We cannot betray our children

Quite correctly, the millions of our people have been outraged at the recent reported incidents of child rape. Many voices have been raised that the harshest possible action should be taken to punish those responsible for this horrendous crime.

Today, many children in our country have been introduced to the idea that those who are older than they and could be their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, uncles and aunts, are not necessarily their protectors. Through the actions of adults, we have put into the heads of the innocent the understanding that they should see every adult as a possible vampire and they, the inevitable and defenceless victim.

We have communicated the message to them that they too, if they survive our violence, will assume the privileged position of having the possibility, power and right savagely to prey on the next generation to which they will give birth.

Nevertheless, the children have understood what propelled their own mothers and fathers, 25 years ago, to stand up for their emancipation, during the epoch making Soweto Uprising. Surely, the new South Africa should never permit that, once again, the children should feel obliged to act in their own defence, because the adult world was blind to their suffering and deaf to their pleas for the enjoyment of their right to be children.

We must also expect that the millions of human, ordinary and decent folk who constitute our society, live with a heightened fear that, at any time, their children could fall victim to the animals in their midst. These look like themselves, walk on two legs and outwardly behave like themselves, but are, in reality, savages who have no conception of what it is to be human and what we mean when we speak of the inviolability of the dignity of any person.

Four centuries ago, the English poet and pastor, John Donne, wrote the following text that has become part of the global heritage of creative literature:

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language. No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours."

What happens then, if the main to which we belong, exposes us and our children to savage action that demands that, for our own safety and security, we should become islands, entire of ourselves! If we allow the criminals to reign, thus would it come about that we, as South Africans, would begin to define ourselves as each an island, entire of itself, every person a separate piece of what was a continent, fragments of the main. We would then perish as a people.

But the mass revulsion against the rape of children has both united all of us as South Africans, and demonstrated that there exists deep within the well of the entirety of our society that sense of humanity, without which we would be nothing better and even worse than the beasts of the forest.

What we have experienced together has suggested that, as we struggle for the critically important moral renewal of our country, perhaps we need to expose to all our people to the ugly part of the face of our society. It is perhaps naked and shocking truth that will help us to liberate ourselves from the phenomenon of moral degeneration, which all of us know has infected a minority of our people.

It may be that our common exposure to the most bestial things that do happen in our country will serve as the spur that will give the necessary impetus to all of us to act in unity, to achieve what all of us have been calling for throughout the short years of our liberation - the RDP of the soul!

Not even the most selfish in our society, who act solely to satisfy whatever they consider is good for themselves, cannot be affected by the fact that we are speaking here of violence carried out by ourselves, the adults, against the most defenceless members of any human society.

Clearly, these acts of criminal and inhuman violence have to be stopped. We have neither lost all respect for ourselves, nor been blinded to the notion of human dignity. We cannot allow that such terrible negatives become an established fact that defines us as a people. We cannot permit of the situation in which, by our actions or inaction, we describe our freedom from apartheid oppression as the liberty to sink into a state of anarchy and barbarism.

The harsh exposure to ourselves and the rest of the world of our own capacity for the most inhuman actions against fellow human beings, has emphasised the need for us to define ourselves to ourselves. The questions we have to pose to ourselves about ourselves are - what are we, and what do we intend to make ourselves to be!

The answers to these questions are not difficult to find. They lie within our history, including, and in particular, the most recent. That history says to all of us that, as a people, we are not savages. It tells us that we are a noble people who are capable of the most humane actions that human beings are capable of. We are not a people that can ever be defined as abusers of the defenceless, rapists, destroyers of the hope that beats in every human heart, enemies of the right of every person to self-respect and dignity.

Our own history informs us, and the world, that passion, reason and the instinct for human solidarity combine to give us the strength and the wisdom to do things which all humanity celebrates. That history instructs us that we have neither the right nor the possibility to sully and debase our nobility, by allowing the bandits to define who and what we are.

What has been exposed to all of us, with the greatest intensity, is the urgent reality that we have to act together to ensure the flowering of the humane value system without which we would not have succeeded to advance ourselves from the passing age of darkness, to the everlasting period of light.

To do that, we have to think. We have to be honest to ourselves and among ourselves. We must act in unity to build a new society that is the product of our own collective hands and brains.

