A change is gonna come. It has to come

“I am an African”. These words, uttered by Thabo Mbeki, are part of a speech give before the UN, a speech that is regarded as one of the most iconic of all time, up there with those given by Haile Selassie, Martine Luther King. Jr, Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln. It was a speech that defined the man, and despite whatever pitfalls he experienced later in life, he will forever be remembered for his brilliant oration before the UN General Assembly.

I too, am an African. Although many African leaders would regard me as a European who has no right to be on this continent, I am a fifth generation South African, and I have just as much right as anybody to be here. This continent is my home. I am a son of the African earth. I have no desire to leave this place, but if I ever do, this country and continent will always be the place where I belong.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Steve Biko. There were segments of society that said that, as whites were responsible for his death, we had no right to commemorate this day. What a load of crap. Whites weren’t responsible. An apartheid hit squad was responsible. I wasn’t even alive when he dies, so how can I be blamed for this tragedy? Steve Biko, Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu were South African, as am I. I have just as much right as anybody born on this country’s soil to celebrate their lives and mourn their deaths. They belong to every single one of us.

Nelson Mandela, in his closing argument during his treason trial, said- “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.

The phrase I’d like you to notice here is “I have fought against white domination AND I have fought against black domination.” Therefore, when some idiot minister says that he doesn’t care who replaces Willie Hofmeyer as head of the NPA, as long as they are black, not only are they being openly and vehemently racist, they are also abandoning the ideals of their party’s- and our country’s- greatest leader.

South Africa is a young democracy that faces everyday struggles to overcome the vast difficulties of the past. The only way that we will survive and flourish is if we all stick together and tackle our problems head-on. United we stand divided we fall and all that jazz. Of course there are problems and injustices. But if we continue to make every issue a race issue, make every argument a case of “us against them” we will never move forward as a society and the problems caused by apartheid will never be erased.