BY
MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI, MP
MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND PRESIDENT, INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
Durban: November, 22 2002
The Director of Programmes; His Majesty the
King of the Zulu Nation and members of the Zulu Royal family; Dr Albertina
Luthuli and members of the Luthuli family; His Excellency Deputy President
J.G. Zuma, Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa; amaKhosi
present; your Excellencies and members of the Diplomatic Corps; the
Honourable Dr LPHM Mtshali, Premier of the Province of KwaZulu Natal; Dr the
Honourable ME Tshabalala-Msimang, National Minister of Health; Dr the
Honourable NC Zuma, Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Hon Mr Reiner Schoeman,
Deputy Minister of Health; Dr the Honourable ZL Mkhize, provincial Minister
of Health; other Honourable Ministers present; His Worship the Mayor of
Durban Metro and other Mayors and Councillors; the Chancellor and
Vice-Chancellor of the University; Dr Mgojo and other religious leaders of
all faiths who are present; leaders of business; distinguished guests,
medical and surgical staff of the hospital.
We have gathered here today to celebrate a
momentous achievement for our Province and for the whole of South Africa.
The official opening of the Inkosi Albert Lutuli Central Hospital marks the
shift away from several old paradigms into the new paradigms of the future.
Most evident in such shift is the fact that this new hospital is fully
digitised and is indeed the first "paperless" hospital in Africa.
The quality of medical care is indeed increasingly reliant on the level of
technology with which it is equipped. The modern medical equipment of this
hospital places it at the forefront of quality health-care.
I have always advocated the need to leapfrog
from the past into the future by means of making substantial and courageous
investments in new technology. The fact that resources have been allocated
to high level technology in this hospital gives me confidence that there
begins to be recognition that we can do more and we can do better through
greater reliance on technology. Even when confronted with the need to
provide for a large number of people who are still in desperate need of
primary, secondary and tertiary health-care, reliance on advanced technology
can expedite service delivery.
This hospital also reflects the shift into
another paradigm which I have been advocating for several years, which is
that of privatisation, albeit in the political jargon it is referred to as a
public-private partnership. All non-core functions of this hospital have
been privatised, which is a step in the right direction. As we walk down
this road, I am sure that the realisation will increasingly develop that one
can also privatise the rendering of medical services in hospitals of this
nature without the hospital becoming any less of a government function and
responsibility. When I began talking about privatisation, people were not
attuned to this paradigm. But then they embraced it in the form of
public-private partnership. I hope that further progress will realise the
wisdom of identifying the role of government as that of a general contractor
and supervisor of the delivery of services such as medical care, rather than
being responsible for them directly. Therefore, I am pleased that the way
service delivery has been structured in this hospital is a major step
towards a new era in health-care delivered through the initiatives of our
Province.
However, in expressing my congratulatory
message on this memorable occasion, I cannot be oblivious to the fact that
this hospital carries the name of Inkosi Albert Lutuli, and that therefore
it is indeed also a monument to his memory. I feel compelled on an occasion
like this to say a few words to pay tribute to Inkosi Albert Lutuli, which
may provide a better understanding of the relevance I ascribe to the fact
that this hospital was named after him. In fact, Inkosi Albert Lutuli was
one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century whose legacy must
be better understood, especially by young people. He was a champion of
non-violence, self-help, self-reliance and human dignity. He forged the
African National Congress within these values, which were then unfortunately
abandoned when the armed struggle was chosen as a better option for the
liberation struggle.
Inkosi Lutuli was my foremost mentor and I
abided by his philosophy and teachings throughout my life, and throughout my
life I have benefitted from them because time and again they were proven
right. I have always felt that I was very privileged to spend as much time
as I did with him. Even when he was banned I used to go and visit him,
seeking his guidance to solve the many problems which developed in my
relationship with the Government of Pretoria. Giving full proof of what he
meant by self-help and self-reliance, whenever I asked for his advice on
matters of this nature, he never told me what to do, but he kept saying that
I had to decide by myself, following my heart and that he trusted my manhood
(ubudoda bakho).
He taught me to trust myself and he kept
advising me to stand my ground even if I were to find myself alone. He
encouraged me to stand up to Pretoria with the strength of somebody who knew
that he could stand before God with a clear conscience, and he gave me the
inspiration to be unafraid of standing alone against the political beliefs
of the time or the winds of political correctness. It was for me the
greatest of all the honours I have ever received to be asked by the Lutuli
family and the ANC to deliver the oration at his funeral, and to then be
asked by Dr Conco and the Lutuli Foundation to assist with the unveiling of
the tombstone and to deliver the main address on that occasion. I still
remember that it was the 23rd of July 1972 and in looking back on
the address that I gave on that occasion, I can see how much of what was
said then still applies to the challenges confronting South Africa. I wish
to quote from that speech what I said then:
"Whatever catastrophe overtakes
South Africa, whether it is now or in the distant future, South Africa
will not escape the harsh judgement that things will have reached a bad
pass because what Chief Lutuli stood for was ignored for the sake of
political expediency."
