[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

16 December 2008

Today, on 16 December 2008, we are assembled here to mark the official calendar day of reconciliation. The 16 December is, indeed, an important date in the national calendar of our country. It was on this day, 170 years ago, when a Zulu army, led by the most able General, Ndlela kaSompisi of the Ntuli, instructed by King Dingane, met in the early morning with a Voortrekker army, led by Commandant-General Andries Pretorius, on the banks of Ncome River in the northern parts of this province.

It was a conflict that was to form the cornerstone of subsequent inter-racial and multi-dimensional conflicts, which have characterised our past in this province. Before 1838, the white traders who had come to KwaBulawayo and KwaDukuza, to meet with King Shaka, had met with the Zulu people on the basis of mutual equality. Each would stand up to display his skills.

King Shaka would be interested in their guns and their King George, and they would be interested in his ivory, his discipline and his inquisitiveness.

The 16 December 1838 conflict had been preceded by many incidents in that year and years before. We cannot forget the manner in which King Shaka's life was ended, for any killing of a human being must be deplored. That it was a family affair matters not because families are not exempted from a universal need which we embrace, which is to resolve all conflicts through dialogue and advance to embrace reconciliation. Meaningful reconciliation starts at family level.

History books also tell us that it is the letters which Piet Retief had started writing to King Dingane in 1837 which led to mutual suspicions, culminating in his being killed on 6 February 1838. It is now history that this killing led to further conflicts throughout 1838. The 1838 conflict was rounded off with the Battles of Ncome and Ophathe on 16 and 27 December of that year, respectively. It was a year of conflict, blood and death. It was a year in which conflict, blood and death were left unresolved, because history does not tell us of a dialogue, summit or conference to remedy that situation.

The search for the conquered and conqueror soldiered on. And so in 1840, brothers Mpande and Dingane turned against each other, each seeking the total elimination of the other. The year 1840 would be a year in which, in the broader society, brother turned against brother, general turned against general, family turned against family and whole communities were torn apart. It was a year of conflict, blood and death. It was a year in which conflict, blood and death were left unresolved as history tells us of no dialogue, summit or conference to reconcile brother with brother, general with general, families, communities, clans and the Zulu people. The baton of Zulu leadership was once more going to pass with much blood and death.

The open wounds left unattended were to give birth to a Nation of the Grieving – a Zulu people who could only tell the story of conflict, and a series of conflicts which had produced their own heroes and heroines, who in turn would view conflict as the only opportunity to rise and be recognised. A society would emerge where no one, inexperienced in conflict, would gain social recognition. Izimbongi and praise singers would emerge to compose praises of Kings and leaders, based mostly on their role in conflict. Peaceful times would produce no praises. Peaceful times would produce no achievers. Peaceful times would leave izimbongi praise singers, the most creative of artists of their time, with nothing to compose about. The nation would be bored by peace.

And so on 2 December 1856, brothers Mbuyazi and Cetshwayo, the two princes, sons of King Mpande, both vying for the Zulu throne, met head-on in the battle of eNdondakusuka, leaving more than 20 000 dead in one day. It was a battle which, although internal to the Zulu people, was to see peripheral action by the likes of John Dunn, a white trading hunter. It was a day of death and mourning, and it was yet another episode in the unfolding story characterized by conflict and the celebration of conflict.

The arrival, in 1860, of indentured Indian labourers in Natal was to add more spice and curry to the character of KwaZulu-Natal. It was this arrival which, in later years, was to produce Mahatma Ghandi, Yusuf Dadoo and Monty Naicker, among others. This opportunity for a non-racial society had earlier shown its face when the likes of John Dunn, Francis Fynn and other earlier settlers from England, had begun with the journey to produce off-springs of mixed race - mainly Zulu and English.

However, despite the growing multi-cultural nature of our province, conflict, blood and death were to keep showing up being more empathic in December 1878, when the Ultimatum was served by the British colonial authorities on King Cetshwayo; and in 1879 when Zulu and English clashed at Nyezane, Isandlwana, Rorke's Drift, Hlobane, Nkambule and Ulundi. It was yet another year of conflict, blood and death. It was a year of the Anglo-Zulu War, which will be 130 years ago next year.

