BECOMING ACTIVE CITIZENS OF HOPE
IT IS a privilege for me to give this lecture in the memory of my friend and fellow activist, Russel Botman. But I also want to honour Beryl van der Scholtz-Botman, who walked with Russel throughout their time together, an educational activist in her own right.
A result of their activism is the Russel Botman Bursary Fund, launched in October 2013 on Russel’s 60th birthday as an effort to invest in young people and their education. Most of us come from a brutalised background that deeply dehumanised us as citizens of this country.
How do we move from brutalised people to citizens of hope? How do we move from a system that constantly categorised us to a place where there is a home for all of us?
Russel Botman was, first of all, an activist, as he was shaped as a minister and theologian at the University of the Western Cape. This I believe, deeply influenced his work as a church leader. He was appointed at this faculty as a public theologian in 2000, and the Beyers Naude Centre for Public Theology was founded as his idea and initiative, which is now appropriately also the keeper of the Russel Botman archives.
His activism and his theology of hope also served as a foundation for his tenure as vice-rector of teaching and later as the rector and vicechancellor of this university.
He was born in Heidedal, Bloemfontein, one year after the ANC’s 1952 Defiance Campaign, and completed his high school (1967-71) in Kliptown, Joburg.
As a high school student he was at the forefront in founding the drama and debate society at Kliptown High School together with Yasheen Bhayat. They were both good public speakers.
In a way, the Libertas choir that is performing here tonight was one way to bring the daughter of the farmworker and the daughter of the farmer together.
We sang each other’s songs, but it was also a statement against the brutality of the political system, in the same spirit and initiative as the women who took part in the historical march in 1952 against the dehumanising dompas system.
We had a commitment to each other, to break down the categories that divide and dehumanise us through culture and song, to set us free. I would argue that Russel has left a legacy of hope behind, not only as theologian and pedagogue, but also as a lover and promoter of the arts.
Where I am standing now, and flowing from Russel’s legacy of hope, these are some of the questions I would ask at the moment: What does a deepening of equality mean for people in the arts?
How do we repair people’s dignity through theatre? How do we deepen the transformation of our society through the arts? How can we be activists for hope?
The Artscape Theatre Centre has a vision to be the world’s leading centre of performing arts and creative excellence. Our passion is to be an inclusive space for all people from every corner of our province irrespective of race, creed and religion.
This inclusive space is also about providing our expertise to every genre within the arts sector.
We will continue through our education and outreach programme to bring about discussion and reflection towards building a socially cohesive nation. Our aim is to bring people together with a singular goal: creating shared and safe spaces for people to come together.
We have reached a point where we as a nation need to embark on a journey from brutalisation to hope – hope that has to be put into action, not only to heal the wounds of the past, but to achieve social justice. We need to become active citizens of hope.
This is Le Roux’s address at Stellenbosch University’s annual memorial lecture in honour of it’s late vice chancellor, Russel Botman.