The condition of black existence in Apartheid South Africa was one of palpable oppression, extreme deprivation and marginalization, It the 1980’s the repressive Apartheid state machinery was at its most brutal, the 80s were the characterized by mass incarcerations, violent crackdowns in the townships, apartheid marshal law.

Many black people were killed and hurt during this period, so when in 1990 Nelson Mandela was released from prison by a regime that was surrendering but wanted to negotiate the terms of surrender, he had a responsibility to go to black communities ravished by apartheid violence, go to families who had just buried their sons, their daughters and ask them to find a way to put their pain and their sorrow secondary to the interests of the nation. The bravery of going to a people brutalized by Apartheid and ask them to forgive and to show mercy was not an easy task. During the negotiations in 1993 when the nation was in the middle of very tense negotiations for a free and democratic South Africa, white nationalists assassinated Comrade Chris Hani, a leader loved and revered by many of our people, the hit on Comrade Chris was a cold calculated move to plunge the country into civil war, it was at the time the match that would ignite flames of anger that would engulf the whole country but it was Tata Nelson Mandela who braved the moment and decided to address the country to plead for restraint, here he risked being seen as standing in the way of our people from obtaining justice, he risked having the whole nation turn against him and call him a sellout but he was brave enough to say to our people, steady your hearts, calm your anger, think about how much the country needs to stop the bloodshed, there I learnt that even choosing to not fight, choosing to forgive was also an act of bravery.

Mr Mandela knew that the people wanted justice, they deserved justice but our country needed peace more.

Nelson Mandela was a soldier

History may remember Nelson Mandela the peacemaker but when the time came, as it always does in the history of any nation, to decide whether to submit or to fight, Tata Mandela did not choose submission, he was not a pacifist. During the 1950’s when the apartheid government was tightening its grip around the necks of black people in South Africa, Tata Mandela and the golden generation he led with agitated for a departure from the peaceful resistance approach that had characterized the ANC’s opposition to Apartheid. They called for armed resistance and were able to convince the ANC to set up a military wing. He became the first commander of that military wing (Umkhonto we Sizwe), it would be at the front line of the people`s defence. It was the fighting arm of the people against the repressive Apartheid Government and its policies of race oppression. It was to be the striking force of the people for liberty, for rights and for their final liberation... In these actions, it was working in the best interests of all the people of this country-black, brown and white-whose future happiness and well-being cannot be attained without the overthrow of the White Minority Nationalist Government, the abolition of white supremacy and the winning of liberty, democracy and full national rights and equality for all the people of this country.

In 1964, at the Rivonia trial where Tata Nelson and others where charged with acts of sabotage against the state, charges if found guilty, carried a penalty of death by hanging. Facing with the possibility of the death penalty, Tata Mandela was given the opportunity to address the court, instead of pleading and begging for his life to be sparred, Tata said and I quote

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Here we found inspiration about how deep your convictions must be, how strongly dedicated on must be to carry this struggle for the total liberation of the oppressed. Today we are not required to give our lives for equal opportunities, we are merely required to be relentless in the pursuit of a just and more equitable world. We are required to use our positions to privilege the less fortunate, to be faithful in the execution of the duties that we have been entrusted with and at all time to put the people first.

Mandela and HIV/AIDS

When Nelson Mandela’s last surviving son died of an AIDS related illness, Tata Nelson Mandela, a revered statesman, did not conceal it. He came out during a time when HIV and AIDS carried a huge stigma and he publicly disclosed that his son had died of complications from AIDS. This was a brave and unprecedented move by any statesmen, I doubt even today there are any would disclose that their children passed on because of HIV/AIDS.

But imagine how much more difficult it must be for  a traditional African man, who should not even talk about sex, let alone talk about a disease which was believed to be the disease of the promiscuous, the homosexuals and the sex workers, to come out and remove the stigma and shame that had attached to the disease.

Such a public declaration had the risk of him being ostracized by society and shunned by his contemporaries. But again for the sake of the people, he put his personal feelings and interests aside, he put the people first and decided to become the face of the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Tata established 3 organizations that participated in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, he raised millions of Dollars through his 46664 benefit concerts and also used them to put the fight against AIDS infections on the global stages, thereby attracting mainstream media coverage about the disease.

