Keep the dialogue going towards reconciliation
IFP President, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has penned an open letter to the chairperson of the Democracy Development Programme, Dr Devi Rajab, in response to her column ‘The futility of race dialogues’ (POST, October 3-7).
IWRITE this letter as a long-standing friend. Knowing you as I do, I know you will not be offended by an open letter, rather than a personal one, particularly where the content is so vital to the national discourse.
My heart broke when I read your article, more so because I had the privilege of sitting next to you the week before at the first international social cohesion conference organised by the Democracy Development Programme (DDP).
The DDP, under your able leadership as chairperson of the board, partnered with the Durban University of Technology and Peace Oasis International to bring an important dialogue to the centre of Durban.
As one of our country’s leaders, who are committed to reconciliation and nation building, I appreciated the initiative to highlight Indo-African relations.
The work of reconciliation between black and Indian South Africans is far from complete. There are, as you rightly point out, still tensions that originate in the 1949 riots.
As you no doubt know, in the latter part of her life, the late Professor Fatima Meer wanted to establish an Indo-African Institute in Durban to take forward this work of reconciliation. Professor Meer asked me to head up that institute, knowing how much I had done during apartheid to bring different race groups together, notably through the Buthelezi Commission and the KwaZulu-Natal Indaba.
Sadly, she was already ailing at that point and the Institute was never established.
It’s an unfinished project that I keep reminding us of, in the hope that it will be resumed. Your article reminded me again of how much remains to be done to reconcile our people.
But the weight of the task should not deter us. It saddens me to hear you speak of a “dialogue of absurdity” and an exercise in futility; for no matter how frustrated we may feel at the length of time it is taking to heal this wound, we cannot stop applying the ointment of dialogue.
We cannot give up, even if the goal seems far away.
The 1949 attack on Indians in Durban was undeserved and left a blight on our shared history. I am by no means minimising the trauma when I say that it was an act committed by a minority of angry individuals. The majority of Zulu people were not behind it and would never have allowed it.
My cousin, King Cyprian, the father of the present King, and my uncle Prince Mshiyeni came down to Durban to indicate that nationally the Zulus did not approve of what these people had done. Appeals were made to prevent any further violence. Interventions were also made by leaders of the ANC who met with leaders of the Natal Indian Congress.
This is not the first time that the people of South Africa have wounded each other. There have been deep cuts to the psyche of our people, through war, oppression, racism and conflict. But even the deepest wounds can be healed.
I think of the Anglo-Zulu War and the lasting damage it brought on the Zulu nation, claiming countless lives and splitting our kingdom. Yet today there is no hatred between the Zulu and the British.
I have been a guest of the Royal Welsh Regiment in the UK where
I took the salute from the very regiment who came up against my great grandfather’s warriors.
The Prince of Wales and I have discussed laying wreaths at Isandlwana, side by side, honouring King Cetshwayo’s warriors and the regiments of
Her Majesty the
Queen. In his correspondence to me, he has urged me to look after the graves of those who lost their lives in the Anglo-Zulu
War.
These things are only possible because we believed them possible. Had we shut the door to reconciliation, because of the depth of the wound, healing would never have come.
Having experienced the capacity of people to forgive and reconcile, it is tragic to see anyone giving in to frustration. Undoubtedly, there is some deliberate stirring of the pot of racial hatred between black and Indian South Africans, for whatever nefarious political purpose. But we cannot allow it to tarnish our faith or hold us back from trying.
Those of us who care deeply about South Africa dare not sit back and do nothing. Even if the dialogue is riddled with minefields, it must be engaged.
We must start from the premise of our shared experience. I have always said it is fortunate that indentured labourers came to South Africa, for their struggle became part of South Africa’s struggle for liberation. When we honour the men and women who won our freedom, we must name Mr Yusuf Dadoo, Dr Monty Naicker, Ismail and Fatima Meer, Mr Debhi Singh and a host of others from the Indian community.
Why do so few South Africans know about Valliamma Munusamy Moodliyar?
Let us honour our own, in a step towards reconciliation. We can only tell the real story and the right story when we keep talking.