Don’t let the fire of freedom die out; do your bit
Thirty-one years ago today, a historic day dawned on the southernmost country on the Mother Continent, and almost all of Africa was free. The people of the Saharawi are still waiting for their moment, lest we forget.
But on this day in 1994, the people of the south woke up to Day 1 of a future of great promise, pregnant with hope, so much so that no one dared doubt when a great son of the soil declared two weeks later that “Never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again witness the oppression of one by another.” The rays of freedom had indeed fallen on a land that had known no peace for what seemed an eternity.
It was a near-miracle that left much of the world in awe, and well wishes rained like a monsoon to nourish a dream that might have long died were it not for the resilience of a people who refused to lose hope and wither in the long winter of despair that was colonialism and apartheid
The flames have dimmed somewhat; the fire has lost its glow. What have we done? Why are we letting the forces of darkness douse the fire that promised to bring warmth to all?.
While 31 years ago we woke up to a day of unrestrained joy and promise, it may seem all lost to some today. We beg to differ. The flame may be flickering unconvincingly today but its embers, are alive. We dare not let that die, too.
It would have been foolhardy to think that enemies of this cherished freedom who fought so hard to keep the African shackled would overnight turn into people of virtue, all too glad to marvel and cheer as Africa lived its dream.
Of course, we had among us, as time and hindsight has shown, wolves in sheep skins who feasted merrily from within, undetected. The corruption that set in and spread like a cancer helped the forces of darkness dim our light.
Yet all is not lost. The embers still crackle.
What is required of us is to borrow from the counsel of a great leader of a people across the pond, “Ask not what your country can do for you…”
There are also lessons to be gleaned from the dark forces that seek to put Africa’s fire out for good. Maybe we need a left-wing equivalent of AfriForum – an obvious enemy of progress – to fight for the cause of the Africans in our land.
Instead of the never-ending establishment of political parties, maybe we need civic bodies that fight tooth and nail at no provocation to advance and protect the interests of the African, and unapologetically so. Political parties have done their bit, but they have their limitations precisely because of the game they play, politics – some may say politricks.
They may have provided leadership in the noble fight that left in its wake slain dragons called apartheid and colonialism, but party politics has not exactly delivered where it matters – the economic liberation of the African on a grand scale.
It is why we are calling for the reawakening in our communities today of active citizenship of the kind that felled apartheid. Let’s reclaim our streets, our neighbourhoods, our towns, our cities, and keep the fire burning.
Let’s not let “the sun set on so glorious a human achievement”, as the father of the nation declared on his inauguration day on May 10, 1994.
