ADDRESS BY
MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI, MP, MINISTER
OF HOME AFFAIRS
PRESIDENT, INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE OF TRADITIONAL LEADERS
(KWAZULU NATAL) AND UNDUNANZULU KAZULU
Ulundi : September 6, 2002
I am delighted to come home to Ulundi to address a gathering of such
talented and inspiring young people. I wish to thank the Chief Executive
Officer of the Department of Education of our Province for extending an
invitation to me. Today, I am truly seeing my vision translated into
reality. It is wonderful to see that the Government of KwaZulu Natal remains
as committed to education as it has always been. I believe this Province is
the champion of education. In the years to come, we will see the fruit of
every effort we have made to empower our children to become capable leaders,
businessmen, conservationists, entrepreneurs, agriculturalists and skilled
artisans, etc. Indeed, I trust that if our commitment continues, a
generation of educated young people is going to carry this Province forward
to stability, prosperity and peace.
When I am here in Ulundi, I cannot help remembering all the things that I
did as Head of the erstwhile KwaZulu Government and the long road to the
revival of our culture I have walked in my life. I remember that it was in
the early 70's that we launched the Bureau for Zulu Language and Culture at
the Eshowe Museum. I remember that I sat up until late the previous night
with the former Director-General, Professor OEHM Nxumalo, who as I drafted
each page of my address for the following day, would type it for me. Those
were the days when we had no computers, only typewriters.
It was necessary to rehabilitate our psyche which was damaged when we
were vanquished through war. At the same time as our psyche was being
trampled by the conquerors, which damaged our culture and our norms as a
people, something else happened to us as a people. The good thing that
happened in the 19th century was the introduction of the
Christian Gospel to our people. Today most of us are Christians because we
accepted the good news of our salvation which the first missionaries brought
to the Kingdom of KwaZulu. One of the Lord's servants who brought the gospel
amongst the Zulu people was Bishop John Colenso who was given the name of
Sobantu by the Zulu people. I always say that he was sent by God to the Zulu
people at the right time. He became not only a good shepherd which he was as
a Bishop, but he suffered and was finally declared a heretic, even by the
Church because of his commitment to the Zulu cause when British forces were
sent to the Kingdom to destroy the Zulu Nation.
One representative of the Zulu empire, Sir Bartle Frere, stated openly
that "Zulu power must be broken once and for all." In all the
sufferings, my maternal great-grandfather, King Cetshwayo, became Bishop
Colenso's best friend and champion. His two daughters carried on his work even after the
Bishop had passed away. I mention Bishop Colenso for I do believe that the
reason why our people did not become anti-white during that time of
conquest, was because the Bishop and his family demonstrated through
everything they did for the Zulu cause, that not all whites were bad people.
However, the real point I wanted to make is
that while proselytising our people to become Christians was in fact a good
thing, it also came with a price as far as our culture was concerned. All
our cultural norms were condemned by most missionaries as pagan habits and
our people were encouraged to discard our culture. Bishop Colenso was in
many ways not the same as other missionaries as he never condemned all our
cultural norms and customs as things that one had to discard if one became a
Christian.
In 1970 when I became the Head of a KwaZulu
Government structure, I felt that I could not succeed in re-uniting and
re-building the Zulu Nation after it was dismembered after the Anglo-Zulu
war, unless I restored its pride. That was the reason why we launched the
Bureau for the Zulu Language and Culture. When we were doing our primary and
post primary education, we were not supposed to speak Zulu to each other
during school hours. The motive for doing so was to make us proficient in
English which we were then just learning to read, write and speak. There
were other students who were appointed as "monitors" who used to
"mark" us, as it was put. You could actually be punished if you
slipped up and spoke in Zulu. The motive for doing this was not bad because
unless you speak a language you cannot say you really know a language. But
you can see that for us as children it seemed as if speaking Zulu was
frowned upon.
