ANC STATEMENT ON RECONCILIATION DAY: DA PLACES CONDITIONS FOR SOUTH AFRICANS TO RECONCILE
16 December 2015
The African National Congress joins the millions of South Africans marking National Reconciliation Day today, 16 December 2015. The day occupies a special place in our nation’s quest to foster reconciliation and build national unity; acknowledging the historical injustices of our past and honouring our commitment to unity in diversity.
We celebrate this Reconciliation Day cognisant of the long road we have yet to traverse to build a truly non-racial and united South Africa, at peace with itself and the world. This is a responsibility that falls upon all South Africans, black and white and across religious, cultural and political divides. It is the hallmark of our envisaged peaceful co-existence enshrined in the Freedom Charter that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white"
It is against this background therefore that the ANC has noted with disappointment and great dismay, statements by some political leaders, notably Helen Zille of the DA, who have chosen to use this important day to engage in partisan politics and trivialise the significance of an important aspect of our project of nation building which is the promotion of unity and reconciliation.
Zille, a premier in one of our nation’s provinces, has called for "no reconciliation with corruption" and together with her fellow organizers of this march/picnic belittle the significance of Reconciliation Day by this partisan posturing. With her statement (no reconciliation with corruption), Zille sends a message that the DA has no interest in genuine reconciliation with the masses of our people but will use any opportunity for political point scoring to the extent of dividing our people instead of uniting them.
Because for them unity and reconciliation is not a fundamental objective borne out of the scars of our terrible past, they place conditions for the necessary and long overdue reconciliation between our people to take place.
No person should place demands for why they or the people they lead should reconcile over our grave past with other citizens. Stating as Zille did, that there shall be no reconciliation until one of our challenges, which all South Africans including the ANC have committed themselves to fight, is dealt with places our hard won democracy at risk and mocks the suffering of the South African majority at the hands of the white minority apartheid state.
A state that was inherently corrupt, insulated by some who today claim to be activists against corruption and whose interests the DA remains committed to protecting under the guise of fighting corruption and any other perceived weakness of the democratic government.
Corruption is a fight that will be best won by all citizens combined without tearing the people apart. To Zille and her ilk it is a pawn in a game where it is clear that genuine non-racialism, unity and reconciliation are not the ultimate objectives but rather narrow partisan interests placed first and above the goal of bringing our people together.
This Reconciliation Day must afford our country an opportunity to reflect on the deeper structural and racial patterns of the past that affect ordinary South Africans, majority being black people in Soweto, Chatsworth and Mitchells Plain and elsewhere.
These and other challenges should not be used by political opportunists to further tear our nation apart, but rather as rallying points around which we must all unite to build a society we can all be proud of. These structural issues stem from the legacy of colonialism and apartheid of which the country sorely needs to reconcile.
The African National Congress calls on all South Africans to use the day to reflect on our journey as a nation, reflect on the contribution of reconciliation and peace to a South Africa that is better today than it was in 1994 and the journey that we must all travel to move our nation even further forward.
Statement issued by Zizi Kodwa, ANC national spokesperson, 16 December 2015
