In contextualizing the singing of the struggle songs post apartheid a couple of facts need to be appreciated by all (both revolutionaries and members of society at large).

The struggle songs form part of the history of our struggle for liberation that cannot be erased for the benefit of the current generation and future generations and the preservation of our history.

For the current generation and future generations to appreciate and preserve the democracy which we attained in 1994, they need to know the journey walked by freedom fighters and know the sacrifices made by many for this freedom which in certain instances required the ultimate sacrifice of one's life.

The struggle songs identified the enemy both the individual grouping of a particular section of society which oppressed the black majority and the apartheid governance system applied by the enemy as well as the capitalist economic system adopted by the apartheid regime to perpetuate a skewed beneficiation from the wealth of the country in favour of a particular race group. Many of the struggle songs trace this history and are a living account of what transpired and how it transpired during the course of the struggle.

Whilst recent debates on the singing of these liberation songs has suggested that they need not be sang anymore in the post Apartheid South Africa, this debate is unjustifiable as it seeks to erase and re-write the history of our country.

What needs to be done is to correctly contextualize the songs and their meaning and educate the public in the appreciation of these songs as a symbol of our rich history and a reminder of the fact that the struggle journey remains unfinished as the struggle for economic emancipation for the majority is still at its infancy stages.

In this regard the decision by the ANC to challenge the high court ruling on the banning of the song "Eyasaba Magwala" should be appreciated and supported, this in the spirit of nation building and enhancing the fundamentals of our constitutional freedoms and not as a way of undermining the judiciary as the media would have our fellow citizens believe. 

The opportunistic tendency by the reactionary forces of wanting to project the singing of the songs as hate speech and incitement of violence against a particular race group should be exposed for what it is as we know that during the course of our struggle for freedom white comrades (Helen Joseph, Joe Slovo are but some of the examples of many white people who dedicated their lives to the freedom of all and sang these songs) have been part of the movement and sang these songs with the full appreciation of their meaning as not being an incitement to kill every white person, but an encouragement to take on those who advanced the apartheid government and its programs both blacks and whites.

These white comrades, some of whom still alive today continue to sing these songs with a full appreciation of what they mean. The truth must be told that during the apartheid regime even amongst the black people there were reactionaries who supported the regime who the singing of many of these songs also was applied against them, the likes of Matanzima, Mangope, Qozo and many other former homelands leaders are but some of the many examples.

The songs as composed were meant and indeed carried a message very rich and beyond the literal meaning of the words and were intended to drive the struggle for all the objectives of the revolutionary movement, and by consequence remains and will remain relevant until all the fundamental objectives of the liberation movement are accomplished.

The strategic political objectives of the liberation movement can be summarized by the freedom charter which the current epoch of the national democratic revolution remains guided by in the quest to achieve and build a national democratic society. Accepting that the songs message goes beyond the literal meaning of the words and that certain words in the songs represents the system and the legacy of apartheid that needs to be destroyed to create a national democratic society, we should then ask the question, have we achieved the national democratic society 17 years into democracy?

If our answer to this question is no, which it is, then the songs should be accepted as being relevant in driving the remaining course of the dismantling of the colonization and apartheid contradictions.

For an example within the context of nationalization of mines and other strategic sectors of the economy, singing of the song "Ayesaba amagwala, dubul' ibhunu", should today be appreciated  in the following context: The song is sang to mean that those who are defending the status core of a capitalist system by detracting the course of nationalization of mines and other strategic industries are the "amagwala" in the verses of the song (this includes both blacks and whites who are defending the capitalist status quo), whilst "dubul' ibhunu" means fight for the nationalization applying the strongest and most effective mechanisms to destroy the capitalist economic system which is benefitting the selected few and enhancing the gap between the rich and the poor".

These songs therefore remains relevant, but indeed there is a need for a political education for the members of society so as to ensure that everyone understands and appreciate the current context of the songs and most importantly that the ANC does not seek to destroy the rainbow nation building project with these songs, but rather that it seeks to strengthen the project.

The reality is that 1994 and the past 17 years of democracy have brought political freedom, but have done very little to emancipate the majority of the former oppressed from the chains of poverty and economic slavery, so indeed, until such time that we have crushed all the apartheid contradictions and we have created a national democratic society we must continue singing these songs to maintain the momentum of the struggle for economic freedom and a full emancipation of our people, may be then and only then we can take these songs to our museums for preservation of our history and heritage.

Ramukumba Khathu is a member of the ANC YL regional executive committee in Ekurhuleni, he writes in his personal capacity.

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