Then let me tell you another experience which
I had in 1954. In 1953, I was installed as Inkosi of the Buthelezi Clan
which was done with the authority of Pretoria. I had been expelled from Fort
Hare University, because I was involved in incidents surrounding a visit to
the University of the then Governor-General of South Africa. Because of that
involvement, I was rusticated from the University, together with two of my
close friends, Mr Rosette Ndziba and Lengolo. Pretoria then decided that I
should only be appointed as Acting Inkosi because of my rustication, even
though my position as Inkosi was hereditary. But in spite of that, my
paternal uncle, who had been Regent, decided in July 1954 to instal me
according to custom. I was taken to the cattle byre with all the regiments
of my people and my family. Before this ceremony took place some of my
Indunas in Johannesburg prepared some traditional attire and other
accoutrements which I wore on that day. Just because I wore my traditional
garb, some members of my congregation at St Mary's Church where I worship,
confronted my rector and priest, Canon Peter Biyela. They felt that I should
be ex-communicated as they could not take communion with me after I had been
taken through that traditional installation ceremony wearing traditional
dress. Canon Biyela happened to be a well-educated theologian, with a
Licentiate in Theology and he dismissed these complaints.
That very year, in my capacity as the
Traditional Prime Minister, I had to handle preparations for the unveiling
of King Shaka's monument at KwaDukuza. The King, the late King Bhekuzulu
Nyangayezizwe Cyprian, the father of the present King, gave me orders to
take charge of announcements and other arrangements. I announced among other
things that on the first day of the unveiling of the monument there would be
a religious ceremony, and on the second day we must all wear our traditional
dress. Even the King, who did not have such traditional accoutrements, asked
me to get him these. I then asked my Indunas in Johannesburg to prepare them
for the King, which they did. There were others who attacked me for
suggesting that they could go 'naked', as they put it in Zulu. I am just
telling you these stories for you to understand what I mean when I say that
some of the missionaries made us ashamed of our traditional dress. I even
remember as a young boy at KwaDlamahlahla, where I grew up, that on one
occasion my cousins, the daughters of King Solomon, my maternal uncle, wore
a traditional Zulu necklace, and the priest's wife took them to task for
wearing "Amagcagcane" which were described as "pagan
necklaces."
So you can understand the background against
which I had to launch the Bureau of Zulu Language and Culture which preceded
the Heritage Foundation which today is Amafa AkwaZulu Natal, which I also
founded to rehabilitate the psyche of my people. I did so because we could
not stand up as one Nation after the conquests, and the brain-washing by
some in our churches, which made our people not proud of their culture.
I can see in more recent writings, things
that vindicate what I have tried to do to make the Zulu people proud of
their culture. In a book which was written in 1993 by the well-known Kenyan
author, Ngugi wa Thiong'o - entitled Moving the Centre (The struggle for
cultural freedoms) he states in the very preface:
"First is the assumption that for a
full comprehension of the dynamics, dimensions and workings of a
society, any society, the cultural aspects cannot be seen in total
isolation from the economic and political ones. The quantity and quality
of wealth in a community, the manner of its organisation from production
to the sharing out, affect and are affected by the way in which power is
organised and distributed. These in turn affect and are affected by the
values of that society as embodied and expressed in the culture of that
society. The wealth and power and self-image of a community are
inseparable."
The other assumption is the changing
character of societies. Nothing, not even culture, in a society can be
said to have arrived at the best of all possible worlds. But since
culture, while being a product of development of that society is also a
repository of all the values that have been evolved by the different
strata in that society over time, in the sense that it holds a given
society together, it is more conservative than the economy and political
life of the society which changes relatively more rapidly. Culture gives
that society its self-image as it sorts itself out in the economic and
political fields. It therefore tends to appear as both neutral (equally
expressive of all and accessible to all) and unchanging, a stable
resting place for all its members. Hence the talk of 'our values' by
different societies."
It was clear to me that our own values had
been drowned in the various ways as I described earlier. If we seek culture,
values and education at their best, we need look no further than the
Ubuntu-Botho Provincial Cultural Competition. Today, I encourage each of you
to immerse yourselves in this experience. I know that there are feelings of
nervous excitement about your performance here today, but I trust that you
will also experience the camaraderie, sense of unity and celebration which
is present among us. The expression of our culture is an important part of
who we are. The hymns and the dances we enjoy today form part of a cultural
heritage which spans generations. Many Zulu men and women sang these words
several generations before you. Today, your voices echo a history which is
alive and thriving. Through the Ingoma and Indlamu, the courageous spirit of
our people rises time and again.
