The privilege of trusteeship

From its very beginning, the African National Congress was established as an inclusive parliament of the African people. Its founders saw the Congress as a repository and spokesperson of the hopes and aspirations of the black millions who had been colonised by Britons, the Boers and the Portuguese.

Since then, the ANC has worked and continues to work further to build itself as the repository of the aspirations of all our people, black and white.

On 24 October 1911, the newspaper 'Imvo Zabantsundu' published the well known article, "Native Union", written by Pixley ka Isaka Seme, in which he explained why it was necessary to establish the ANC. He said:

"The South African Native Congress is the voice in the wilderness bidding all the dark races of this sub-continent to come together once or twice a year in order to review the past and reject therein all those things which have retarded our progress, the things which poison the springs of our national life and virtue; to label and distinguish the sins of civilisation, and as members of one house-hold to talk and think loudly on our home problems and the solution of them.

"The Natives everywhere now and to-day know that a South African Native Congress.will give them the only effective means whereby they will be able to make their grievances properly known and considered both by the Government and by the people of South Africa at large. Through this Congress the Natives will have the opportunity and means with which to influence the public opinion of this country and to greatly assist the South African Statesmen who are working for the peace, prosperity, and the development of this land.

"(The day of the formation of the Native Congress) will certainly be an important day in the annals of our Native history; we shall have come together to bury forever the greatest block to our security, happiness, progress and prosperity as a people. We shall have come together truly, as we are, the children of one household to discuss our home problems and the solution of them."

In this article, Seme reported that, "A great Paramount Chief accepting that his name be included in the honourable list of Native princes who endorse and support this movement, writes that:

"He however wishes to point out that whilst the objects and the aims of a Congress appear to be good and reasonable, much of the success depends upon the attitude of the members.

"There should be among other things a firm resolve on the part of every member to eliminate factors which have in the past proved fatal to the continued existence of such Societies. They should set their faces strongly against the jargon of racial feeling, the ebullition (heated incitement) of the element (of tribalism), and the excessive display of political partisanship."

Pixley Seme saw the South African Native Congress, the ANC, as a common home not only for our people, but also as the household of the people of "this sub-continent". Accordingly when it was established just over two months after the article "Native Union" was published, the Congress spoke in the name of the colonised African natives from as far a-field as present-day Zambia.

The internationalist posture adopted by the founders of the ANC represented the entrenched understanding of the shared destiny of Africans everywhere, including the Diaspora, which had been expressed by such early modern African intellectuals as the Rev Tiyo Soga.

In an article entitled "What Is The Destiny Of The Kaffir Race", published by the 'King William's Town Gazette and Kaffrarian Banner', on 11 May 1865, almost half-a-century before the ANC was established, Tiyo Soga said: "Africa was of God given to the race of Ham. I find the Negro from the days of the old Assyrians downwards, keeping his 'individuality' and 'distinctiveness', amid the wreck of empires, and the revolution of ages. I find him enslaved. I find him in this condition for many a day - in the West Indian Islands, in Northern and Southern America, and in the South American Colonies of Spain and Portugal. Until the Negro is doomed against all history and experience - until his God-given inheritance of Africa be taken finally from him, I shall never believe in the total extinction of his brethren along the southern limits of the land of Ham."

Tiyo Soga was convinced that "history and experience" confirmed that, whatever our travails, including our enslavement, as Africans we would never lose our "God-given inheritance of Africa.(even) amid the wreck of empires, and the revolution of ages".

He foresaw that even in our country, then in the grip of the colonial wars waged by British imperialism, colonialism would fail to achieve "the total extinction of (Africans) along the southern limits of the (African continent)".

By chance, as we concluded the 2nd National General Council (NGC) of the ANC, various events took place in and relevant to Africa, which vindicated the confidence and optimism that Tiyo Soga proclaimed concerning the future of our continent, 140 years ago.