 Ministers in the South African government were expected to wear aids ribbons at all times, to raise awareness about the disease and to remove the stigma about the disease.

 Another story that is seldom reported on is how Nelson Mandela stood up to his own comrades in the ANC and disagreed with the approach that the organization had taken with regards to the fight against HIV. Now if you understand the fact that the ANC is Africa’s oldest liberation movement, it is governed according to the principles of democratic centralism, which means that once the decision has been taken, then all members needed to fall inline.

But Tata Mandela for the first and possibly the only time in his life, refused to stand behind a decision of the ANC. So strongly did he feel about the issue that he attended a meeting of the ANC’s highest decision making body and placed his vehement disagreement with the decisions around the handling of the HIV/AIDS issue. Again I want you to imagine what kind of courage it must take for the founding commander of the military wing of the ANC, a soldier that has spent their lives giving and taking instructions, to stand up and say to his own comrades, “I refuse to follow you down this path”, it takes an incredibly amount of love for one’s people to take such a stand. That was the nature of the man. Because of actions like those I am happy to report today that South Africa has turned the tide against HIV/AIDS, we have the largest anti-retroviral treatment program in the world, The country has made huge improvements with regards to getting people to test, with about 86% of the population aware of their status, 65% are on treatment and of those on treatment 81% have successfully suppressed the viral load of HIV.

 

When Power fails to corrupt

They say power corrupts and indeed history is littered with stories of how the liberators of yesterday, became the oppressors of tomorrow. From Africa, to South America, Asia and even parts of Europe, history narrates the story of a people’s hero, a revolutionary who conquers political power and then believes themselves to be indispensable to the revolution. They begin to anchor and domesticate the democratic project around their personality. We have witnessed leaders who we looked up to and admired for their revolutionary deeds, cling to power and sully their legacies because they could not look past their own egos, they could not resist the gravitational pull of the power that comes with the office of the president.

Tata Mandela distinguished himself from that caliber of leadership, at the end of his first term as president of the Republic of South Africa, while the constitution of the country allowed him to stand for another 5 year term, he voluntarily stepped down and handed over the reins to the next generation of leaders. This is in stark contrast to the unfortunate tradition on the continent, of leaders who cling to power until they are unceremoniously ousted from office.

We must have the courage to tell our leaders when it’s time to go, It may seem counter-revolutionary, we may even think it is an insult to ask a stalwart of the liberation struggle to step down but we must put our people first and our discomforts after.

 We cannot continue as Africa to have Presidents who have been in office for longer that the number of years that the president of France has been alive.

 In biology we learn that if there is no circulation in any part of the body, then that part will be decay and die. There has been no healthy circulation of leadership in the presidential offices of some African countries and that has inevitably led to a death of ideas, naturally it has hampered innovation and stymied progress.

Tata Nelson Mandela handed over power to the next generation because he understood that keeping political institutions youthful is vital for the free flow of ideas, it engenders institutional vibrancy and effectiveness.

A periodic renewal of leadership infuses any country with new energy and urgency, we must for the sake of our people stand up to those that want to become president’s for life. Tata Mandela taught us, by exemplary acts, that you must love the people more than you love power.

 

Batho Pele

The values that Tata Mandela espoused have been codified into the Public Service of South Africa, We as the government adopted The Batho Pele Principles, which enjoin all civil servants to always put the People First. The spirit of Nelson Mandela’s lifelong dedication to putting the people first permeates through the halls of government buildings and in the hearts of South African civil servants. We have, on this centenary of his birth, began a process to rededicate ourselves to the people of South Africa.

In all that we do, we will draw from the strength and wisdom of Tata, WE WILL LIVE AND BREATHE THE LEGACY.

Ours is a country lucky to have been blessed with a cohort of revolutionary freedom fighters and human rights activists. This year South Africa is also celebrating the centenary of Mama Albertina Sisulu, a hero of our struggle who, in 1958, gallantly led a woman’s demonstration against the unjust and repressive Apartheid regime.

