Unity in Diversity - Heritage Day address by Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Leader of AgangSA, Tshikombani Stadium, Vhembe District, Limpopo, September 24 2013

Aaa! Dumelang!  Sanibonani!  Molweni!  Axusheni! Ndi macheloni! Ngiyanibingelela! Goeie dag! Good morning!  God be with you! Salaam alaikum! Namaste! Shalom!  

Let us use today, and come together as South Africans to celebrate' our collective heritage and history.

Heritage is born of the past but lives through us every day as we create new history, and as we act as guardians of our shared future.

Ours is a history of hundreds of thousands of years, our continent is the birthplace of humanity itself.

It is from our most revered living ancestors, the Khoisan, that we take our country's motto:

!ke e:/xarra//ke - "people who are different joining together".

When the promise of freedom finally arrived, President Mandela in his inaugural address told us all how important coming together and staying together was going to be when he said:

"We must act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.

"The time for the healing of the wounds has come.

"The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.

"The time to build is upon us.

His words carry more meaning than ever. It is partly in response to his call to build that AgangSA was formed as there is greater urgency than ever.   

Our country has lost direction. We need to retrace our steps to the foundations of our society and build anew a prosperous country in which we aim for excellence: in which we create dignified jobs; a healthcare system that makes women, children, the elderly and vulnerable feel safe; and a police service that works with communities to make our shared spaces safe for work and play.

As we celebrate Heritage Day, the prospect of realising unity in diversity for our young nation remains critical.  On our journey together so far, our different languages and customs are points on the compass. Ubuntu is our guide, that ancient principle at the heart of our traditional knowledge systems. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says it beautifully - "I am what I am because of who we all are". A hardship felt by one is a hardship felt by all.

Today let us take strength from a celebration of each other and reach out across generations. Stop and give praise for each other, brothers and sisters. And as we do so let us also carry our great leaders in our hearts, honour our ancestors and elders, many of whom fought and died over the last 300 years for our freedom.

From our collective struggle was born a nation based on a constitution that protects the pillars of democracy with respect for the rule of law. At the heart of every culture we share the values of dignity, freedom and equality for all. These are golden threads that weave through us and bind us together. Like rivers they course through our shared culture, nourishing us. They unite us all across all languages, borders and from whichever walk of life. Most important of all, they connect us as members of the human family. 

As South Africans we have long been blessed with immense potential, with an abundance of natural, mineral, human and cultural resources. Upon these solid foundations we sought to grow a prosperous society that redressed the many wrongs of the past, a secular society with a respect for all faiths, beliefs and backgrounds, all colours and creeds.

Much has been done since our freedom in 1994, but the truth is not enough and not fast enough. People are tired of waiting for dignified homes, jobs, education and healthcare. After nearly 20 years hardship remains a constant companion for millions of our fellow citizens.

I have traveled to the four corners of the country and taken many a long road along the way. For too many of our fellow South Africans the promise of freedom remains unfulfilled. 20 years is too long to wait for dignified jobs, homes, quality education and healthcare and to live free of the fear of crime.

President Mandela himself said:

"Freedom alone is still not enough if you lack clean water, freedom is not enough without light to read books at night, without time or access to water to irrigate your farm, without the ability to catch fish to feed your family".

Through my life as an activist, freedom fighter, as one who has served the people I have worked with and for, I have seen great dignity in the face of grinding poverty and unrelenting hardship. But in my travels this year I have also seen hopelessness born of an age-old oppression.

As a founder of the Black Consciousness Movement alongside Steve Biko, Barney Pityana and many other brave young men and women, we fought together against the might of apartheid. But today we face a fight against the oppression of poverty and inequality and of a corruption of the spirit of ubuntu.

Let us be clear it is not our heritage, past, present or future, real or imagined, that we should live without true freedom.  Why do millons of people still have to suffer and live like forgotten people, almost 20 years since liberation? What would Steve Bantu Biko think of this betrayal of the ideals that he and many other heroes of the struggle died for?

The lessons we have been learned about how to free ourselves from oppression are relevant again. Biko said "The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed". As students and community activists we fought to free our minds from the inferiority complex created by a racist system that called us non-whites and placed whites as the pinnacle.  

