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Today's meeting holds the seed of something great for South Africa. I thank each of you for participating in this dialogue and for speaking so candidly about the position of the Afrikaner in 2009. You have enlightened me and also confirmed much of what I suspected to be true. I have always felt that there is a powerful force within the Afrikaner community that a democratic South Africa has failed to harness. After today, I am reassured that the passion, ingenuity, tenacity, vision and potential of the Afrikaner community is vital to South Africa's future.
The history of my relationship with the Afrikaner nation extends back to our forefathers. Let me highlight just a few moments among the many. When the British colonial powers attempted to subjugate and destroy the Zulu nation by imprisoning my maternal grandfather, King Dinuzulu, in Cape Town and St Helena, it was General Louis Botha who intervened to secure his release. When the armed struggle was birthed in response to apartheid, I met with Dr Beyers Naude and together Inkatha and the Christian Institute pursued black political reconciliation in an attempt to halt the impending bloodshed.
When I suffered rejection, criticism and vilification at the hands of the ANC-in-exile who sought to paint me as an apartheid collaborator, I still did not shy away from praying with Dr Piet Koornhof or sharing Christian fellowship with Dominee Willie Marais of the Dutch Reform Church. These relationships gave me strength in very difficult times. I am not a stranger to the Afrikaner way of life and way of thinking, for our friendship has been life-long and still remains.
Indeed, our history as South Africans is shared and binds us together as a nation. And we are, after all, not that different. The struggle for freedom, identity and recognition is a struggle the Afrikaner shares with the Zulu. Just as you fought for the preservation of your cultural identity, language and values as we negotiated a democratic settlement, I fought for the recognition of the Zulu Kingdom and Zulu monarchy. Let me tell you what I encountered.
The ANC entered a solemn agreement to pursue international mediation after the 1994 elections to address the Zulu question, but it has never lived up to its promise. It has promised since 1994 to protect the role, powers and functions of traditional leadership, which is an established form of societal organisation in black communities. But instead it has systematically emasculated traditional leaders, ignored their input, and airbrushed a traditional way of life right out of their picture of a centralised system of
governance where all the power is held at the top, by a few.
Just a couple of weeks ago President Motlanthe visited the Tshwane Municipal Chambers to address concerns raised by the National House of Traditional Leaders. His decision that talks should be held with traditional leaders soon after the elections is reminiscent of fifteen year old promises made before the 1994 elections. Right now there is legislation going through Parliament that dictates to the Zulu King who may and may not advise him, for how long and in what numbers. In this Bill, as in all other legislation on traditional
leadership, the position of Traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu Nation is completely omitted, as though it does not exist. Yet I was appointed to this position by King Cyprian kaBhekuzulu, which was confirmed by the present King Zwelethini, just as my paternal father was Traditional Prime Minister to King Dinuzulu and his father to the King before him.
I mention these things which may seem extraneous to today's discussion, because I know that in the midst of an election campaign, politicians are in the mood for courting and many promises are being made and pretty words are being spoken. But in government and in politics, actions speak louder than words. You are right to be concerned about your cultural identity, your language, values and traditions. There is a determined plan to centralise power within the ruling Party. There is a plan to homogenise South Africa and even rewrite our country's history. I feel it as a Zulu and you feel it as an Afrikaner. We need to keep fighting for our rightful stake in South Africa.
It is difficult to believe in the ruling Party's commitment to the rights enshrined in our Constitution when places like Freedom Park are erected. The Wall of Remembrance carries the names of those who fought in the war in Angola and South West Africa. But no names of Afrikaners can be found between the many of UmKhonto weSizwe. We cannot allow history to be rewritten to the benefit of one party. It pains me that I actually had to take the Minister of Education to court to remove an inaccurate and damaging reference to me in a history text book which is being used by matric students.
