(Photo courtesy of The Presidency)
SOUTH AFRICA WILL BE A GREAT COUNTRY WHERE THERE WILL BE EQUALIUTY AND PEACE FOR ALL
"Well, I definitely want a free South Africa, a truly-liberated South Africa in the fullest sense of the word. I want this for the workers, for the women, for the young people, the students, intellectuals - in other words for all the people of this country. I really want them to live in one, united country where there is justice, where there is equality, where there is fraternity, and where there is peace for everybody. This is the only way we will be able to ensure that the people of South Africa will be able to survive together and that together we will move forward. If this is done then this country will be a happy and great country."
INTRO: One of the
religious leaders who paid a heavy price for his involvement in the struggles
for a non-racial and democratic South Africa is Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, a
former leader of the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops Conference.
Researching through articles
and stories written while at The Daily News and the Press Trust of SA News
Agency between 1973 and January 1990, I came across an interview that I had
conducted with Father Mkhatshwa in 1987 at a time when the struggles against minority
domination and oppression was at its height.
Father Mkhatshwa, who
was 48-years-old at that time, was just released from detention after being
held for about a year during the State of Emergency introduced by the former
regime. Prior to this detention he had been banned, house-arrested and detained
by the South African authorities for three lengthy periods during June 1976 and
March 1984.
During his
year-long detention, Father Mkhatshwa filed an urgent application in the
Pretoria Supreme Court against the Minister of Law and Order and a number of
security policemen on allegations of torture at the hands of the security
police.
In his
application, he told the court that he had been interrogated and tortured for
more than 30 hours while he was stripped naked, blind-folded and had his hands,
hand-cuffed behind his back. Six of the security policemen, who Father
Mkhatshwa alleged were responsible for the torture, had paid an admission of
guilt fine of R200 and they had been absolved of the charges.
Father Mkhatshwa,
who was a patron of the non-racial United Democratic Front at the time in 1987,
was still recovering from his ordeal and in an interview with the Managing
Editor of the Press Trust of S.A. News Agency, Marimuthu Subramoney (aka Subry
Govender), the religious leader spoke about his torture at the hands of the
security police.
In view of the
regulations governing the State of Emergency his details about the torture could
not be published at that time.
Father Mkhatshwa,
who spoke to the Press Trust at his parish offices in the township of
Soshanguvo, to the north of Pretoria did, however, have some definite views
about the policy of detentions, the apartheid policies and white minority rule.
The following are
his answers to some of the crucial questions put to him:
Question 1 : What is it
like to be detained?
Mkhatshwa : First of all let me say that
detentions are very unpleasant and nasty. Although some of us, by the virtue of
being Catholic priests, are used to living alone should be able to cope with
the isolation in detention. But the isolation that is forced upon us is an
unpleasant experience. I mean I don't mind living alone in my home for months on
end without meeting anyone because if I get bored, I can simply jump into the
car and visit friends. But in detention the isolation is forced upon you by the
authorities.
Secondly the lack
of intellectual and mental stimulation is really killing. By being cut off from
reading books, newspapers, listening to the radio and watching television,
especially when you are used to these things, your whole intellectual world is
reduced to nil. The manner in which you are treated by young warders is also
something hard to cope with especially when these warders have an intellectual
capacity that is so low. They treat you like criminals. But dealing with these
warders has also had its positive sides. I can say that we have not entirely
failed in our attempts to re-educate some of these warders.
Question
2:
After being subjected to the torture you allege you suffered and the nasty
experiences at the hands of the authorities, are you still as determined as
ever to continue with the struggle for justice, liberty and freedom?
Mkhatshwa: Well certainly.
I don't think one has the choice of either opting out or staying in the
struggle. I think when one thinks that the system of apartheid is immoral,
completely diabolical and that it has to be changed to a better society for
everybody, then one cannot at one stage say that I have now done enough
struggling after one nasty experience.
I don't think we
have a choice in the matter. We just have to go on and if need be to change our
strategies in order to advance the struggles. While in the past we have been
able to reach the people through mass meetings and mass funerals, we now have
to change to other strategies because of the State of Emergency.
I'm not saying
what we should do but under the circumstances we just have to alter our
programme so that we can continue to reach the people.
Question
3:
The South African State President, P.W. Botha, has stated that he is out to
crush the opposition against his government. Do you think he will succeed?
Mkhatshwa: In the short term he may succeed in
crushing certain structures and eliminate certain people he considers to be
unsavoury. But I don't think in the long-term it will be physically possible
for him to do so. In the long term it will be just an illusion to think he can
crush, cripple and smash all the organisations.
Question
4:
What do you want for S. A. and do you think the black majority will achieve
this?
Question
5:
Are there any chances of a peaceful struggle in view of Botha's intransigence
and his refusal to talk to authentic organisations?
