Let’s think of an alternative to statues
The timing of spending more than a million in an impoverished community is an antithesis and we should not dare undermine the intellectual ability of fellow citizens
The decolonisation project is not going to be an easy task, especially when done after 25 years of democracy.
Ours is a democracy that is characterised by unemployment, inequality and poverty.
These characteristics make it difficult for people to understand the decolonial agenda of building heritage sites, monuments and standardisation of geographic names.
Political parties, civil society structures and the government have a responsibility to educate the people about their heritage and history.
Perhaps we need to rethink and be creative about this process.
Instead of repeating all the things which were done by the colonisers such as building statues that do not succour our socioeconomic challenges, let us come up with an alternative to statues.
We can, for instance, build houses, health institutions, community halls, sport and recreation facilities, and name them after our heroes.
Unfortunately, whenever some people seek to contribute to transformative and developmental policy issues pertaining to tangible and intangible service delivery with the view of making constructive criticism, they are often labelled with derogatory terms, intimidated and humiliated.
Such an attitude is not in line with democratic values that as South Africans we all fought for and it cannot be correct for anyone for that matter to “arrogate to themselves the role of being determinants” in our country.
That in my view contradicts Steve Biko’s definition of democracy.
Biko defined democracy as a feedback session between those who develop policies and those who must accept or reject those policies.
I was stunned when I saw the tender advert for the bronze statues for struggle icons Victoria Mxenge and Steve Tshwete to be placed in Duncan Village.
Both were from Qonce. Without regionalising our icons, I asked myself what about Alcott Skhwenene “Skei” Gwentshe, a heroic figure of Duncan Village?
Well to be honest, his resting place during our time is embarrassing, to put it mildly.
The article “What BCM needs a heroes acre” (SD Jun 25) summed it up correctly and I agree with the writer, Vukile Potwana, fully.
Both the East London and Amathole museums have done a great job in assembling and archiving rich local history of both towns that make up Buffalo City Metro and these resident curators of history are easily accessible to the public and government agencies to assist with knowledge production.
It baffles one that such resources are not used to advance the transformation agenda of our towns that continue to preserve colonial era heritage landscape.
I remember when the same Duncan Village community opposed vehemently the unveiling of a memorial that in their view did not represent them and, subsequent to that, public hearings were held championed by National Heritage Council in 2008. It demonstrated the power of an organised society that fully understood its history and heritage.
We should applaud the Duncan Village community for rejecting a distortion of their history and heritage.
Another name that needs to be added to the list Pokwana mentioned is that of Catholic nun Sister Aiden, a casualty of political struggle who died at the hands of people she lived and sacrificed for in 1952.
Second I could not agree with him more on the idea of a heroes acre, something that Dr Rev Lulama Ntshingwa suggested to then BCM mayor Zukisa Faku on the occasion of the reburial of ANC members whose remains were repatriated from Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Uganda. That call fell on deaf ears.
The findings of the National Heritage Council public hearings on the defacing and vandalism of the Duncan Village memorial pointed to a lack of community consultations and engagements.
The plight of the Duncan Village community is known by all. Unemployment and squalor are glaring.
Biko said: “Though they kick us they also want to show us how we should react to their kick” and that is correct for there is no amount of intimidation or humiliation that is going to stop us from “speaking the truth before we die” as Prof Robert Sobukwe said.
At some point, the ANC government must stop intimidating and humiliating those who disagree and accept dissenting views so as to promote the battle of ideas.
BCM has a heritage of political resistance from the 18th century wars of land dispossession and political movement post formation of the ANC in 1912 and martyrdom of Biko.
So we have a backlog of memorialisation for “memory is a weapon” and it will be easy for us to transform our heritage landscape and that will foster social cohesion, restore our identity and contribute to the heritage tourism of our town.
The East London and Amathole museums are repositories of that well-researched knowledge. We are a nation with twisted priorities.
I remember that when the multicultural man statue was vandalised the Italian community in East London moved with speed in ensuring that it was fixed and they forced BCM to commit to securing it and that’s how other nations attach value to their own history and heritage.
We are yet to give concrete meaning to the legacy of luminaries like Nkosi Jan Tshatshu, the first traditional leader to receive formal education, Meshack Siphethwe Pellem, who is buried in Qonce, SEK Mqhayi, poet par excellence, and B ka T Tyamzashe, composer of choral works.
Who does not know our Happyboy Mgxaji, Mlungisi Griffiths and Victoria Mxenge, Clemens Kadallie and Donald Woods, to mention but a few intergenerational figures.
There is an exhibition at the Amathole Museum of almost all the heroes of the area, but for some strange reason those in power fake deafness and blindness.
Part of the decolonisation of our education directs us to infuse this history in our educational content.
So these programmes deny us an opportunity of paying respect to all those who sacrificed for us to be writing what we like without fear of being arrested, but to be just ostracised in the main stream is something we have become accustomed to.
When the Biko Foundation hosted Ngugi wa-thiong in Qonce sometime back, he said: “One of the problems of looking at Africa with an eye of an outsider is that you look at the state as a looting mechanism, not as a responsibility”. He further asked: “Have you ever heard of anybody robbing their own house?”.
This brings me to another issue of political patronage for it is evident that many tenders are given out to appease those who fund certain factions within the ruling party and those who did not make it in the council or any gravy train for that matter.
The moral and ethical leadership espoused by our forebears have no place in today’s body politic but self-aggrandising is the order of the day.
We cannot afford to financially outsmart and compete with the colonial-apartheid government that catered for the minority.
It had money to build statues that are not of significance to tangible service delivery.
Our people ought to be educated about the two types of service delivery that the government budgets for, namely tangible and intangible service delivery.
Tangible service delivery is about things we can see and touch, like buildings.
The department of public works & infrastructure and the department of transport are the main custodians.
Intangible services are social and economic in nature.
The departments which usually deal with them are responsible for sport, arts, security, education and health, among others.
Both these types of service delivery are important, but they require a creative and innovative government, and an active citizenry that is well conscientised at political, social and economic levels.
Perhaps, we need to invest in our social history research to understand and write our history correctly then have an inclusive heroes acre which will make us proud.
The continued snubbing of Qonce history is unfortunate and is likely to reverse political gains of both towns that have been merged into BCM.
As Prof Xolela Mangcu once said: “It is in our desire to preserve for our children the freedom we fought so hard to obtain. Too often those who have found freedom have become blasé about it and before they knew it, it was gone”.
So a people-centred municipality is obligated to consult its citizens on any development programmes.
Gone are the days when a government founded on democratic principles arrogated to itself the role of being a determinant.
So all community structures established through municipality prescripts must be used effectively to understand community development needs — “nothing for us without us”.