I am not afraid to acknowledge our past. Many of you will recall that during the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, I publicly apologised to the Afrikaner nation for the murder of Piet Retief by my ancestor, Dingane. I regret that our fathers and grandfathers fought on South Africa's soil. I regret that blood was shed, lives were lost and devastation wrought on our peoples. But I am not willing to deny it or hide it in an attempt to create a rainbow nation, which is really just a blurring of South Africans into one colour.
If I may speak bluntly; I am pleased that fifteen years into democracy Afrikaners have accepted the loss of their privileged position. I believe that an equitable, just and fair South Africa can only be built on the basis of all South Africans being equal; - in our courts, in our classrooms, in our labour market and in our politics. It worries me that our society is creating untouchables; people who enjoy unfair privilege and unjust gain without consequences. This is the message being sent by the NPA's alleged decision not to prosecute Mr Zuma. It is the message being sent by the early release of Mr
Shaik. It echoes in the candidacy of Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, and in countless other examples
South Africa has emerged from a turbulent history of racial discrimination and social injustice. We are fifteen years into democracy. The necessary goal of redressing the past and levelling the playing field has been vigorously pursued through Affirmative Action and Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment. But it worries me that Mr Zuma recently recommitted the ANC to Affirmative Action, when already the first generation of South Africans wholly educated under a new dispensation are entering the job market. We may not yet have reached our goal, but there must be a sunset clause to Affirmative Action that clearly defines the goalposts.
I have spoken about this on many occasions. In 2004 the IFP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Solidarity in which we rejected the implementation of Affirmative Action to the extent that it unfairly discriminates against any South African. We need to encourage good work ethic and the value of excellence among South Africans so that we can increase productivity, capture the competitive edge and escalate the pace of economic growth. But forcing experienced and skilled professionals out of their jobs, closing the door on highly educated graduates, and stirring up race-based resentment in the labour
market, is not the way to do it.
For ten years after 1994, I was the Minister of Home Affairs and I witnessed first-hand the bleeding of skilled South Africans from our country through emigration. Today, the emigration solution is quickly fading as the global economic downturn sees jobs being shed throughout the world and expats being forced to return home by the rising cost of living and the rapid decrease in living standards. I know that a million Whites have left South Africa and I welcome the return of their skills, their experience and their patriotism. I am not one of those who believe that South Africans who emigrate are not patriotic. There is in fact a deep love of country among whites and prominently so among
Afrikaners.
Hierdie is jou Vaderland. This is where your heart is and this is where we need your contribution. We need Afrikaners to put shoulder to the struggling wagon of South Africa and get it through the drift. I am deeply impressed by the spirit of the Afrikaner nation, which has shown the capacity to create the strongest defence force in Africa, to make atomic bombs, to transplant hearts and make petrol from coal. What could this same spirit not accomplish if pitted against today's challenges?
I believe the challenge to the Afrikaner is to set aside the emigration idea and to abandon apathy. Please, do not give in to being sidelined by the policies of the ruling Party. South Africa needs your contribution not just now at the ballot box, but every day, in every industry, at every level, in every debate.
We need you to proudly display the Afrikaner spirit, not in a show of defiant alienation, but in a show of excellence in leadership, acumen in business, integrity in action, generosity in teaching and unity in nation-building.
My legal training taught me the rule of audi alterem partem, a value that I subscribe to also as a Christian. The constructive dialogue we have engaged in today has allowed us to hear the other side and focus our thinking on a perspective of South Africa that is less commonly acknowledged. I appreciate that this Forum has not been used as a platform to air grievances and announce despair. The intention is for this to be the beginning of a new chapter in South Africa; one in which the powerful Afrikaner contribution can be made in partnership with people who see it, want it and value it.
I wish to reassure you that the ideas and concerns each of you have expressed on behalf of the Afrikaner community will be carried into the IFP's work at every level of governance. I am also determined to distribute copies of the decisions we have taken today to all political parties and to the media, so that the dialogue we have opened can be taken up as a national debate. On the strength of our friendship and long-standing ties, I am honoured to carry your message forward. I ask that you will support me as I do so.
I thank you.
PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI MP
PRESIDENT OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY |
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