As the conflict of 1838 had done the conflict of 1879 - unresolved anywhere in dialogue, summit or conference - was to lead to brother turning against brother, friend against friend, community against community, as uSuthu and Mandlakazi sought the total elimination of one another between 1883 and 1888. It was a conflict that was to lead to the death of King Cetshwayo and the exile of his son, King Dinuzulu. Things were falling apart and history tells us of no conference, summit or seminar to remedy the situation.

King Dinuzulu's return from exile in 1897 was to be met with an annexed Zululand, a legislated and most oppressive Zulu Code of 1891 - aspects of which the Constitutional Court ruled against only last week. King Dinuzulu's return was to be met by the Boers and the English, both armed to teeth and seeking the total destruction of one another. It was a war right in his back yard, a war in which, because of his race, he could play no part, and a war whose consequences were to liquidate the King and his people.

With no land, no power and no authority, King Dinuzulu was to watch from the sidelines as one of the world’s most destructive inter-racial conflicts, the Anglo-Boer War, took place between 1899 and 1902. Societies all over the world rejoice at every entrance of a new century, because it brings hope and a sense of a controllable future.

But in South Africa, the beginning of the new century, the 20th century, was to be met with no joy as the whole society seemed to be teeming with a desire to eliminate and destroy human life. It was conflict that was to see Mahatma Ghandi playing a leading role as a stretcher bearer, doing so in a conflict whose protagonists would have wanted him to keep as much distance as possible, because of his race. But that was the character of Mahatma Ghandi always seeking to make peace, disregard racial connotations and save lives.

It was towards the end of this conflict that the Zulu army, led by Skhobobo Sibiya of Paulpietersburg, grandson of Sotobe kaMphangalala, who was once sent by King Shaka on a diplomatic mission to King George of the English, was to enter the fray and clash with the Boers at Haalkraantz, KwaMthashana, on 3 May 1902. Such an entrance, officially prohibited by race, signalled the end of the Anglo-Boer War. A treaty was signed in Vereeniging.

However, it was this massive war which bankrupted the Natal government, leading to the imposition of the hut tax, and the subsequent Bhambatha Rebellion of 1906. It was a case of conflict, blood and death leading to more conflict, blood and death – with no conference, summit or seminar to remedy the situation.

To complicate matters further, it was the 1899 to 1902 Anglo-Boer War, which was to lead to the formation of the Union of South Africa, in 1910. The Union, which was exclusively white, was, possibly, one of the most unjust ways of conflict resolution in the history of mankind. The formation of the Union itself was logically met with fierce resistance by those excluded from it.

And so delegation upon delegation, led by the likes of John Dube, Rev. W Rubusana and Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme, arrived many times in England, seeking the foundation of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic society in our land. And so it was not surprising that many of those left out in the cold in 1910, were to re-group and form the African National Congress in 1912, thus setting South Africa on a long road to the foundation of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic society.

And so the Land Act of 1913 and other pieces of legislation were to further polarise our society, leading to divisions, suspicions and deep-seated hatred of one another, in terms of race, sexual orientation and political ideology. A long-winded struggle for liberation, characterised first by petitions, then campaigns, and from 16 December 1961 an armed struggle, with the formation of the ANC's Umkhonto weSizwe, was to ensue, and characterise our identity.

The struggle for liberation was to be countered through violence, blood and death engineered by the apartheid state, further perpetuating conflict in our land. In fact, so severe was this counter-insurgence that many who fought for our liberation ended in jail, exile or cemeteries throughout the world. Home was no longer home, as home was destroyed by fear, subjugation, maiming and sub-humanization of any who sought freedom. We continued to be an angry people, angry with one another an anger characterized by race divisions.

In between the years of struggle, some detracting episodes - like the 1949 Indo-African conflict in Durban - continued to show up most possibly instigated by those seeking the disunity of the oppressed. And so, as we walked towards the closure of our oppression, then the inter-political organisation conflict started, which almost cut this province to pieces, more so between 1983 and 1994.

