The Struggle was led by both white and black intellectuals
Where are today’s, 30 years after the seminal Dakar conference?
ANIMOSITY between the ANC and the then-ruling Nationalist Party (NP) government started way before the ANC was outlawed. When the ANC was banned it was forced into exile to operate under clandestine conditions. But the oppressed and exploited black people had one advantage.
There were fellow white compatriots who were prepared to forsake their privileges of luxury for the sake of other South Africans who continued to be marginalised, with the Struggle waged from all fronts.
Among them were Bram Fischer, Lionel Forman, Max Gordon, Donald Woods, Michael Lapsley, Trevor Huddleston, Ruth First, Joe Slovo, Helen Joseph, Helen Suzman, Neil Aggett, and there were many more.
After the ANC and other political organisations were outlawed, repression led to a political lull. However, there would come an event that would shake the entire country – the 1976 Uprising – and later 1980 and 1984-1985. In the period 1984-1985 there was real ungovernability.
It was during and after the 1984-85 uprising that the pressure mounted on the NP government to negotiate with the ANC. The NP tried short-cuts and manipulative means but this did not work. It was giving an offer to Mandela to denounce violence in exchange for release and for staying in the Transkei. That was not the issue.
The issue was the release of all political prisoners, the lifting of the state of emergency, the unbanning of all political organisations and other pressing things. These were obstacles that had to go for the creation of an atmosphere conducive for negotiations.
This was too much for the intransigent and conservative master-race-mentality white-supremacist NP government. The NP government was still controlled and manipulated by the Broederbond, which made the life of Beyers Naudé miserable – this for challenging its ruthless, evil and unChristian actions, while claiming to be Christian.
The above illustrates how difficult it was to deal with the NP government, which practised apartheid, a system declared a “crime against humanity” by the UN. The people who opposed the system were tortured, imprisoned, killed and some disappeared.
Mentioning the ANC in those days was treason and meeting them was high risk. High risk was not only from the NP government, but from the Broederbond, which was dangerous.
But be that as it was, there came out black and white intellectuals, predominantly Afrikaners, who went to meet the ANC outside the country.
These academics and talented people took a double risk. On one hand, from the side of the ruthless and repressive NP government. On the other hand, from the ANC, which was perceived as a terrorist organisation even by the super-powers held in high esteem by many people. Therefore you cannot blame the partially-informed when they saw these people as risking much by going to meet the ANC as well.
These high-profile people went to talk to the ANC and broke the ice.
Delegates from inside the country: Dr Frederick van Zyl Slabbert, Max du Preez, Lawrence Schlemmer, Professor Hermann Giliomee, André du Toit, Jannie Gagiano, Manie van Rensburg, André Brink, Breyten Breytenbach, Jakes Gerwel, Jaap du Randt, Franklin Sonn, Randall van der Heever, Theuns Eloff, Beyers Naudé, Chris Louw, Revel Fox, Leon Louw, Adie Enthoven, Marina de Beer, Trudie de Ridder, Grethe Fox, Michael Savage, Braam Viljoen, Tommy Bedford, Andrew Savage, Dr Alex Boraine, Peter Gastrow, EK Moorcroft, Pierre Cronjé, Andre Odendaal, Prof Johan van der Westhuizen and Gerhard Erasmus.
There were also South Africans from outside (not the ANC delegation): Prof Heribert Adam, Theo Hanf, Baron Klaus von der Ropp and Hans Cristoph Buch.
Some risked their lives by crossing the floor while others challenged and exposed the ruthless NP regime.
That was the start of the democracy we are enjoying today.
Did we honour those contributors who passed on in a properly befitting manner? Do we know the whereabouts of those who are still alive, and their well-being?
The dimensions of this opposition were revealed in July 1987 by the Institute for a Democratic Alternative in South Africa (Idasa) led by Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, who defied the government by travelling to Dakar, Senegal, to meet ANC leaders.
The impact of this meeting among Afrikaner intellectuals was important in that it helped them to soften their negative perception of the ANC and to consider new approaches to solving South Africa’s political problems.
Our democracy culminated from the negotiations brokered by these people.
Then the role of white intellectuals was clear, but now the black intellectuals, who should be at the forefront in the present Struggle, seem to be reluctant.
The concern is that they want to remain on good terms with the ruling party, participating in ruling party factions, to an extent of glorifying a leader or a slate.
It is in this regard that few individual black intellectuals become victims of the ruling party, because they are “sold out” by those who love to appease the ruling party.
What about the founding fathers of intellectual thought and advocates of human rights and democracy, philosophers like Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau? These fellow human beings risked their lives by challenging the authoritative royal system during the darkest days of earlier centuries.
There is a lot of outcry from society about fundamental issues affecting them, and among the people they need addressing them are intellectuals. Black intellectuals, now is your turn! This year, July 9-12, marks the 30th anniversary of the Dakar conference that paved the way to the democracy we are having today.