Nation-building is a long and arduous journey

There is a pain that still courses through this country; in every province; in every city. It is the pain of systematic oppression, the pain of discrimination, the pain of inequality and the pain of suffering.

It is the past that courses through this society and informs everything we do.

We have been trying to address it for years, at all levels. Time and again we come together, identify it and try and address it. But it is sometimes not enough. How could it be for those who have lived with nothing and had all that they might have been taken away? How can we expect those whose only experience of opportunity is denial to be satisfied, to sit quietly and wait for the sequence of disappointments, resentments and suffering their lives have been to come to an end?

How much patience can anyone be expected to have?

This is not a policy question. It is the defining feature of the South African experience.

This experience is one we try to deal with every day, to lighten the burden that so weighs us down and prevents us from going into that future we were promised in 1994. We have not found the answers yet, though many have tried.

What we have found though is a principle of unity; a principle that says that though we may not achieve the justice that has been denied for centuries today that we can work towards a more just society and a nation for whom freedom is a real lived experience and not just a negotiated legal abstraction.

We work towards that goal every day. Sometimes we succeed in making a difference. Sometimes we don't. We aren't perfect. But we give all that we have in the attempt.

In the world of political difference, where consensus is a rarity, there is a unique acknowledgement that our healing is measured in time and that the process of nation-building is a long and arduous journey.

Though the road is long, we do not travel it alone. Because this is a journey we all take together.

But we will not reach our destination if we leave the road. If we lose sight of that which we hope to be, then we truly will be lost.

Occupations, illegal actions, invasions, these are all side-paths, so much more tempting for those who are weary. But they lead nowhere.

All that remains at the end of these short diversions is more pain, suffering, conflict and violence. And when we descend there, we will forget where we were going, forever.

There are issues of inequality in this city. There are issues of division. There are issues of unfairness. They are the issues of our history. We are doing all that we can to build a better city, a city of opportunity where everyone is included and where everyone has a stake in the future.

It is a long-term project and even if we achieved all we aimed to do, we could not fix what the past has done for many years yet. But we work to ameliorate those effects and to move forward into a more just future where everyone has a fair chance.

We know we are not going to achieve all those things immediately. And so, with what resources we have, we try to make life better for those who need our help the most.

We give rates rebates to those who cannot afford to pay them. We build integrated communities using everything we have been given in housing allocations from national government. We run free clinics that are beyond our mandate. We provide free water and electricity to those most in need. We are creating the cheapest, safest public transport network in the country. And we provide immediate relief for those who need a helping hand in this economy through the Mayoral Job Creation programme that is creating thousands of job opportunities throughout this city.

We provide the most extensive basket of free basic services to the poor in the country. Every day, we work for that better city we all hope to live in. We know the long journey we have taken and we know we don't travel alone because it is the journey the vast majority of Capetonians have chosen to take with us.

As the leaders of this city, we are the custodians of that destination of peace. And so we will not allow others to divert us for their easy victories of violence and pain.

Mario Wanza and his allies, including the Leader of the Opposition in the City Council, Councillor Tony Ehrenreich, want us to leave the road, whatever the consequences.

Mr. Wanza has constructed a scenario with the specific intention of inflaming the pain of our past and creates an outlet into the present. He would build a bridge to that old anger that many of us experienced. That is not his bridge to build. And we won't let him.

Mr. Wanza recently claimed that he only wishes to hold a ‘summit' under the banner of the Communities for Social Change, a network of civic organisations, a supposedly innocent meeting to discuss the most pressing issues facing the city.

I know about innocent meetings and innocent summits that discuss issues affecting the city. I have attended many of them hosted by NGOs. I have been made aware of even more in the most extended programme of bilateral meetings with NGOs in the City in recent times. But Mr. Wanza deals with the truth as loosely as he deals with our history.

This is not a stakeholder summit. The literature distributed ahead of this meeting called for the organisations to ‘occupy' Rondebosch Common. What is more, that literature was littered with references to race, racial politics and a slew of other assertions regarding this city's society.

This literature, bearing the logo of many organisations, including the Leader of the Opposition's moonlighting refuge, COSATU, was distributed to all those supposed to be participating in this ‘summit.'

Thus we are faced with this situation: An organisation has stated its intention to illegally occupy a piece of land as part of an agenda peppered with racially divisive rhetoric.

This in a peaceful and diverse community known mostly for its schools and retirees.

There is only one agenda at work here and it is not one to address issues of the past and how to build a better future. It is to catapult the tensions of the past into the present to ensure we never move into the future.

I cannot speak for the motivations of Mr. Wanza, a would-be but failed public servant, and his ilk. What I can say is that while some people do not understand our country's history, others understand all too well.

I have said it before and I will say it again. This City will not abide illegal actions. We will not aid the agendas of those who wish to separate us.

Because this City will partner with those who want to work towards a better future. We have done so, from the Interfaith Network, to the Social Justice Coalition, to backyarder organisations, to a host of other organisations. We work with a range of actors, including NGOs, trying to address the issues of the past by building a truly better future.

We know our end destination. Perhaps not everyone wants to join us on our journey. That is their choice. But we won't let them divert the rest of us from our path.

Issued by: Communication Department, City of Cape Town, January 27 2012

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