I also had the great honour of being asked by
Inkosi Lutuli’s widow, Mrs Nokukhanya Luthuli, to accompany her to Maseru
to receive the OAU posthumous award bestowed upon Inkosi Albert Lutuli. It
was handed over by the King of Lesotho, King Moshoeshoe II, and I had the
opportunity to pass the vote of thanks on that occasion on behalf of Mama
Luthuli. On that occasion, as I had done before, I highlighted how Inkosi
Lutuli abandoned a rewarding teaching position at a training college to
answer the call of serving his people as an Inkosi of Amakholwa Tribe of
Groutville, which meant choosing a life of penury. He was a highly educated
man who did not consider embracing the institution of traditional leadership
as a step down. He was not a hereditary Inkosi, but was chosen by his
people. His life experience should be studied by those who support the view
that amaKhosi have little to contribute to the development of the new South
Africa.
This Nobel Prize Laureate was proud to serve
his people as a traditional leader. When he was ordered by Pretoria to
consider whether he should not step down from his position as traditional
leader to avoid any conflict with his position as President of the ANC, he
indicated that such option was just not possible because he had been chosen
by the people and it was not for him to relinquish his position. He was
living proof that traditional leadership and modernity need not be a
contradiction in terms. He also played a major role in the life of our
nation and together with my late father, Inkosi Mathole Buthelezi, and other
amaKhosi of the Kingdom, they attended Imbizos which my late uncle, Prince
Mshiyeni ka Dinuzulu as Regent, called from time to time at KwaSokesimbone
Royal Residence.
After the apartheid regime banned him and
confined him to Groutville, I went to see him with Prince Gideon ka Mnyayiza,
and on a few occasions he and Mrs Luthuli visited me at KwaPhindangene. On
more than one occasion they were driven to my home by the late Dr Wilson
Zamindlela Conco and his wife, Mrs Shimi Conco. On those occasions, Dr Conco
would park his car in my garage and my car was parked outside, because there
were spies everywhere. Inkosi Lutuli and his spouse would rest during the
day and in the evening we would then sit up and talk politics.
It is therefore quite appropriate that I
present His Majesty the King today as even in those days, Inkosi Lutuli
asked me as the Traditional Prime Minister of the King's father, King
Bhekuzulu Cyprian ka Solomon, to arrange appointments for him with the King
so that he could stop at the King's Khethomthandayo Royal Residence to pay
his respects to the King. He was very close to the Royal House which
underscores how the Royal House and the Kingdom of KwaZulu have always been
part and parcel of our struggle for liberation.
In fact, it is no under-statement to say that
the struggle for liberation began within the fight of the Zulu Nation for
its survival and the struggle that the Zulu Kings and amaKhosi waged to
maintain the integrity of our Kingdom and to emancipate our people. Most of
our Kings suffered and paid the price to promote the liberation of their
people and to serve South Africa. King Cetshwayo was the first King who can
rightly be defined as a true South African. His regiments were defeated on
the plains of Ulundi on the 4th of July 1879 after fiercely
battling to preserve the integrity of our Kingdom. He travelled to England
for discussions with Queen Victoria in an effort to preserve the territorial
integrity of his Kingdom. We knew how unsatisfactory the settlement by Lord
Kimberley, the then Secretary for Colonies, was. Prior to going to England,
King Cetshwayo had been a prisoner at the Castle in Cape Town and later on
at the farm Oude Moulen. We knew of how he was attacked shortly after his
return to Ulundi, as a result of which he died as a fugitive in Eshowe. That
is why he was buried in Nkandla Forest. King Cetshwayo was a great African
patriot who sent money to King Sekhukhuni to assist him in his fight.
King Cetshwayo's son and heir, King Dinuzulu,
suffered as much as his illustrious father for the Zulu cause. We know that
he was exiled on the Island of St Helena where the King's grandfather, King
Solomon, and his brother Prince Mshiyeni were born. On his return from St
Helena King Dinuzulu was implicated in the Bambatha Rebellion in 1906 and
was convicted in Greytown for treason and sentenced to life imprisonment.
When his friend General Louis Botha became the first Prime Minister of South
Africa, he had him released from Newcastle and exiled to Uitkyk Farm in
Middleburg in the then Transvaal where he died in 1913.
His son, King Solomon, would have to carry
the legacy of unifying a people who had been artificially divided by those
who were determined to dismember the Zulu Kingdom, using the old and vicious
tactic of divide et impera. King Solomon was a very wise man and his
wisdom imbued the life of Inkosi Albert Lutuli as well as the lives of many
of those who followed him. His son, King Bhekuzulu Cyprian, suffered many
humiliations, the memory of which still bear very painfully in my heart To
this day I still have a vivid image of my having to restrain tears when I
often saw him having to respond to many orders he used to receive from
Pretoria, which he would accept with a sombre sense of dignity, knowing well
that albeit we had lost our power, we had maintained the greater moral
courage and the high moral ground over our oppressors.
King Bhekuzulu Cyprian ka Solomon was the
father of our present King, who is with us today. Our King carries the
legacy of our struggle for liberation. The struggle for liberation runs in
his veins. He carries the legacy of these great and heroic ascendants and
holds the hopes of all our people for a life which will finally liberate
them from the enslavement of poverty, malnutrition, unemployment and
ignorance for lack of education, knowledge and exposure. For this reason, as
we celebrate this important achievement in our struggle for liberation which
has been dedicated to the memory of Inkosi Albert Mvumbi Lutuli, it is
proper and fitting that our King addresses us and gives us his special
message on this very special occasion. Therefore, with these few words it is
a great honour for me, as the Traditional Prime Minister of the Zulu
Kingdom, to introduce His Majesty the King of the Zulu Nation and to invite
him to address us.
Bayede!
|