Left of What’s RightBy Marlan Padayachee
Marlan Padayachee is a freelance journalist and a media communications strategist and he writes in his personal capacity. (marlan.padayachee@gmail.com)As we continue with our journey into the new South Africa, now entering its 15th year, maybe it’s time to take a gratitude stroll into our past.
While the new generation of South Africans may experience discomfort in grappling with the horrendous stories of life under apartheid and before that the equally divisive rule of colonialism, those who walked on the segregation road know and understand the pangs of discrimination.
Each country has its own history and its own story to tell to the world.
Through our eyes, South Africa is unique. Our story is poignant and painful. Our liberation struggle has been a hard-fought achievement in which no particular political bloc or individual can claim sole credit. It was a people’s monopoly.
Out of this centuries-old struggle for human dignity, social justice, political emancipation and economic opportunities emerged countless heroes and heroines. They ranged from King Shaka to Mahatma Gandhi. Albert Luthuli to Reverend Sigamoney. Nelson Mandela to Oliver Reginald Tambo. Walter Sisulu to Thabo Mbeki. Veliammah to Albertina Sisulu. Kesaveloo Goonam to Amina Cachalia. Winnie Mandela to Fatima Meer. Yusuf Dadoo to Monty Naicker. Robert Sobukwe to Alan Paton. Ruth First to Ela Gandhi. Joe Slovo to Alec Erwin.
What about the brave youths of Soweto who turned the apartheid state on its head on 16 June 1976? This sheer act of heroism fuelled a nation-wide schools protests and boycotts that not only galvanized the voteless millions, but put the apartheid oligarchy on its back foot.
We need to be grateful to the Soweto landmark, landscape and its people, hence it is time to take Youth Day seriously and reinvest in our youth who are ultimately tomorrow’s leaders.
So, any such list of the who’s who of the struggle era will be seamless.
While travelling through the United States last year, I was reminded about the story of David Patrick Columbia, who arrived in New York City as a super-optimist, dreaming of a top-notch job, but did a low-level assistant job. On a grey, damp Manhattan morning, he could have stayed in bed and moaned, but instead took to the streets on his “walk of thanks”, admiring a mother walking her baby , recognizing that the toddler’s smile made him happier, and watching a jet in the sky and marveling at the science of flying. Then he navigated the hustle and bustle from the “sizzling smells of the bistros to the eye-catching window displays”. Hours later, he was feeling thankful that he had relocated to the Big Apple. Today, he’s a successful media entrepreneur and still takes his gratitude strolls to stay focused on the bright side of life in New York.
The Greeks once said: “Swift Gratitude is Sweet”.
I am taking a gratitude stroll this week, firstly to all those political, social and sports activists who stood firm in their opposition to apartheid. Then there were those who fled the country and lived under harsh exile conditions abroad. Sam Ramsamy opened my door to London.Newspaper chiefs Peter Davis, now a Democratic Party city councilor, and the late editor Ian Wyllie, were liberal about sending me to work abroad. A face-to-face interaction with the ANC in the early 1980s was unthinkable, or even a tete-a-tete with Thabo Mbeki in Harare would have been unbelievable. These rare and enriching experiences were made possible by those who walked before me on freedom road.
Govin Reddy and Tessa Colvin, Jaya Appalraju and Dr Goonum, whom racists labeled as the “Coolie Doctor” and the ANC family in exile provided these opportunities and wonderful insights about how the new nation was being hammered and shaped far away from home.
By then Lenny Naidu and Krish Rabilal and countless comrades in the making were headed for the military camps across our borders to learn about the revolutionary tactics and strategies of Che Guevara, Mao Tse Tung and Das Kapital.
Chatsworth paid homage to Naidu on his 20th death anniversary; along with the eight other ANC Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres, who were ambushed by an apartheid army while re-entering South Africa to strike a blow against an unjust system.
Inside the country, MJ Naidoo and George Sewpershad and their Natal Indian Congress were keeping the home fires burning through campaigns aimed at preventing Indians and coloureds from subscribing to the proxy parliamentary representation of the House of Delegates in the tricameral parliament.
Significantly, Naidoo’s family will preserve his legacy through the newly-launched MJ Naidoo Foundation for Social Justice which made its public appearance at an inaugural debate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s UDW Campus, once the hotbed of resistance to the old guard government.
The foundation was established on 16 June last year as a tribute to the one-time NIC president, whose ideals of non-violence, racial equality, and peace have served to inspire generations of social activists. Naidoo died ten years ago on this defining day of political watershed, aged 67.
The foundation believes that these debates on the current challenges and opportunities for democracy in South Africa and the SADC region will serve as a platform to underline the significance of Youth Day and act as a catalyst to inspire people and organisations to promote social justice and contribute to the spirit of humanity in our changing society.
In the sands of time as the country grapples with its domestic challenges, we must not forget those who walked before us and sacrificed their lives, families and careers so that our children can breathe the fresh air of freedom and democracy.
Together with his legal colleague George Sewpershad, who was awarded the Order of Luthuli, posthumously, by President Mbeki, Naidoo and the Natal Indian Congress came to the aid of thousands of schoolchildren and parents who became embroiled in the 1976 student revolution against the teaching of Afrikaans as a medium.
This daring duo who specialised in assisting marginalised communities with pro deo legal work were part of the famous Consulate Six, who turned Margaret Thatcher’s Downing Street upside down when they occupied the British Consulate in Durban’s Field Street Barclays Building with four other resisters, including lawyer Archie Gumede, to highlight the socio-political conditions in South Africa and detentions without trial of anti-apartheid activists.
Naidoo, who lived in Merebank and continued, practising at his law firm in the Grey Street CBD, was born in Umkomaas. He followed his brother, Advocate MD Naidoo, into politics. MD Naidoo was also persecuted and imprisoned before fleeing to exile in London in the 1960s.
MJ Naidoo’s work epitomised moral and social justice, human dignity and fair play. In his life and career, he championed the human rights of the poor
In the final analysis of saluting heroes and heroines for their heroic and epic battles so that we can take a day off every Youth Day, lets sometimes take a gratitude stroll and remember these giants who walked on this planet.
Until next week, let me leave with these words of inspiration from Martin Luther King: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
ends
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