In his book, "Child Abuse" (1998), Dr Franz Sebastian Muller, says, "the sexual maltreatment of children may be traced throughout the history of mankind. Concealed by ignorance and indifference, sexual abuse has in the last decade (1980 - 1999), evolved from a hidden problem to a subject of tremendous social, legal, scientific and media concern which is ravaging the lives of millions of children".

He writes that: "Of 554 abused white children seen over a period of 4 years at the Addington Hospital, 61 (11.2%) had been sexually abused. Westcott (1984) also reported on 18 sexually abused children seen over a 6 month period in Cape Town. In a retrospective study of 144 cases collected of child abuse for the 21 month period from July 1988 to March 1990 at the Alexandra Health Clinic, it was found that 81.5% of cases (114), sexual abuse was the most common."

Dr Muller also says, "In my medical practice over the last 40 years, I came to the conclusion that the presence of physical abuse shows a striking skew towards the socially disadvantaged. This has often and obviously been observed among unsupported single parents where the mother agrees to the lover to have illegal sexual relationships with her fatherless or illegitimate child, sometimes irrespective of the age of the child such as in some cases where very young infants are involved. This (is) due to the fact that the mother of the child (is) afraid of losing the lover and also the material support of the lover."

He also writes that "Norway's Minister of Justice, Helen Bosterud, presented a report (1989) on sexual exploitation of children in Norway. She stressed the point that it is an international problem and one must find an 'international solution' for it."

Only this week, police raids were conducted in at least 19 European and other countries in a massive crackdown to bring to book paedophiles who had allegedly joined in a network engaged in the sexual abuse of children.

Later, Dr Muller quotes figures contained in the 'Annual Report of the Commissioner of the South African Police: 1988-1990'. With regard to 1990, these "legal statistics of child abuse" say that 202 were murdered. 475 children were sodomised. 251 were victims of incest. 1553 were subjected to indecent assaults. 2623 were raped. 2653 fell victim to cruelty and abuse, excluding sexual abuse, assault and murder. 690 were kidnapped.

The reality is that infant and child rape and other sexual abuses are not new in South Africa, but are an old problem. In many instances, families, relatives and communities know of, but continue to hide these crimes. These crimes are not unique to our country but are a universal phenomenon and problem.

Central to their eradication, is the action of the people themselves. The demand that only the government must act is to walk away from the obligation that falls on all of us to stand up in defence of our humanity. This is a betrayal of everything all of us have done to give birth to the new South Africa.

The outrage we have all expressed against the rape of children, must translate in all our communities, into determined and sustained action by all of us to protect our children from those who have lost their souls.

Together we must affirm, in action, that the future belongs to the children and the people, and not the animals that, by their actions, have defined themselves as bandits, outcasts and the most offensive and degrading insult of ourselves as a people.

World Aids Day

South Africa cares enough to act

The South African government is marking World Aids Day on 1 December with a public awareness campaign with the slogan: "I care enough to act...do you?". Around the country, local councils, communities, non-governmental organisations, ministers and members of parliament are this weekend participating in activities to raise awareness about HIV/Aids and mobilise people in caring for and protecting the rights of those affected.

The campaign is the first major output of a R90 million communication programme for HIV/AIDS. This, the latest in the government's public awareness programmes, is in addition to the billions of rand spent every year on treatment arising from various infections associated with HIV/AIDS. This amount is expected to be boosted substantially over the next three years.

Government is trying to lay a far stronger foundation for early detection, better support and effective treatment of opportunistic infections. Eighteen months ago, the rapid HIV test was not in use in state institutions. There are today 719 operational sites for voluntary testing and counselling. Much of the counselling is provided through contracts or partnerships with non-governmental organisations.

In the space of four years, 70 percent of health districts have been moved onto the community-based system of tuberculosis management known as DOTS. This has resulted in better management of TB.

The health department has identified as major weaknesses in its ability to treat opportunistic infections promptly and aggressively the limited knowledge of health professionals and inadequate drug supplies. Work to tackle these problems in the first year of the Diflucan partnership has resulted in 256 outlets for the drug and another 80 in the pipeline. No fewer than 4,270 health workers have been trained through this programme alone in the management of a range of opportunistic infections.

There is gradual progress in the area of home-based care, with projects funded by government in six provinces. The treatment of sexually transmitted infections in the public sector is generally strong and effective, more so, according to research, than in the private sector.

The state continues to provide 250 million free condoms a year, to expand availability of the female condom and to pursue broadly based life skills programmes in schools.

