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Title: Blood & Sweat for Liberation (100 years of liberation struggle) Writer: Bhekani D.F.Thabede
Aim of the paper
To instil pride and patriotism to young South Africans who does not know how this freedom was achieved.
Objectives
To dispatch information on unsung heroes of the struggle.
To ensure our nation embrace the liberation heroes and take pride in their achievement which is our democratic South Africa.
Ensure that young South African understands that this freedom was obtained through blood and sweat.
Background
It is with great honour and pride to know and witness the ANC turning into a very old but functional machine after so many years of existence. Indeed some organisations have perished and some have been erased from the face of history but the ANC has withered the storms and stood the test of time. I am currently writing the book Blood and Sweat for Liberation with the assistance from National Heritage Council and the former liberation struggle heroes.
As a writer and member of the African National Congress I am proud but very concerned about the negligence we have when it come to our liberation. We seem to forget or not bother to instil the element of patriotism to our growing young children to know where we come from as we are here. We need to make our youth understand it’s not through miracles that today there is a democratic country called South Africa which is a model to even international world. We must understand why our organisation completed these years gracefully.
Our history our pride
Having served in the old South African Defence Force and the National Defence Force for eleven years has opened my eyes to too much that is not told but which is our history for liberation.
I have encountered and shared ration packs with the unsung heroes of the struggle for all those years. They have shared stories with me so interesting that sometimes I would go to my room, lock myself and wail, not understanding why these stories are not shared with the rest of the world.
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To my anger and confusion, stories about Afrikaners who defended apartheid is in thousands of publications like Unfamiliar warfare, Troepie, the silent wars and many others.
The white apartheid defenders made sure they document and distribute their information in libraries and wherever where their young one would encounter it. They made information available since information is the power-that is why Afrikaners appreciated the Defence Force of that time. That’s the reason when there were parades families would all be present to witness the proceedings, but now it’s the opposite people thinks the force is the government agency they have nothing to do with it.
My worry is more on the new generation of our people that do not know or care how this freedom was achieved, which is through blood and sweat.
The hundred years we are commemorating today did not come cheap and easy. Our young people do not take pride in that because nobody or nothing is there to show them the way.
Blood and sweat for liberation is just a small contribution to awakening our people on how some people sacrificed for the freedom and justice of this beloved country South Africa. The Mandelas, Sisulus, Hanis Luthulis and many others led the struggle but their names are always in our disposal in the name of streets, hospitals, universities, stadiums, conference centre and many other state properties named after them.
This has left a perception that the unsung heroes are less important because nothing is said of them. To be honest its one reason some of youth are joining Democratic Alliance as they say they are free to do what they like but the fact it’s because they don’t know what made them free to join what they want. The importance of freedom to them is all about a(DCAA) don’t care about anything nation.
The Blood and sweat for liberation is a compilation of individual life stories of our liberators where they share with us the trials and tribulations they went through while striving to get South Africa free from oppression of the white apartheid regime to be the non-racial, non- sexist and democratic country
Our liberation heroes in this book are divided as follows:
Those who are now involved in businesses-people who after coming back had a plan to start and get fully involved in growing our economy by contributing to businesses or owning them.
Those who are still involved in politics-those who came back and decided to actively participate in politics as councillors or leaders in their communities.
Those who re-joined the force and still serving-Those who were integrated into the Defence force or police and are still serving.
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Those who leaving their lives still struggling-could be heroes who are now involved in various unionist work, some are artists, some are languishing in prisons because of the acts they committed after coming back to the country.
Amongst our liberators we have people who were in Lusaka, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola and those who were in Soviet Union
There are also struggle heroes that never wet to exile but contributed a lot to the fight against the apartheid regime internally by supporting freedom fighter and otherwise.
It’s through the lack of information that we shall look at the following from our heroes:
Background that led to joining the struggle-becoming political aware.
Route to joining the armed struggle.
Reception at the foreign country.
Training, experiences, challenges and successes.
Reaction on hearing the news of disbanding the struggle
Expectation on the new south Africa-feeling of joining forces with the former enemy.
Current activities-did you feel you achieved what you fought for.
This is basic information that will give a young South African information on how much sacrifice was made to achieve what we are enjoying and calling our liberation.
This is the information that can contribute to the fight against the xenophobia that has engulfed our country.
With such information our young people will start embracing the liberation struggle heroes and also embrace and safe guard the freedom they are enjoying. They will value it and treasure it. This information will be compiled and published into a series of books with the future plans to translate it into all African languages.
While celebrating our 100 years let us not forget the people who bled and sweat for the democratic country we are enjoying today, these are the fruits of the years of commitment and sacrifice.
I thank you
ANC lives and ANC leads for the next 100 years