised black South African was emerging and the regime did not like this a
bit. Thus they began to re-tribalise our people out of places like Sophiatown into
townships such as Soweto: Meadowlands Zone 6 for VaTsonga-Machangana,
5
Zondi for Ma-Zulu, Moletsana for Batswana, Rockville for Basotho, Eldorado Park
for coloured people, etc. The struggle was also meant to fight against these
tribal, ethnic and racist structural impositions. At the same time, concurrently,
the regime intensified its Bantustan programme, thus unleashing on our people a
huge onslaught in both rural and urban settings.
It is therefore not surprising that by 1955, our movement led this gigantic
programme for our people to spell out what kind of South Africa they wanted to
live in. One of the outstanding ANC leaders, Prof ZK Mathews, President of the
ANC in the Cape argued at the Cape conference held in Cradock on 15 August
1953, that: I wonder whether the time has not come for the ANC to
consider the question of convening a National Convention, a Congress
of the People, representing all the people of this country irrespective of
race or colour to draw up a Freedom Charter for the democratic South
Africa of the future. And the leadership had responded in the manner that
they did and so did the people. The year 1955 therefore marked an important
historical milestone for our country, our movement and the struggle. It was
indeed the Year of the Freedom Charter.
The period 1960-1990 was to be one of the longest periods in our struggle: most
of our leadership imprisoned on Robben Island and other jails, our organisations
declared illegal, any sign of decent suppressed with brutal force, many detained,
tortured, killed, maimed, psychologically damaged and our organisation reorganising in exile and in the underground at home. By the 1980s, mass
resistance was back: COSAS, Trade Unions, AZASO, Soweto Committee of Ten,
Pebco, UDF, etc. The regime was under tremendous pressure and negotiations
were clearly the way out of the crisis.
The mobilisation by the ANC and others, had led to economic sanctions, cultural
boycotts, political isolation and an intensifying armed struggle led by Umkhonto
we Sizwe. The regime in South Africa could not perform normal political
functions. Instead they resorted to terror and the destabilisation of southern
Africa. They could not play sports: rugby and cricket! It was a crisis!
So as we reflect on March 21, SA Human Rights Day, we must ask ourselves the
question, how far have we gone in realising the objectives of the Freedom
Charter and of our constitution? Are we a human rights country? Ok, we have
established the institutional framework for the pursuit of human rights; we have
sought to embed a human rights culture in many areas of our endeavours. The
child is not dead!
As we recall the events of 1960, as a backdrop, we must then ask ourselves the
question: Have we, as the post-1994 state and society, done anything to value
our human rights and to honour and show gratitude to those who gave their lives
for our freedom. Are we worthy to be the ones who have inherited the spirit, the
fruits of struggle?
Let us start from the beginning. In 1996, after a long period of negotiations, we
adopted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The constitution is the
supreme Law of the Republic and all other laws are subject to the constitution. In
examining our human rights position, I therefore refer, for starters, to the
constitution. In Chapter 1: Founding Provisions, it says that The Republic of
South Africa is one, sovereign, democratic state founded on the following values:
7
The ANC led government has shown tremendous foresight in the implementation
of human rights in South Africa. Here I wish only to the Companies Act of 2008.
8
In this law, which principally deals with the rules and regulations of companies,
there is inserted in Section 72, issues which deal with the Global Compact, the
OECD Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics and Compliance to
Curb Foreign Bribery. The section creates a Social and Ethics Committee of the
boards of companies which are of a certain size and beyond. The regulations
framed under the Companies Act, 2008, make it much clearer what the functions
of the Social and Ethics Committee are. For example, to monitor (a)
companys activities, having regard to any relevant legislation, other legal
requirements or prevailing codes of best practice, with regard to matters relating
to: (i) social and economic development, including (a) companys standing in
terms of the goals and purposes of- (aa) the ten principles set out in the United
Nations Global Compact Principles; [ for ease of reading, the Ten
Principles are: 1) businesses should support and respect the protection
of internationally proclaimed human rights, 2) businesses must make
sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses, 3) businesses
should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition
of the right to collective bargaining, 4) the elimination of all forms of
forced and compulsory labour, 5) the effective abolition of child labour,
6) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and
occupation, 7) businesses should support a precautionary approach to
environmental challenges, 8) businesses must undertake initiatives to
promote greater environmental responsibility, 9) encourage the
development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies and
finally, 10) Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms,
including extortion and bribery]. and (bb) the OECD recommendations
regarding corruption; (cc) the Employment Equity Act; and (dd) the Broad Based
Black Economic Empowerment Act; (ii) good corporate citizenship, including (a)
companys (aa) promotion of equality, prevention of unfair discrimination, and
reduction of corruption; (bb) contribution to development of communities in
which its activities are predominately conducted or within which its products or
services are predominately marketed; and (cc) record of sponsorship, donations
and charitable giving; (v) labour and employment, including (aa) the companys
standing in terms of the International Labour Organisations Protocol on decent
work and working conditions..
I submit comrades, that as we celebrate South Africa Human Rights Day, that we
have, as a country, the structural, political and legal framework to promote and
enhance human rights, a human rights way of living, and the human right way of
doing things. If we could only muster the courage, conviction and honesty to fulfil
our promise, this country will be a better place. And the child will not have
died in 1960, not at Sharpeville, Langa, Soweto or Nyanga or at
Marikana and not Andries Tatane. For The child is in the shadow of the
(repressive) soldiers on guard with rifles, Saracens and batons, The child is
present at all gatherings and (is) law-giving, The child peers through the windows
and into the hearts of mothers, The child who wanted to play in the sun at
Nyanga is everywhere and travels the world without a dompass.
Comrade chair, let me end my presentation by appealing, asking for unity in the
African National Congress. Let us close ranks and not give any space for those
who want us divided. But we must deal with the elephant in the room on this
matter. I know that I stand a good chance of getting into trouble for what Im
about to say, and hopefully you will come to my defence. This unity is going
to have to start with the unity of/or reconciliation between comrades
Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki. They must unite for the sake of our movement.
They are old enough to understand my appeal, my request. We have been
ducking and running away from the words in this paragraph for too long and the
collateral damage is too much to bear. This thing of saying: Umuntu ka Thabo,
Umuntu ka JZ, NO! This needs to end now. Ive had enough of it. It is causing too
much harm to our movement and country. So, comrades, there it is: my view.
Please dont burn me at the stake!
Despite everything that has happened recently, Indeed, Ingrid Jonker is not dead!
She lives amongst us.
I would like to wrap up with Tiyo Sogas famous hymn, my favourite hymn.
Amandla! Ngawethu!
11
ENDS
14.
13