Chris Hani, Former Secretary-General of the South African Communist Party
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A tribute to Isithwalandwe Chris Hani
Among the many qualities for which Chris Hani has been honoured with Isithwalandwe was his faith in the masses. For without the people, the real makers of history, there can be no history, writes Tokyo Sexwale.
To know how to die. He knew how to die. A good death, like the death of a seed as observed in natural science. This happens when in its wake follows the birth of something new, something positive.
Comrade Chris Hani's death a decade and a half ago was a severe blow to our entire revolutionary movement and to our liberation alliance. It was, and still is, an unforgettably painful experience particularly to his young daughters and to his life partner, Limpho Hani.
Comrade Commissar, as a parent, was spared the agony of knowing that his second daughter Nomakhwezi, who suffered the nightmare of witnessing her father's brutal and bloody assassination, was herself later in life gang-raped, attempted suicide and finally succumbed to her own childhood disease of asthma. Any parent ought to be spared such terrible tidings.
Although Comrade Chief-of-Staff's passing shielded him from all this, it regrettably also denied him from experiencing the magnificent consequences of his demise: that is, the crescendo, the final revolutionary push to victory - all unleashed by the manner of his death on that fateful April morning. It was a date of fate.
For, by the evening of that painful day, the entire political landscape of our country had been completely transformed. South Africa would never again be the same.
Different detachments of our armed units - formal and informal - were literally ready to kill or die for and with him on that day. Various formations of our people's organisations were massing and mobilising, swelling to take over the streets and any other space to put a final halt to all activities and machinations of the apartheid state and its various organs.
Progressive South Africans from all walks of life bolstered the call by the ANC-led liberation alliance for an elections date to be set - the first ever democratic elections date in South Africa. Progressive mankind the world over stood by this demand. Yes indeed, Chris knew how to die.
At that time, at the Codesa settlement negotiations table, the enemy blinked and caved in. The ANC became de facto leader of the country with Nelson Mandela - who calmed the waters and demonstrated statesmanship and decisiveness - assuming the role of de facto leader of the republic.
The rest is history - the world in our country, and our country in the world, changed for good.
Indeed, Comrade Chris the nationalist, Comrade Chris the communist, Comrade Chris the democrat, the freedom fighter, the scholar, the theoretician and the practitioner, knew how to die - a worthwhile death, which breathed newness into the lives of many others.
His life experience is littered with examples to be emulated. In each step that he took, there are lessons to be learnt from the legacy of this humble giant.
It is true that different leaders bequeath different legacies. Some leave hope for their people, others hopelessness and divisions. Chris, most definitely, left us with a legacy of hope and unity.
It should also not be forgotten that he was a true nationalist in as much as he was an internationalist. For no-one can participate in international struggles unless you come from a particular nation. The roots of his internationalism are located within the spirit of his progressive nationalism.
It should also be remembered that Chris was a democrat in as much as he was a communist. This was not contradictory, as some may want us to believe. He was a community leader in as much as he was a working class hero, for no-one can understand their class unless they understand the society from whence they come. As one of the leaders of the national liberation movement, he understood which class of people are at the bottom-most rung of the socio-economic ladder.
All this made Chris romantic, dynamic and yet so real. As an unapologetic communist, and as General Secretary of the SACP, he had the unique ability in applying the science of dialectics, to understand and differentiate the positions occupied in society by non-communists and anti-communists. He was disdainful of those who could not differentiate these.
He always stressed that a good communist was one who not only understood the difference, but also spent time to win over and not to antagonise non-communists, in as much as he spent time to educate or neutralise anti-communists.
Again, it should be stressed that this is what made him a good and well-rounded progressive nationalist - a good and solid leader of the ANC-led liberation alliance.
In a recent tribute, Pallo Jordan summed it up well when he said that of all the qualities attributed to Chris Hani, he had one in great abundance, and that is the element of courage. If we can only learn this from him, we shall never fail.
We have learnt from him and many other leaders of his calibre that the challenge of our times is to have the courage of our convictions. He taught that wrong must not be allowed to prevail in the presence of good people.
Indeed it was about time, and unavoidable, that the ANC leadership took the bold decision to bestow upon him the highest honour, Isithwalandwe.
The Isithwalandwe award bestowed on Chris is also a tribute to the courage of the thousands of men and women, young and old, black and white, who fought before him, alongside him and after him so that we can all be free.
The Isithwalandwe is, above all, a tribute to the masses - the very people who really make history. Moses Kotane, when asked on his sickbed about the essence of a social revolution, quietly answered and put it simply: "Batho. Revolution ke batho."
For without the people, the real makers of history, there can be no history. Quite often, there is a tendency to attempt to rewrite history, an attempt to leave the masses as mere footnotes, as passive onlookers to their own struggles. This is erroneous. Such tendencies have seen the downfall of so many revolutions. Our watch word in this respect must be vigilance -particularly when it comes to telling the story of what was happening in South Africa at the time of Chris Hani's assassination.
We must disabuse ourselves of the tendency to elevate the Codesa negotiations process as though it was the very heart of our struggle. It was not. In the crucible of our struggle stood men and women who formed and joined the ANC, who manned the barricades, who engaged in peasant revolts, who mobilised the working people, conscientious objectors who refused to fight in the apartheid army, who organised rolling mass action countrywide, who formed the United Democratic Front - in a word, those who fought in the many theatres of struggle.
In the fires of our struggle, we saw the Young Lions swelling the ranks of Umkhonto we Sizwe and paying the ultimate price with their lives for us to be free. We can never forget the Umkhonto we Sizwe of Chris Hani. Umkhonto we Sizwe cannot and must not be forgotten or downgraded. A homage to Chris is also a homage to those who bore arms in the fighting army he once fought in.
At the same time, it is important that Codesa is seen in context: it was the venue where the enemy was compelled to make the necessary preparations for the handing over of power. It was the scene where our negotiating team, bolstered by the struggle of our people through rolling mass action, defence units and preparedness to fight on, could make the enemy reach a final settlement.
It was not the scene of our surrender, for our struggle was never negotiable. It was a struggle for a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and free South Africa. Clearly, at Codesa, the enemy was to-ing and fro-ing - threatening to reduce the process to a charade of delaying tactics.
Triggered by the brutal assassination of Chris Hani, our people, and the world, demanded a stop to these delaying tactics and won the immediate announcement of an election date.
As a result, the demand for the date for an election was also a non-negotiable issue. It was a demand that had to be met, immediately - and indeed, the people were victorious. Consequently, a year later - again, in April - victory was attained when all South Africans came out to register their votes in record numbers.
April was not just about the death of Chris, it was about the birth of a new nation. April, in another part of the world, much earlier in history, belonged to the thesis of the Bolsheviks, in a glorious revolution that lost its way after 70 years.
After all, history teaches us that the struggle of any people is not merely about words, words, words, theories and theses. It is about improving the quality of life of the common person. Indeed, it is about enabling people to enjoy a better life. That is the challenge of our democratic developmental state.
It is important not to ignore this lesson of history - for it is the most vital of all. Let us learn from history, and live by the example of people of the calibre of Chris Hani, so that ours does not end up being a mere short-lived thesis but rather the concrete reality of a better life for all.
Every April 27, every Freedom Day, we owe to our heroes and heroines. The April of Solomon Mahlangu, the April of Oliver Tambo, the April of Chris Hani holds a special place in the hearts of all who fought for freedom, and for all who live in a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and free South Africa.
TOKYO SEXWALE is a member of the ANC National Executive Committee. In March 2008 the NEC took an unanimous decision to award Chris Hani Isithwalandwe Seaparankoe, the highest honour of the movement.
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