Unity a powerful political force
I WANT to pay tribute to the volunteers of the Chatsworth Vernacular Institute (CVI) who keep the flame of community work burning.
Some 80 years ago, market gardeners contributed shillings and pennies to make CVI’s Bayview School a reality. That is the essence of the active citizenry that our National Development Plan speaks about. It is a powerful legacy that our generation must build upon. We too can meet the challenges of our time.
Unity in diversity is an inspiring but challenging construct. Even within ourselves we live with our own stereotypes. Yet we do have a sense of our identity in multiple ways: as South Africans, Indians and even a range of sub-ethnicities.
There is nothing wrong with this.
Of course, there are a few who would seek to challenge our right to an identity in this context. We must resist them. I find myself saying to young people what Steve Biko taught me: “I refuse to be inferior to anyone. But equally I claim no superiority. My religion teaches me that. What I will claim is my space and I urge you to claim yours.”
Our community, and especially the post-1994 generation, have excelled. We have this remarkable pool of skill.
We are somehow not marshalling that into a cohesive sociopolitical force. I don’t mean a party political force.
Why can’t our community have an organised and influential platform with the ability to impact on South African life in general?
That kind of platform must go back to the traditions of the Natal Indian Congress, which united the community across linguistic, faith and class lines. There are many intellectuals among us who can apply their minds to this idea and see what kind of traction it can receive.
We have an enormous contribution to make to our country and our continent. Our country faces serious challenges. We have survived the global financial crisis relatively better than most countries but our debt is still too high.
Our inequality gap is morally wrong and politically unsustainable. We need all our best minds and hands on deck.
A weekend paper asks for Pravin Gordhan to be investigated. Gordhan is one of the finest citizens our country has produced across all our communities.
He has a value system and a discipline that far exceeds the best among us. If he is guilty of any noncompliance, it would be in the interests of an enthusiastic attempt to catch the crooks.
Our unity is a precious thing. I am a proud member of the ANC. It was founded in 1912 on the principles of uniting the diverse African tribes, and went further to produce the Freedom Charter which proudly proclaimed, “South Africa belongs to all who live in it…”
Anything that threatens the unity of our society is a dangerous thing. President Mandela said: “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” His message is that each of our generations has our fair share of hills to climb. Let us not shirk that responsibility.
Edited version of the speech by the KZN MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works, Ravi Pillay, at the reunion of the Chatsworth Vernacular Institute.