As part of government's effort to reduce mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV, 18 research and training sites are up and running in all provinces, providing among them about 200 contact points for pregnant women. This year an amount of about R25 million was set aside at national level for the MTCT programme and this amount was augmented by contributions from provinces. Next year spending will be comparable, but substantial increases are planned in the two subsequent years.

The progress made by government will only bring about results if society as a whole actively participates in tackling HIV/Aids. Only the widest mobilisation and sustained co-operation of all sections of society will reverse the HIV epidemic and provide the scale of care required for those already infected and their families. That is the challenge of World Aids Day 2001.

Click here for ANC Today Briefing Document on HIV/Aids in South Africa

MORE INFORMATION:

• World Aids Campaign 2001, UNAIDS

Nevirapine

Hasty action no solution to mother-to-child HIV transmission

The immediate and hasty provision of nevirapine to all pregnant women with HIV in public health facilities, as demanded by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in the Pretoria High Court this week, could negate the potential benefits of the drug. It could even set back efforts to develop sustainable ways to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child.

The TAC brought the case to force government to provide the drug nevirapine in all public hospitals and clinics to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the virus. Nevirapine is currently available as part of a MTCT pilot programme in 18 geographic sites across the country in both rural and urban settings, with a total of 215 access points. The programme aims to determine the operational needs and requirements for wider implementation, as well as study the effectiveness of the programme and longer-term effects of the drug.

In its argument before the court the TAC said government's current policy was "irrational and irresponsible", that government had no plan for the expansion of the MTCT programme and that the refusal to currently provide nevirapine in all state facilities was a violation of the rights of such mothers and their babies.

Yet while there is an inalienable right to access to health care, there is no inalienable right to a specific drug. Government has indicated that its aim is to have wide-scale implementation of the MTCT programme, which will be informed by the outcome of the research and the lessons learned at the 18 research sites.

Government is not presently in a position to implement the MTCT programme on a wide-scale. There are many unanswered scientific questions about the transmission of HIV from mother to infant, including the long-term impact of nivarapine and the impact of breastfeeding on transmission after birth.

The first few months of the pilot programme have shown a critical element of the success of the MTCT programme is the quality of HIV counselling and testing provided, which requires sufficiently trained counsellors and other resources in each site. Another lesson is that the gains of using a drug like nevirapine can be reversed by mothers breastfeeding their child.

If the TAC case were to succeed in its application, and government is compelled to make nevirapine available to pregnant women with HIV who give birth in the public sector, women would not receive the proper counselling nor the six month supply of feeding formula, as this capacity does not exist throughout the country. Nor does government have the capacity throughout the country to determine the impact of the programme on infants, including the long-term effects of nevirapine use.

According to health department director-general Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, it is imperative that the drug be released in controlled settings with the consent of patients and with the object of gathering as much data as possible in order to extend the programme to the greater public as resources allow.

"Public pressure for a cure and for quick solutions, while understandable, could contribute to hasty decisions to assuage the sentiments of the public with extremely negative consequences," he said.

Cooperation with NNP

Relationship must cover all areas of national life

The ANC is building a relationship of cooperation with the New National Party (NNP) that extends beyond government into all areas of South Africa's political life.

The ANC and NNP this week released a joint statement outlining the main objectives of cooperation, and details of agreements on the Western Cape provincial government and the Cape Town metropolitan council. However, cooperation will not be limited to government. The organisations agreed to cooperate at all levels of society on the basis of shared objectives.

This is a unique opportunity for the NNP, which was once the architect of apartheid, to work with the ANC to fundamentally transform relations within South African society. If effectively used, the relationship could bring a broader range of South Africans into the effort to build a better life for all South Africans.

The relationship aims to build a national consensus founded on true South African patriotism as part of the effort to deracialise society. It will strive to foster reconciliation and good inter-community relations to achieve a truly non-racial and non-sexist South African society and address the legacy of the past.

It aims to develop "a unity of purpose to confront the great challenges of our country, including, among other things, poverty, unemployment, homelessness, crime, and HIV/Aids and other diseases".

Each organisation will retain its own identity and autonomy and will stand for its own policies and programmes.

"Notwithstanding the broader parameters of this agreement, each organisation will have the right to publicly promote its views and positions in terms of its policies, programmes, strategies and tactics," the statement said.