Biko dreamed of a future society based on the democratic values of social justice and fundamental human rights. He dreamed of an alternative society, a society in which all people were equal, in which all people were treated as full human beings, with an equal chance in life. He inspired millions of Black people to share in his dream and rise up to claim it.

Just as then, the mood in many poor Black communities is one of despair and hopelessness. "People must not give in to the hardship of life. People must develop hope," he told us. Steve Biko taught us not to accept our oppression as if it was something that came from God. We all have a duty to keep alive Steve Biko's legacy of selfless commitment to the good of all humanity - and to continue to fight for that which he died for - a free society where equality and justice reign supreme.

This is our heritage. Great leaders who showed us how to liberate ourselves and all those around us. Ironically today's oppressors are those who claim to have once been liberators. They have made citizens who fought together gallantly, give up their agency in their own history. People have become the recipients of charity and the subjects of powerful party leaders who use food parcels, social grants, RDP houses and even pensions to capture and imprison. Once again the minds of South Africans are being used as a weapon of the oppressor.

I say again, if we are guided by ubuntu then the hardship of one will be felt by all. Let us pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.

It is my hope and belief that we can aim higher, that we can expect more from ourselves, our leaders and that we can finally realise true freedom for all. We have the power to build this future, to look back with pride at the heritage we created for our children. But the time is now.

It begins in each of us with the seed of hope. Hope exists in the ability to take control and shape your own future. Hope arises from an education that prepares you for a purposeful life as a conscious human being. Education is vital, not just in maths and science but in understanding the power of our civic role in safeguarding hard won democratic rights.

Many young South Africans do not know what it means to be citizens of a constitutional democracy and how to exercise their rights and responsibilities. We need civic education for our children to know their proud cultural and social history. 

We need civic education to place special focus on the importance of the vote as a sacred tool in the hands of a citizen in a democracy, to help shape the country one belongs to. Hope breathes through the actions of citizens who recognise their rights and responsibilities, their power as individuals and as part of communities.

I have seen how young, active citizens can change society for the better. To be an active citizen is to be the spark that ignites change, to be guided by ubuntu. As we have before, so we must stand together again, as the guardians of our past, our present and our future.  

Our innate culture is one of ubuntu, of togetherness. We must defend our country against those who talk of difference. The lines of our flag symbolise this convergence of values, as we move together as one, with common purpose in to the future. What upsets me is that there are those in this current ANC government who are so desperate to cling to power that they will risk dividing us.

Beware the state sponsored tribalism of 100% Zuma, 100% Zulu, 100% Venda and 100% coloured. After thousands of years of corrupt monarchs and governments the world over oppressing and exploiting the people, are we really going to allow ourselves to be divided and ruled?

We are still a young nation. The rise of tribalism and a return of racial politics risks the destruction of all that we have built together. The language of race is still with us. But there are those who would further wound our country's spirit with the language of hate, of fear and of anger.

The ANC has lost the moral authority to govern: the corruption of power is absolute. The corruption of ubuntu and our shared values is unforgivable. These leaders seem to think ‘it's our turn to eat'.  20 years is too long to wait for everyone to eat.

Patronage seems to work for a lucky few from KZN. For the rest, the food parcels arrive before the election but people need to eat every day, not once every five years. We must stand up and speak out against this narrow tribalism.

This road leads nowhere. We need only look north of the border to see that. We must reject the language of difference and embrace the ideals of diversity.  Es'kia mphahlele showed us the way when he said:

"Now is the time to explore the ways and means of becoming Afrikan in the profoundest sense of the word that is beyond the simple fact of geographic identity."

We are grounded by our cultures and rightly proud of our individual histories. But we are South Africans first. Unity in diversity, rising up together, a common purpose informed by shared values of equality, dignity and freedom for all.

This is how we can restore the promise of freedom.

We can pledge to make true young Hector Pietersen's and other heroes' dream of a South Africa free from exploitation and ignorance by working for excellence in education, in healthcare, policing, and integrity in public office.

We can restore power to the people through clean, competent government that listens to the people and is accountable to the people. This, we can do together, as a one people, united in diversity.

Thank you

Issued by AgangSA, September 24 2013

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