The truth must be told, irrespective of the circumstances – even if telling it kills.
This is the view of Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, contained in his keynote address at the 15th Steve Biko Annual Institutional Public Lecture, held at the Nelson Mandela University on Friday evening.
The lecture was presented by the university in collaboration with the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) under the theme: Power and Activism for Total Liberation and Justice in South Africa.
It was held at the auditorium of the Business School, at the Second Avenue Campus, and hosted by the Centre for the Advancement of Non-racialism and Democracy.
Dr Ongama Mtimka of the Department of History and Political Studies at the university was one of the two facilitators, alongside Nosiphiwo Manona, Secretary for Publicity and Information at Azapo.
Dr Adelaide Karamo from the Transformation Office of the university was the Respondent.
Hard truths
Sikhakhane, SC, is founding chairperson of the Pan-African Bar Association of South Africa, and was, in his trademark delivery, scathing in telling the truth.
Kicking off his speech, Sikhakhane said: this week, I was reading a novel. I finished it two days ago. And this novel is called… it’s written by an Egyptian author … It’s called The Republic of False Truths. It’s written by Alaa al-Aswany, who warns us about a state where truth has become blasphemy. Although we know that truth is treason in empires of flies, we must tell the truth until it kills us. We have no choice. One American poet called [Emerson], he implores us to select truth as a companion, and he says as a quote, “God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take whichever one you please; you can never have both.”
“Truth we must tell, no matter what circumstances. … even if telling it kills, we must tell it. It is the telling of uncomfortable truths that killed [Steve Biko]. It is the courage to speak what’s unspoken that killed him. And when he took his last breath, he offered us his spirit of courage. We owe it to each of ourselves. We owe it to the black majority that lives on the margins of the human condition to speak it. We owe it to Biko, the black prophet, the intellectual church… the lover of black life. We owe it to [Anton] Lembede. We owe it to Solomon Mahlangu. We owe it to Chris [Hani] and we owe it to everybody who did what we are in this whole space doing: dying for the truth. We owe it to a [Sabelo] Ncwana, we owe it to Ian [Dlamini]. We owe it to all the heroes. Most importantly, we owe it to God and our children that we have spent years since 1994 betraying.”
Sikhakhane acknowledged Executive Dean Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo – another speaker of hard truths, who was in attendance.
Earlier in the day, Sikhakhane said he’d travelled to Ginsberg to be at Biko’s graveside: “I joined Biko and we spent time. It was a warmly, manly embrace this morning, it’s indescribable. Professor Nhlapo, the example of leadership, was there. And the people of King William’s Town, all of the country, people were there at the graveside of this black prophet of free minds.”
World’s best Constitution?
He had no kind words for the trajectory the country was on: “South Africa is not for sale. South Africans are not for sale. Our land is not for sale. The future for our children is not for sale. Our people are not for sale. Our continent is not for sale. Our parents are not for sale. My friends, Biko provided us with a social genetic explanation of this human condition that we lived in for years, and the black condition in particular. He alerted us of the need to assert our full humanity.”
He decried our so-called best Constitution: “If you want to know whether the Constitution is the best constitution in the world, as we say, go ask the person who will sleep without food tonight.”