The dawn that came on 11 February 1990, with the release of Nelson Mandela from 27 years of imprisonment, was to lead to much optimism in the country. For the first time, all races, all people, all communities, all political organisations, were to spend the next three to five years acknowledging the conflicts of the past and seeking to construct a new South Africa, free of state-sponsored conflict, blood and death.

The first democratic elections, on 27 April 1994, ushered South Africa into the world of free nations. It introduced the first democratically elected government in the country and set all races, all people, all communities, families, political organisations and individuals on the long road to reconciliation, peace, development and the creation of a democratic society. There was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995 and there was the new Constitution, one of the best in the world, in 1996.

This day, 16 December, which used to be called the Day of Covenant, or the Day of the Vow or even Dingaan's Day under apartheid, used to be a day to celebrate conflict, division and hatred. Since the dawn of democracy, it is now called the Day of Reconciliation. This new name signals a need for our society to move away from the language and actions of conflict and of seeking the elimination of each other. It is a call by the democratic government, and the people of this land, that all should use this day and 364 subsequent others, reaching out, preaching reconciliation and building a new society. It was once a day that seeks to enforce apartheid hegemony, but it is now a day that recognizes the rainbow elements of our nationhood.

We are assembled today to deliberate on the meaning of this day under the theme: "One Province, One People, Different Cultures: Understanding the Past to achieve universal Reconciliation in KwaZulu-Natal - Today, Tomorrow, Forever." Reconciliation is a consequence of justice. It is part of the package that characterises the modern developmental society and developmental state - in which peace, democracy and development are intertwined.

We are assembled here in this province, once walked by the likes of General Louis Botha who released King Dinuzulu from prison in 1910; Bishop Colenso and his daughters, the great proponents of justice for all; Griqua leader Adam Kok III or Adam Kok the Third after whom Kokstad is named; Isaiah Shembe - the Prophet and peace maker, a founder of one of the biggest independent African churches; Alan Paton, the writer and politician who spent his life seeking the destruction of apartheid; Mary Stainbank, the artist and sculptor who painted Durban and gave it its artistic character; Mahatma Ghandi, John Dube, Albert Luthuli and scores of others who, at least from 1910, have lived and died searching for the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist democratic state and society.

We are assembled to take forward that which they fought for and to make the language of reconciliation a major part of our day-to-day discourse, activities and sub-conscious sense of self. The identity of KwaZulu-Natal is a multi-layered, multi-cultural identity. It is an identity whose complexity is contained in the story of the Zulu people and the story of the people of KwaZulu-Natal.

It is an identity once characterised by conflict, and now seeking reconciliation, having achieved peace and democracy. It is an identity characterised by a strong desire to be a leading player in development programmes and projects. It is an identity that is building the Moses Mabhida Stadium and getting ready to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It is an identity that is constructing the King Shaka International Airport and the Dube Tradeport to be used as instruments and symbols of growth and prosperity. It is an identity which sees more than 50% of provincial government departments being run by women head of departments (HODs).

It is an identity now at peace with itself - where in every family, irrespective of its race, children go to school, prayers are said, municipal rates and inflation are discussed, jobs, the economy, Matriculation results, school uniforms, and other common social issues are also discussed. It is an identity where every youth, irrespective of race, buys the same music CDs, watches the same movies, goes to the same shopping malls, logs on to the same websites, chats on face-book, has cell-phones and reads the same newspapers.

So what gives this identity any angle of division and suspicion? I move that it is the past. We have come to acknowledge this past and seek its management which must be in line with the South African dream of a non-racial, non-sexist democratic society.

Today we will hear messages and contributions to reconciliation. We will walk out informed about the past and how to manage and co-own it, in such a way that it helps us build a different future. We are assembled to launch a resolution where we seek the reconciliation of all. Government is looking at Stainbank Farm, in Yellowwood Park in Durban, with a view to, among others, turning it into some kind of centre for reconciliation and dialogue, which will promote the resolution of conflict through dialogue and the management of our past, be it at family, community, and society- wide levels.

Through our open deliberations today, we will seek to work together and support each other as we build this province. It is the Day of Reconciliation, where brother finds brother, sister finds sister, race finds race, as we all reach out to shake hands and make peace with a past which we cannot change in order to give way to a future which we stand to design and influence.

Thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
16 December 2008