A portrait of the South African struggle

There is little doubt that the struggle of the people of this country is portrayed in the image of Nelson Mandela. The man is as close as one can get to a Saint, in my view. What I know of the reveals that he does good for good sake, for want of a better description.

Larger than life as this great man may be, the struggle of the people of this country is multi-faceted and happened at different levels, some likely and some not. He in various ways became the culmination of the work of a great many people including himself.

It is with this recollection that I applaud the piece written by Lizeka Mda in this past weekend's City Press, a largely black Sunday newspaper - black by readership that is. I do not wish to question the legacy of Nelson Mandela and his contribution to the struggle that resulted in me being able to write this post without fear of favour. What I do wish to question is the absence of any mention of a great number of South Africans who contributed to the same cause that see us being celebrated in Nelson Mandela, as a nation. It would be a sad day when the greatness of a man of Nelson Mandela standing is a consequence of the absence of celebration of other South Africans.

With perhaps the exception of Orania, most South African towns and cities boast a street named after Madiba and that is a good thing. The coming generations will do well to remember the price some of the South Africans had to pay for them to live under a constitutional democracy. There is a case to be made and, it is ably made by sis Lizeka that we need to look at other inspirational leaders who made different contributions to the liberation of our country. There are many such individuals and their contributions vary from modest to great and took many forms. There are those who spoke out albeit in measured tones and through academic writings and in court papers or in the conduct of their trades and professions. There are those who carried out acts of sabotage and those who fought the then South African Defence Force inside and outside of South Africa as it then was.

What is the legacy of Robert Sobukwe, Zeph Mothopeng and other PAC leaders of the '60s? Is it "one settler, one bullet"? Is it about driving the white South Africans out to sea? Is it about outright hatred for white people? The contributions of the leadership of organisations such as the PAC are just nowhere to be seen.

There are others whose contribution was evidenced in the arts, religion, education and sport. There are those who kept our youth from the streets and prison. Each community needs to celebrate their heroes, those who refused to be dehumanised by apartheid, who rose above it and achieved their goals inspite of it.

Our celebration of all others will not diminish the greatness of Nelson Mandela; I believe it will enhance it. I applaud Madiba for being part of the ceremony held at Wits university a while back, where the writings of Sobukwe were handed to the university by Sobukwe's old friend Benjamin Pogrund.

It is of course the duty of the members of the organisations that were led by the great men and women who are today absent from the story of our liberation, to sing their names and achievements. It is as much the duty of those who are charged with protecting our national heritage.

Most of all, it is the duty of each one of us to find out how we got here.