There is a spirit of excellence present here
today that makes me proud to be a Zulu. As you may know, I learnt about our
people’s cultural history at my mother’s knee. My mother, Princess
Constance Magogo ka Dinuzulu taught me not only the facts about my people,
but imparted an unshakable sense of dignity in knowing that I am born into a
mighty nation. My mother pointed out the strong character traits of the Zulu
nation, how we live in unity, make decisions by collegial wisdom and face
challenges with a wealth of experience. Our past experience is important as
an indicator of how we ought to move forward. Knowing our people’s history
is an important tool for any young man or woman seeking to fulfil their own
potential. Any nation that does not have its own values cannot even get
grounded in the values that we come across within other cultures with which
we interact every day.
I believe that each of you here today has a
great deal of potential. Your talent, commitment and determination have
brought you to this stage in the Provincial Cultural Competition. You have
made the decision to practice diligently. You have made the decision to
honour your culture. You have made the decision to embrace your heritage.
These are all good decisions. Indeed, if you are committed to fulfilling
your potential in all areas of life, it is essential that you consistently
make the right life decisions. The subject Ubuntu-Botho was taught by us
specifically to assist our youth in this regard. Vocational skills training,
good citizenship, respectable values, proper conduct, patriotism, cultural
appreciation and social responsibility, are important stepping stones
towards achieving a fullness of life in which you are bound to fulfil your
greatest potential.
It is essential that a strong foundation of
right values and principles be laid in every young person’s life. In order
to achieve this aim, our schools and our teachers play a vital role. Yet in
the end, it is up to individual young men and women to decide whether they
are open to learning and being taught, or whether ignorance will ensure that
they never rise to their full potential. Education, education and more
education is the key to conquering one’s future. This truth applies
equally to a nation as it does to an individual. If we are to match the
rapid pace of global transformation, we must learn all there is to know
about the world around us. The foundation on which we build in the first
place is our own world. We must make education our highest priority. It is a
well-known principle in education that we move from the known to the
unknown.
I believe this is a challenge particularly
appealing to young people. Time and again I have witnessed the energy and
enthusiasm of young South Africans. I know that you are ready to change the
world. Such idealism is an important resource for any country. When a nation
becomes resigned to adverse circumstances and a poor quality of life, there
is little which can motivate a revolution. More often than not, it is young
people who are the revolutionaries. It is young people with the courage and
will to change their circumstances.
I challenge you today not to allow your
dreams to be circumscribed by your circumstances. Whoever has the boldness
to dare to change their circumstances will discover that the only real
limits to what they can achieve are self-imposed.
I have lived my entire life with the vision
of always becoming more and better than I already am. My standards of
personal excellence are not only a result of my character, but have been
shaped by my knowledge of who I am. I am a Zulu and I am proud of my
heritage. I take great pleasure in seeing our culture and values expressed
through young people such as yourselves. Being proud of being a Zulu does
not mean that I am not at the same time proud of being an African. It also
does not mean that I am not proud of being a South African of Zulu
extraction. There was a time when the previous regime tried to make Zulus
out of Zulus, as I used to put it, when they abused our ethnicity to create
barriers between us and our brothers and sisters of other ethnic groups in
this country. But I have never been ashamed of saying that I am a Zulu, for
that is a matter of history which I cannot change. The burden of this is
worse in my case because the blood of the man "Zulu " himself
courses through my veins. I remember that in 1994, I was attacked in the
National Parliament for some of the statements I used to make in trying to
promote our people who were divided, by saying that they should be proud of
their "Zuluness." I am quite unrepentant, for I was not suggesting
that we should embark on the kind of exclusiveness that the previous regime
tried to foist on black people and on all the people of South Africa.
Your participation in this Provincial
Cultural Competition is an expression of your identity as young Zulu men and
women. Seeing your enthusiasm, I am assured that our nation’s rich culture
will flourish far into our future and that, collectively, we will maintain
our identity as strong and proud protagonists within our own country. The
spirit of the Zulu nation is alive within each of us. The strength of Kings
and Amakhosi is our heritage. I believe that the knowledge of where we have
come from will give us the courage to conquer what is to come. One great
philosopher said that to know where you are going, you have to know where
you come from.
