FREEDOM Day reminds me of the many things we South Africans had to go through to enjoy our freedom in peace, security and comfort.
I remember the Struggle against disenfranchisement and subjugation, waged by the largely black majority guided by their quest for dignity in the land of their forefathers.
It was a struggle for the right to live, a struggle for the right to choose where you could live and the right to determine the type of schools you wanted your children to go to.
I remember the fear in the eyes of 10-year-olds when they encountered a police officer or saw them in their Casspirs and hippos, ready to unleash their death machinery. They looked for trouble and where they did not find it, manufactured it to justify their brutality against an unarmed people.
I remember when white people did not march against the killing of many young South Africans in the 1980s. I was there. I remember that white people in South Africa did not join white people in Europe to call for a stay of execution when Andrew Zongo, a 19-year-old freedom fighter, was condemned to death.
They did not join in when the UN, the world and the ANC, under president Oliver Tambo, called for South Africa to respect international law and afford freedom fighters prisoner of war status. They did not march when the regime simply ignored international laws which bound South Africa.
I also remember when black women’s reproductive capability was messed up when the regime decided on family-planning methods that killed their hope of ever being able to conceive and enjoy the wonderful experience of motherhood.
I remember when safe houses and camps were bombarded by the apartheid regime, while sovereign states were raided and their citizens killed mercilessly - and progressive people of the world, black and white, marched to South African embassies to voice their displeasure at the racist regime’s presence and their governments’ support for or passive engagement with the racist regime.
I remember when the lion of Tshiawelo, Petrus Linda Jabane, fought until his last bullet when cornered in a house in Soweto. I remember the gallant battles of Ashley Kriel, Robert McBride, Fatty Booi, Charles Ndaba and many other young South African freedom fighters.
I am lucky to have lived to remember, but even luckier that I have lived to see freedom. My brother, Sdima Dlodlo, was not lucky enough to live to see the fruits of what he fought for because the killing machines ended his life in Swaziland in 1988.
Tambo was not lucky enough when his life ended three days before he could vote for the freedom that took a toll on his health. Chris Hani’s life was cut short, too, before he could cast his vote in a country he fought so hard to liberate.
Steve Biko did not live long enough to instil in every black child the spirit and doctrine of Black Consciousness. In a world and country that for too long had relegated us to sub-human level, shaking that off will take more time than we can imagine.
Comrade Post’s limp and naked body ravaged by torture was dangled from a flying helicopter in Ingwavuma and over Jozini Dam. It was meant to show black people what happened when you fought for your country and your people’s freedom and dignity.
Still we triumphed. They killed many of us but the fighting spirit never died. When Robert Sobukwe died, we did not die with him. When Lillian Ngoyi died, we did not die with her. The heroes of our revolution firmed our resolve to never give up.
There were no tenders, salaries or employee benefits. There was death, detention, exile and constant hiding, yet we were committed to our cause.
As we celebrated 23 years of freedom with the people of Mhlabuyalingana, I was reminded of the generosity of spirit of the people of Ingwavuma, who gave food and love to Sfiso Buthelezi and his unit which operated from the caves of the Lebombo mountain range.
I was reminded of Gogo Nyawo and her brother who faced torture and harassment for harbouring liberation soldiers. Her brother was abducted from Swaziland and later roasted by brutal apartheid killers in Kosi Bay.
What I witnessed on Freedom Day was a people who were happy that freedom had come at last. Liberating them from poverty, unemployment and inequality is huge and should be undertaken with vigour.