The ANC and NNP agreed to form a new provincial government in the Western Cape, restoring sound governance to the province and accelerating the provision of basic services to the poor. The Western Cape premier and five provincial ministers will be appointed by the NNP. The ANC will appoint five provincial ministers and an additional special adviser with full cabinet status.

Decisions will be taken on the basis of consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, the issue will be referred to the respective national officials of each organisation.

At least one person from the NNP will be appointed to each of the metropolitan councils' mayoral committees, except for Cape Town, where a final understanding still needs to be reached. It was agreed, however, that the mayoral candidate for the Cape Town metropolitan council will be appointed by the ANC and the deputy mayor by the NNP.

Releasing the joint statement, ANC National Working Committee member Steve Tshwete said: "This is not an alliance. The operative word is one of cooperation and working together."

MORE INFORMATION:

• Cooperation with NNP informed by tasks of nation-building, ANC Today, Vol.1, No.41

Obituary

Joe Modise 1929-2001

Johannes "Joe" Modise who served under Nelson Mandela as Minister of Defence in South Africa's first democratic government from 1994-1999, died in Pretoria on Monday, aged 72, after a short battle with cancer.

The liberation struggle's foremost military commander, "JM" as he was fondly referred to by comrades, was first and foremost an activist of the African National Congress for his entire adult life. Although he stepped down from government office in 1999 and went into business, he was still up to a few months prior to his demise, building ANC branches on weekends in the distant province of Mpumalanga where he was deployed for party work. As militant black priests in South Africa like to say of deceased freedom fighters: "he died in harness, he ran a good race and he kept the faith."

Regarded as a tough disciplinarian during three arduous decades of underground struggle, he commanded the armed wing of the movement, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) under difficult circumstances, which required firm leadership. His reputation had long preceded his return to South Africa from Lusaka in 1990 after the ban on the ANC was lifted, Mandela was freed and negotiations started. The apartheid-era generals preparing for talks had indulged in role-playing exercises in which one was modelled on Modise as an uncompromising, revenge seeking, die-hard. They were flabbergasted to meet a sober, responsive pragmatist who spoke fluent Afrikaans, traded jokes and rugby assessments, enjoyed a drink over an evening barbecue, and was committed to the creation of a professional military.

The establishment of a credible defence force, out of the tricky integration of no less than seven statutory and non-statutory forces - unprecedented anywhere in the world - together with his crucial role as commander of the ANC's guerrilla forces makes Modise's contribution unique and illustrious. Shortly before he died President Thabo Mbeki bestowed the country's highest award on him - the Star of South Africa gold class (SSA).

Modise was a no-nonsense commander, unafraid of dirtying his hands. He sought out resolute cadres to work with, and would not tolerate shirkers. He was hard on indiscipline because duty was a life and death matter. Accounts of ill-treatment of enemy agents and dissidents have been greatly exaggerated and although lapses did occur - understandable in a grim, drawn-out struggle - it was not Modise's responsibility alone but that of a collective leadership. He had the highest regard for ANC leader Oliver Tambo and would never dream of doing anything without his consent.

Getting to know the real JM was a rewarding experience for the tough exterior enclosed a soft centre. He was a warm, friendly human being with the proverbial heart of gold. I had served under him from MK's formation in 1961, when peaceful means of struggle had been closed by the apartheid regime. Modise served directly under the Mandela leadership as a field commander organising MK structures in various provinces. This brought him to Durban where I served on the regional command. We complained that our home-made explosives were not very effective. Go get dynamite he retorted. I piped up that the Johannesburg mines where he came from were the best source and could he not assist us. He gave me a withering look and told me there were plenty of quarries in the Durban area. His expectations propelled us into action and before long we had pulled off the theft of over a ton of dynamite. He came back to us with scarcely a commendation and confiscated three-quarters of the haul for distribution throughout the country.

Over two hundred acts of sabotage later, with Mandela and the Rivonia leadership behind bars and the underground network effectively destroyed, I followed Modise into exile and met him in Dar Es Salaam where the ANC was setting-up transit camps. He took my wife, Eleanor, and I for a walk on the beach and we found him to be kind and considerate about our welfare. I soon joined him on a year's long training course in Odessa, and nearly forty more years of joint service and friendship followed. In that time Modise organised bases and camps throughout the front-line states; organised training for MK cadres in a dozen African and socialist countries; commanded the 1967-68 ZAPU-MK incursions into then Rhodesia; assisted FRELIMO with arms and support; carried out joint operations with the MPLA against Unita in Angola; set-up forward staging bases in Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho, where he funnelled combatants and weapons into the country and received fresh recruits from home; and directed combat actions deep inside South Africa to reinforce the political mass upsurge of the post-1976 Soweto rebellion.

