Praying for peace and SA’s fallen Struggle heroes

VARIOUS religious groups yesterday converged to pray for peace and those who lost their lives during the liberation Struggle. The event, the Interfaith Prayer for Peace and Victims of Hate Crimes ceremony, was held at Freedom Park as part of the commemoration of the Day of Reconciliation.

Participants converged in the early hours of the morning at Isivivane, the spiritual resting place of those who played a part in the freedom Struggle.

Sangoma Conrad Tsiane said they were the first people to be invited after the site was opened. He said when he grew up Reconciliation Day used to be called Dingaan’s Day. However, now they knew it as the day where they came together to say there was no reason to fight.

“Next time it will be even bigger, because we need each other. After freedom was attained we reconciled with our sisters and brothers and foreigners,” he said.

Muslims, Christians, Rastafarians, Bahá í Faith adherents and Buddhists were also at the ceremony, which started around 5am.

Freedom Park researcher Kgomotso Lekalakala Phillips said as different people though they were, they all were the same, and all believed in God, even though there were different mediators.

Poet and writer Professor Mongane Serote said for the past 10 years, the country was being deliberately and consciously destroyed.

Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said: “Like many African countries, South Africa emerged from an oppressive, divisive and colonial system, which created a fragmented society. Recently, we have seen that much remains to be done to build non-racialism in particular.”

He urged everyone across all racial groups to come together and challenge racism, patriarchy and gender-based violence, and to advance non-racialism, non-sexism and human solidarity in the name of reconciliation.

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