There is a great deal of change happening in
our world. Technological progress has opened doors which my own generation
would never have thought possible. Information is now readily available to
anyone with the inclination to look for it. Boundaries are disappearing and
distances are closing in what we call the global village. Today it is quite
simple to instantly communicate with people all the way across the world,
people who are different to ourselves, who have had different life
experiences, who have a different perspective and different answers to the
challenges confronting all of us. Today, mass media is able to bring the
realities of people far away from us right into our classrooms. It has also
taken our own reality and brought it into the homes of people living in more
developed countries, through television images, Internet websites and global
communication. These are tremendous changes, and they are shaping a new
world in which we will find ourselves having to operate. The question is,
how will we react to such change?
I wish to challenge every young person here
today to embrace change and to allow it to permeate your world. Open your
minds to the world outside and do not fear what is still unfamiliar. If you
are willing to look every unfamiliar thing in the eye and learn about it,
change will never succeed in alienating you. Education is not just something
received in the classroom. It ought to be pursued constantly, in every
situation, throughout our lives. I cannot over-emphasise how important it is
that we educate ourselves beyond our immediate horizons. Every older person
has the potential to teach you something new simply because of their life
experience. I encourage you to respect your teachers, for they are trained
specifically to equip you with knowledge and skill. But don’t let that
stop you from taking the time to listen to your elders and to learn from a
variety of sources. The world may be changing quickly, but there remain
basic values that must be learnt if one is to navigate a successful path in
life. I am never ashamed to repeat that when I returned to Mahlabathini
after completing my degree at the age of 22 years and working in Durban for
only a year, I learnt even more than I learnt at University from the elders
of my clan and from my family.
One of the most important lessons is learning
to accept who you are. Each of you here today has been blessed to be born
into a cultural system which embraces young people and esteems discipline,
responsibility and cohesion. These may not be the most popular words in a
young person’s vocabulary, but I know there will come a time in every life
where you will be pleased to have learnt these things. Discipline teaches
one where the boundaries lie and bestows a sense of security. Responsibility
acknowledges that one has a role to play and imparts a sense of belonging.
Cohesion reminds us that our actions have consequences for other people.
This means that our own success uplifts everyone around us. If we accept to
acquire greater skills, we raise the standard for our peers. If we choose to
fulfil our potential, we blaze a trail for others to follow. If we choose to
become good citizens, we are contributing to a monumental shift towards a
better South Africa.
For years I have called for a revolution of
goodwill. I have done so in the full knowledge that a better South Africa
depends on an ever-increasing number of people of goodwill taking
responsibility and determining the direction of change. It is said that
every country, every community and every person is moving at all times,
either towards becoming better or towards becoming worse. In every society,
there is an underlying battle for the hearts and minds of individual people.
A stable and prosperous country demands good citizens who understand their
rights and responsibilities. Civic education is essential to ensure that we
move towards becoming better every day. I feel it is important that we
nurture those aspects of our Zulu cultural tradition that equip us to become
good citizens in respect of our government and our society.
Since our history began to be recorded it has
been noted that Zulus are born into regiments. This social structure is an
important element in the formative growth of children into adults.
Originally these regiments were military in nature, preparing our young
people to be warriors. But even girls had regiment formations, even if they
did not go to battle. For instance, some of you have heard of women of the 'Ingcugce'
maidens' regiment. My own mother formed these regiments of young women in
various age groups, when she was a maiden herself. I remember that there
were some old leaders who were proud of belonging to a regiment that my
mother formed "Izinsingizi". I think even today we need to
maintain a structure of regiments, which will, unlike in the past, be
focused on new challenges that we face in our communities. These would
concentrate on preparing young people for the challenges of life.
In a sense, the battle lines have shifted. We
are no longer pitted man against man, fighting each other. Our present day
battle is played out in the fight against poor social conditions, a lack of
education, poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS and unemployment. The subject of
Ubuntu-Botho aims to equip young people to win this fight. Over the years I
have watched the Ubuntu-Botho competition grow as the enthusiasm of students
across KwaZulu Natal generated a tremendous wave of participation. I believe
the young people of our Province have truly made this competition their own.
Its success has proven to me that young South Africans have a fire of
patriotism burning within them that cannot be extinguished by difficult
circumstances. Indeed, I have often seen that difficult circumstances stoke
the flames of determination and courage. Since this competition started in
1991, I have proudly watched young Zulus become immersed in their cultural
heritage. I have watched young people grow more confident as they become
secure in their cultural identity. I have watched responsibility, goodwill
and patriotism develop within our youth.