He formed an MK headquarters based in Lusaka that included Joe Slovo, Chris Hani, Steve Tshwete, Jackie Sedibe, and myself. Jackie was a young recruit whom he met in exile. She became his life-long companion and devoted wife. She came up through the ranks and post-1994 became South Africa's first ever woman general. Her promotion, when he was Minister of Defence, should have been virtually automatic. MK officers junior to her had become generals but Modise held back, sensitive to charges of nepotism. It was I who forced her promotion through, as his Deputy Defence Minister.

The exile years were arduous and faith in the cause had to be kept for there were times when we could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. There was constant dangers, aerial bombardment of our camps, massacres of our cadres, bombings of ANC offices and assassination. Modise and Hani narrowly escaped with their lives when a mutineer flung a handgrenade in a camp mutiny in Angola.

Modise never wavered always convinced we would win in the end but never falling into the error of believing it would be by arms alone. In fact he grounded MK in the art of a "people's war" whereby armed actions were an inspirational reinforcement of the mass political struggle. The big actions he helped mastermind such as the rocket attacks on the Sasol oil refinery, the Voortrekkerhoogte military base, and the Koeberg nuclear plant were essentially armed propaganda blows to inspire the people and undermine the regime. They had the necessary effect.

Johannes Modise was born of working class parents in Doornfontein, Johannesburg. His father, Ezekiel, came from a village near the Botswana border and worked as a sweeper in a Johannesburg factory. (By a quirk of fate it was the same factory where my father worked, as Joe and I discovered when we talked about our backgrounds). His mother, Motla Borefe, was a domestic worker and Joe grew up in the back yard of a white home. He was taught to be self-confident which gave him a natural ease of relating to anyone in the world of whatever colour or class, friend or foe. His parents separated and he moved with his mother to Kliptown. He attended a local school and excelled in sports, particularly soccer and boxing. He learnt to swim in the local mud ponds and rivers and became a powerful swimmer.

When Joe Slovo arrived in Dar Es Salaam they went for a swim and Slovo made the error of assuming Modise could not swim and proceeded to teach him. Modise went along with the game and at a certain point, announcing that he thought he understood what was required, proceeded to stroke out and swam right across the harbour leaving a dumbfounded Slovo in his wake.

Poverty required that Modise leave school before completing his studies and after a variety of odd jobs he became a bus driver for Putco, the municipal transport company. He joined the ANC under the leadership of Mandela, Sisulu and Tambo and was soon a leading activist in the anti-pass campaign and resistance to the Sophiatown forced removals. This inevitably led to his arrest in 1956 with 155 other Congress leaders of all races charged with high treason in the trail that dragged on until 1960. His militant background made him an early recruit into MK after the Sharpeville massacre of March 1960.

Joe is survived by his widow Jackie, two daughters Boipuso and Lesede aged 14 and 16, and by three daughters from a previous marriage. Two sons who joined MK and the SANDF passed away in the late 1990s.

Modise's tenure as Minister of Defence saw the major transformation of the country's armed forces. Foremost was the integration of the previous adversarial forces into the new SANDF, a force which he ensured would be representative of the country's demographics. He is credited with ensuring black generals in the top posts together with a good mix of whites. It was his vision and tact that ensured the smooth transition with all loyally committed to the new South Africa. Whatever problems remain to be resolved in the defence force it is a testimony to its effectiveness that it has become credible in the eyes of the people and already participating in peace keeping missions in Africa.

Modise produced a policy basis and framework for the new defence force through a White Paper followed by a Defence Review which is regarded as the most transparent and consultative in international experience. It was unanimously adopted by the South African Parliament and is the basis for the new force design and weapons procurement programme. The latter has created controversy with accusations of corruption but the extensive investigation into impropriety has failed to live up to the expectations of its detractors. Modise learnt just a few days before his death that he had been cleared of accusations of wrong doing.

He will be deeply mourned by his family, by the ANC, government and ordinary people. Just a few months ago I met a man in the street who enquired about Modise's health. His wife had been a tea-lady in our ministry. I could scarcely recollect her but he told me how Modise telephoned her every year on her birthday to wish her well.

Ronnie Kasrils is a member of the ANC National Executive Committee.

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