STATEMENT ON HERITAGE DAY: A HOLLOW CELEBRATION AMID LANDLESSNESS, POVERTY AND INEQUALITY.
24 September 2024
Today, as the MK Party, we lament the hollowness of Heritage Day-a day that is meant to celebrate the unity and diversity of our nation but instead starkly highlights the deep-rooted injustices that remain unaddressed. Despite 30 years of democracy, the African majority remains landless, shackled by extreme poverty, and subjected to the highest levels of inequality in the world.
We stand on the shoulders of African kings, chiefs, and warriors who fought valiantly against colonial conquest. Leaders like King Shaka, King Cetshwayo, Chief Bhambatha ka Mancinza, King Hintsa ka Khawuta, Chief Maqoma, King Sekhukhune, and Queen Labotsibeni resisted Dutch and British encroachment, fighting to preserve their land and sovereignty. Yet, today, their descendants remain dispossessed of the very land for which their forebears shed blood.
The violent dispossession of our land and the brutal colonization that began centuries ago still haunts us. Colonial greed for gold and diamonds fueled imperialist conquest, subjugating the Khoikhoi, San, Xhosa, Pedi, Zulu, and others. This legacy of landlessness and exclusion was cemented through the apartheid system and persists to this day, with wealth and land concentrated in the hands of a few while the majority continue to suffer on the fringes of society.
While Heritage Day is supposed to be a celebration of our rich cultural tapestry, it is overshadowed by the stark reality that millions of South Africans, particularly Africans, remain impoverished, jobless, and landless. How can we celebrate unity in diversity when the promises of the Freedom Charter remain unfulfilled and the vast wealth of our land is still inaccessible to its rightful owners.
We pay tribute to President Oliver Tambo, whose leadership in exile kept the fire of the liberation struggle burning. But the unity and democracy that Tambo fought for has been betrayed by the continued existence of structural inequality. We remember the countless heroes-both named and unnamed-who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, yet their vision of a free and equitable South Africa remains unrealized.
Andrew Zondo, Solomon Mahlangu, and so many others gave their lives for the liberation of South Africa, believing that their blood would nourish the tree of freedom. Today, their sacrifices ring hollow as the very freedoms they fought for are being undermined by the continuation of landlessness and economic injustice.
The political landscape of today, marked by opportunistic coalitions with neoliberal right-wing forces, is a betrayal of the ideals for which our heroes died. Were Tambo, Biko, Hani, and Mahlangu alive today, they would lament the alliance between the Democratic Alliance and the new ANC, a marriage of convenience that sustains the status quo rather than dismantling the legacies of apartheid and colonialism.
MK Party rejects this Heritage Day celebration, as it ignores the continued suffering of our people. The landlessness of the African majority is not just a historical grievance-it is the central question of our time. Extreme poverty and inequality cannot coexist with the supposed unity and diversity that Heritage Day seeks to celebrate.
We reaffirm our commitment to the National Democratic Revolution, which calls for a South Africa where the wealth of the land is shared among all its people. We stand against the political opportunism that perpetuates inequality and upholds the dominance of a minority. We remain the last hope for millions of South Africans who still dream of true liberation.
Let us use this Heritage Day not as a day of hollow celebration, but as a reminder of the unfinished business of our revolution. Until the land is returned to its rightful owners and economic justice is achieved, we cannot rest. The fight for a just and equitable South Africa continues, and the MK Party will carry forward the torch of liberation until the dreams of our ancestors are realized.
MK Party: Continuing the Struggle for Land, Justice, and Equality
Statement issued by Nhlamulo Ndhlela, Head: Media and Communications, 24 September 2024
