OUR conversation switches suddenly from the 350th anniversary commemoration of the Castle of Good Hope to a tiny island off the coast of the west African state of Senegal.
We’re sitting in the office of Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Kebby Maphatsoe, on the 14th floor of the parliamentary precinct in the centre of Cape Town. Google says we’re more than 10 000km from the island of Gorée, which from the 15th to the 19th centuries was the largest slave trading centre on the African coast.
Here’s the part that strikes a chord with Maphatsoe: today Gorée serves as a reminder of human exploitation and as a sanctuary for reconciliation.
He believes there are parallels between the island and the Castle.
This is why he’d like to see Cape Town’s most enduring landmark become a place of pilgrimage for South Africans from all walks of life, from all political persuasions and from all parts of the country.
“We want people to say: ‘Let’s go to Cape Town not only for the beaches, but also for the Castle, so that we can see and learn about where our king or chief was jailed’.”
Maphatsoe has been in the defence and military veterans portfolio since May 26, 2014, but today he’s acting like a new broom.
Central to the commemoration of the Castle’s 350th anniversary will be the unveiling by President Jacob Zuma of statues of four indigenous fighters against Dutch and British colonialism: a Goringhaiqua chief named Doman, the Zulu king, Cetshwayo, the Pedi king, Sekhukhune, and Langalibalele, the king of the Hlubi people.
“We decided on honouring these four great South African leaders because we believe that not (much)effort has been made to tell about how they struggled against great odds to protect the independence of their people,” Maphatsoe says.
Each of the leaders being commemorated demonstrated incredibly innovative leadership in their struggles against Dutch, Boer and British colonialists.
Doman launched his war against the Dutch in rainy weather, having quickly worked out that the matchlock guns of the enemy would not fire in wet weather; Cetshwayo’s Zulu army armed mainly with stabbing spears shocked Imperial Britain by inflicting a stunning defeat over its Redcoats at Isandlwana; Sekhukhune defeated Boers and British in a succession of battles while Langalibalele also repulsed attacks by colonial forces in the then Natal.
In the end, they were all eventually defeated by the superior weaponry of their opponents. “We want the history of these leaders to be told and disseminated.”
However, he does not see these narratives being written in the same way the apartheid government, and even a succession of white administrations before 1948, recorded history – by writing out the contribution of black people in the story of our country.
“We acknowledge that the original plan of the Dutch was to use the southern tip of the continent as a halfway station, a place to stop, rest and to stock up with fresh meat, fruit and vegetables before continuing their journey to the east, or back to Europe.
“But we also know that the Castle was used as a fort, as a prison for indigenous leaders, and as a place where black people were tortured and killed from the time of the early colonialists, right up to the brutal era of the apartheid regime.
“It is important for people to know what happened between the Castle’s walls. We want it to become a centre of learning, healing and memory.
“I would like to see communities, which have always seen it as a place from where their subjugation was plotted and implemented, to come to it to seek healing and closure, if that is what they want.
“At present, only the Khoikhoi have taken up this invitation.”
Maphatsoe understands the process he wants to champion may take time.
But there have been hopeful signs, he says. “Groups from the Northern Cape, the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga have visited.
“Moreover, when the king of the Venda people learnt that we were going to honour the kings of the past, he contacted us to say he wanted to become involved, so that he could pay his respects to the Pedi king, Sekhukhune.
“These were eye-openers for the new groups of visitors to the Castle. There is so much of South African history that they did not know. The 350th anniversary commemoration of the Castle will widen their knowledge even further.
“What they are beginning to realise is that the Castle is the genesis of our freedom.”
“It takes us on a long journey from oppression to freedom.”
Maphatsoe says it symbolises where South Africans from all walks of life, from those who were oppressed to those who oppressed them, have come from. More especially, it tells those who believe in a South Africa in which everyone enjoys equal rights and opportunities the road that needs to be travelled to get there.
“To get to this point, we need to correct the historical bias of our history.
“When President Zuma unveils the statues of our heroes on Friday, we believe it will be another step on our journey towards national reconciliation and nation-building.”