The chair of the Open Government Partnership, Mr Scott Brison, spoke about gender parity or as he called it supporting feminism. Through Ma’m Albertina Sisulu we have seen the voice of women in South Africa grow from when she was the only woman at the inaugural ANC Youth League meeting in 1944. Today women:

Occupy 41% of all  Parliamentary seats

46% of our Cabinet is female

the Judiciary lags behind with female representation at around 36% and

women make up 41% of senior management of government.

 

On 9 May, 1994, with the advent of democracy in South Africa, Albertina Sisulu stood up in Parliament to nominate Nelson Mandela for election as the first black President of the newly born country.

It was a historic moment that ushered a new era for the country. It’s most likely that many South African journalists, particularly the younger generation, became aware of Albertina Sisulu during that historic moment in the South African parliament.

But long before that 1994 breakthrough, Sisulu played a leading role in the struggle for liberation of her country and was one of the  leaders of the historic Women’s march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 9 August 1956 alongside Lillian Ngoyi, Sophie de Bruyn, Helen Joseph and Rahima Moosa, among others who took part in that march

Although some people may be quick to associate her political struggle with her husband Walter Sisulu, the veteran African National Congress politician who died in 2003, mama Sisulu, as she was affectionately known, was a leader in her own right.

She spent almost half a century fighting for the liberation of South Africans, in the face of detentions, banning orders and harassment.

Like Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whose contribution to South Africa’s fight for liberation is being celebrated today, Sisulu stepped into her role as a mother and became the suffering spouse of the imprisoned Walter Sisulu. Like Madikizela-Mandela, the struggle heroine never wavered in her convictions.

Her persecution kept the name of her husband alive as he served a life imprisonment sentence at Robben Island. Like the persecution of Madikizela-Mandela, the persecution of mama Sisulu helped to keep the struggle alive and served as a reminder of the cause of those who were sent to Robben Island.

As government celebrates the centenary of this iconic woman, it is only right that South Africans are reminded of the sacrifices that Sisulu and others made for the country to be the democracy it is today. The centenary celebrations will run for the entire year and will be marked by a series of commemorative events. This is also the year that South Africa celebrates the centenary of the life of former President Mandela. 

Both Albertina Sisulu and Madiba dedicated their lives to ensuring a better and more united South Africa.  The 100 year anniversary of the lives of these two remarkable people is an opportunity to recommit ourselves as a country to their principles by building the nation they envisioned when they fought for liberation.

A qualified nurse and mid-wife, Mam Sisulu was born on 21 October 1912 in the Eastern Cape where she spent most of her childhood and attended school.

In her various public roles, she always sought to bring hope and dignity to the people and communities she served. Whether as a member of the NEC of the ANC, or as a nurse who protected those under her care, or in civic leadership roles, or as a staunch supporter of the value of education in changing lives.  

Away from public life, she was the matriarch of her family, and took up the mantel of caring for her siblings.  This caring attitude extended to children everywhere, and resulted in her setting up a day care centre to serve her community.

Mam Sisulu, who was orphaned at the age of 15, took seriously the responsibility of looking after her siblings even though she was the second eldest.

Her resilience, showed up in her teens as she didn’t allow the death of her parents to break her.

“Part of her political life was also about taking seriously her responsibilities. She did everything with the necessary professionalism, commitment and vigour,”

“As a woman, she fought when it was not fashionable to do so and did it with bravery and a sense of conviction that all are equal regardless of what the law states. She was an upholder of human rights at all costs, regardless of one’s colour or gender,”

 

Mam Sisulu is a source of great strength and inspiration for modern day democratic South Africa’s people centred culture of governance and our resolve to see more women being represented in decision making structures.

Much as we are a young 24 year old country, we have been able to register successes in the institutionalization of collaboration between the government and its citizens, especially in the area of open government and transparency, the following are some examples:

• A Constitution that is one of the kind which acknowledge the values and principles of the OGP
• Legislation and policies which enable the freedom of expression whilst the rights of others
• We have the most transparent budget process ranking 1^st once again in 2017 in Information Budget Transparency

Mama Sisulu and Tatu Mandela instilled in us a love for the people and an unnegotiable respect for the sacrosanct will of the people. They never placed above our people, they never thought themselves to know better than the collective, at all times they humbled themselves to the will and direction of the people. They went everywhere where they were sent, may we all show the same humility, may we all LIVE THE LEGACY.