Mkhatshwa
:
Although I am a dyed-in-the wool
optimist, I really believe that this country is in big trouble simply because
the present regime quite frankly does not seem to be very serious you know
about trying to enter into genuine, authentic dialogue with the authentic
leadership in this country . Now if a dialogue is to succeed there are certain
preconditions that have been laid down by the representatives of the majority
of the people. Some of the conditions are that there should be normal political
activity — which means the unbanning of the people's organisations; allowing
the free and unconditional return of those people who were forced into exile.
It means that bodies like the UDF
would have to function normally, which is not the case at the moment. There
also has to be the unconditional release of Nelson MAndela and all other
political prisoners. It also means the lifting of the State of Emergency, the
withdrawal of the security forces from the black townships and the schools. At
the moment they are making our townships look almost like war zones or places
under siege.
If Botha were to do that and even if
he does not find solutions tomorrow morning, he would have definitely allowed a
very healthy process to get under way. Once that happens, he is going to
generate trust among the people who obviously are very critical of apartheid
and the present regime. They will begin to give him the benefit of doubt that
at least he really means something instead of just talking about reforms. They
will say that these are concrete efforts that he really means business.
He cannot be seen as saying that he
is involved in the process of dismantling apartheid but at the same time he
allows non-viable entities such as KwaNdebele to claim so-called independence.
This is a contradiction in terms.
We would expect him to put a stop to
the bantustanisation of this country if he expects us to take him seriously and
for the people to give him the co-operation he needs. But he must also accept
the fact that he no longer calls the tune and if he is serious about political
changes he must allow other voices to be aired and to prepare the programme.
Question:
How long do you think that the black people will be prepared to put up with the
repression?
Mkhatshwa:
Well I must say that although the black people have been repressed for so long they
have not been taking it supinely or they have been accepting their oppression
and doing nothing about it. They certainly have demonstrated their total
rejection of apartheid and their resistance to apartheid. But at the moment
they just don't have the muscle or the power to actually and effectively dismantle
the apartheid apparatus. But there is no doubt everyday all people - youths,
students, women, trade unions are expressing their dissatisfaction with
apartheid. One can only say that without working out a programme the days of
apartheid are numbered.
Question:
Don't you think the people in the bantustans and those in the coloured and
Indian communities are being obstacles to the struggle
?
Mkhatshwa: They
are certainly obstacles in the sense that instead of there being a united front
they are dissipating the energies of people, fragmenting resistance to
apartheid and they are also causing a lot of confusion among lots of people.
What is really frightening is what is going to happen when the real show-down
comes.
If things continue as
they are it is going to be difficult to avoid a real showdown. Another
frightening aspect is what role will the bantustan armies, police and so forth -
what role will they play - because I certainly don't expect them to be on the
side of the majority of the people? So, again, it means that there will be that
much more strife as long as they continue to support the programme of grand apartheid.
Question:
Could the bantustans be done away with in the envisaged new society?
Mkhatshwa:
Well as far as I am concerned there is no way you can dismantle apartheid
without at the same time dismantling all the undemocratic structures and
institutions that are imposed on the people. Bantustans are part of the
undemocratic structures.
Question:
Finally are you confident of the victory of the black majority in the country?
Mkhatshwa:
I don't think there is any doubt about that. I mean it is absolutely written in
the skies. I am confident of that as I am sitting here. The only question I
cannot answer is when that victory is going to come about — after how many
months or after how many years. I cannot predict that. But I can predict that
victory is absolutely certain.
Ends – Sept 7 1987 FROM: PRESS TRUST
OF SOUTH AFRICA
FOOTNOTE: After 1994
when we attained our freedom, Father Mkhatshwa held a number of prominent positions
in our new government until 2000. In 1994 he was elected to the National
Assembly and in 1996 became the Deputy Minister of Education, a post he held
until 1999. He was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in 1997. In
2000 he became the Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane. Born in 1939 in
Barberton, in Mpumalanga, he attended primary schools in Barberton and
Lydenburg. He matriculated from the Pax College in Polokwane.
He entered the
priesthood in June 1965 after his training at St Peter’s Seminary. He worked as
a priest in Witbank until 1970, when he was seconded to the church’s general
secretariat of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Pretoria.
In 1973, he went to study further at the University of Leuven in Belgium,
obtaining a Masters Degree in philosophy and theology. On his return to South
Africa, he became involved in the anti-apartheid struggle.
From 1976
repeated detentions were imposed on him. Initially he was detained for four
months. This was soon followed by a five-year ban, which expired in 1983. He
was again detained after two months and charged with subversion, incitement to
public violence and addressing an unlawful meeting. However, he was found
not guilty and released the following year.
He attended the establishment
of the United Democratic Front in Cape Town in 1983 and was nominated as a
patron. (Some info in Footnote courtesy of The Presidency) - Ends – January 31
2021
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