When I was the Chief Minister of the
erstwhile KwaZulu Government, there was a great deal of propaganda against
teaching Ubuntu-Botho in our schools. Those who did not understand the value
of what we were doing, or feared the strength we gathered from our unity,
called Ubuntu-Botho "indoctrination". Yet I persevered. Having
introduced this subject into KwaZulu’s schools, I was determined that the
benefit would be felt by each successive generation. I know that a cultural
heritage can only be a blessing when it is carried over to the next
generation. I wanted our young people to grow up with a solid foundation in
good values and good citizenship, so that they could teach the next
generation how to improve their circumstances. People shape their world
through their actions and attitude. If we want better communities, we need
better individuals. If we want better circumstances, we need good people who
know how to usher in change.
As you know, I am of the Christian faith. I
believe the Word of God. In Proverbs 22 verse 6 it says "Train up a
child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from
it". I believe that when a young person receives a good education, a
mature adult is being formed. If we lay a good foundation among our youth,
we may rest assured that tomorrow’s consumers, tomorrow’s workers and
tomorrow’s leaders will be responsible and equipped to face the challenges
of our future. When you are my age, I believe you will look back on moments
such as this and recognise that your education has shaped you into who you
are. I do hope that your education still comprises Ubuntu-Botho. I trust
that whatever you learn today, you will teach tomorrow. The notion of older
people teaching the younger ones is a valuable part of our Zulu culture,
both for boys and girls. For instance, the reason why many Zulu parents of
my age get lost when they are implored by some of our country's luminaries
through advertisements on TV and the print media to talk to their children
about sex, is because this was a function performed by older girls to
younger girls in Zulu society. It was always a senior girl in charge of a
group formation of girls younger than herself - "Iqhikiza."
During the initial years of having introduced
Ubuntu-Botho into our schools, I held fast to my belief that education
brings liberation. Without the facts, one is ill-equipped to make good
decisions. At that time, many people were destroying schools under the
banner of "Liberation first, education later". However, I knew
that knowledge and skills would give us the leverage we needed to change our
circumstances and I rallied our communities to work together to build
schools, secure teachers and educate our children. Today, I still believe
that education brings liberation. Knowledge opens opportunities. Skill
enables one to use them.
It is for this reason that I established the
first technical college in KwaZulu Natal. Through the years, the Mangosuthu
Technikon has provided hundreds of thousands of young people with broader
horizons and a better chance of fulfilling their own potential.
Ubuntu-Botho has lost none of its value in
the third millennium. In fact, it has become more important than ever
before. There are tremendous challenges facing our country, our communities
and our young people. If we are to see a change for the better, we must
equip the protagonists of change to know the direction, the pace and the
purpose with which we must move. I believe that Ubuntu-Botho is teaching our
young people how to become the future leaders of progress, development and
prosperity. By teaching good citizenship, we are securing a stable and
functional society for our future. This generation will take us far if it is
willing to commit to education, education and education. Learn all there is
to be learnt, and know that there is still much more. Teach each other.
Learn from each other. In everything, challenge old paradigms and be open to
change.
I would have no fears for our new generation
if we did embrace some of our old values and norms. The commitment I have
witnessed today to our culture, our history and our traditions assures me
that you are firmly grounded, wisely guided and open to positive change.
Still, I challenge you to remember that every moment of every day you are
moving towards becoming either better or worse, depending on how you are
spending your time. I believe that this generation has the will to make the
right decisions. If you truly wish to fulfil your potential, you cannot
compromise on decision-making. The decisions to act responsibly as far as
HIV/AIDS is concerned, to avoid harmful addictions, to engage in positive
activities, to respect your elders and to educate yourself as far as
possible, are decisions which will dramatically improve your quality of
life.
What you are doing today, speaks of what you
will become tomorrow. The events we are witnessing here in Ulundi at the
Provincial Cultural Competition tell me that you are becoming talented,
confident young people. Never, ever be ashamed of our old Zulu values, or
old Sotho values, or old Xhosa values, etc. if you belong to those ethnic
groups. We defeated apartheid and ideological ethnic walls which the
previous regime tried to build between us to keep us in bondage. There is
talk now of our African Renaissance. These are the times when all our
cultural values should blossom to equip us to fight even the scourge of
HIV/AIDS. I encourage you to maintain this course, for the sake of our
country and our nation’s future. I wish you all every success in today’s
competition. May your efforts be recognised and applauded during this
wonderful experience.
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