In 1993, the democratically elected President Ndadaye of Burundi was killed in a military coup d'etat. The government was overthrown and a military dictatorship established. During the resultant conflict and civil war sparked by these developments, over 300,000 baRundi were killed. This was in addition to others who had died before this, as a result of massacres that claimed the lives of Hutus and Tutsis in a seemingly intractable 'ethnic' conflict.

And yet, as we concluded our 2nd NGC, the people of Burundi held peaceful democratic elections to choose their national parliament. Remarkably, after a long period of violent conflict, everybody has accepted that these elections were democratic and that their outcome truly represents the will of the people of Burundi.

All of us are justly proud of the role our country has played and is playing, which has contributed to Burundi's advance to peace and democracy. This has included the sustained and critical mediation efforts of leaders of our movement and country, Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma, and the vital peacekeeping contribution of members of our National Defence Force.

Not many days after these historic events in Burundi, the Republic of Sudan inaugurated a new government with the swearing in, in Khartoum, of the President and Vice Presidents appointed on the basis of a Constitution representing the outcome of negotiations that ended a 50-year war between the northern and southern parts of this multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious African country.

By decision of the erstwhile Sudanese belligerents and the African continent, we have the responsibility to convene and chair the Sudan Post-Conflict Reconstruction Committee of the African Union. In this capacity, we have the responsibility to help ensure that Sudan achieves the lasting peace and unity in diversity which eluded this sister African country for a long time.

In addition to this, we have men and women of our National Defence Force and Police Service deployed in Darfur, as part of the African Union (AU) Mission charged with the responsibility to bring about peace in this part of Sudan.

Once again, we have every reason to be proud of what we have done and are doing to bring hope to the sister people of Sudan, which, as in the case of Burundi, included deployment of some of our compatriots to provide expert support to the peace negotiators.

Soon after the conclusion of our 2nd NGC, we were privileged to join leaders of Africa and the South to engage the leaders of the G8 countries at the annual G8 Summit Meeting at Gleneagles, Scotland.

Also present at this meeting were other important world leaders, namely, the Secretary General of the UN, the President of the European Commission, the President of the World Bank, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Among others, this engagement addressed the three critically important issues of African development, climate change and world trade, the latter within the context of the WTO Doha Development Agenda.

The discussions on the development of our continent focused on the interlinked obligations of Africa and the G8 arising out of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and the G8 Africa Action Plan.

In this regard, we must pay tribute to Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, for the initiative they took to establish the Africa Commission, the members of the Commission, and others, including the business community in Africa, the UK and elsewhere in the world, who acted to advance the African agenda.

We must also express our sincere appreciation for the enormous effort made by the artists, Bob Geldof, Bono, and others, to mobilise the masses of the people globally, to take up the cause of the poor of our continent, as they and others had acted to help us end the apartheid crime against humanity.

As a country we are privileged that we had the possibility to contribute to the elaboration of NEPAD, its adoption by the OAU and the AU, and the establishment of the partnership with the developed countries of the North, as expressed through the G8 Africa Action Plan and the Africa Partnership Forum.

The Gleneagles Summit adopted concrete decisions involving the commitment of the necessary financial and other resources, to implement the integrated programmes identified in NEPAD and the G8 Africa Action Plan.

Among others, these firm commitments encompass the critically important issues of peace on our continent, debt, trade, development assistance, economic growth, and the modernisation of the physical African infrastructure.

The Gleneagles decisions mark an historic new step in fundamentally redefining the relationship between Africa and the countries of the North. They vindicate the hopes and conviction that Tiyo Soga took to his grave, that Africa would triumph, despite "the wreck of empires, and the revolution of ages".

We must also take this opportunity once more to extend our sympathy and solidarity with the government and people of the United Kingdom, and the peoples of the world, for the human and material losses they and we suffered as a result of the heinous terrorist outrage perpetrated against residents of, and visitors to London.

This happened as representatives of 24 important countries and international organisations met in Great Britain to address matters of vital relevance to the pursuit of the goal of a better life for the billions of human beings who occupy our common globe, including the suffering people of Palestine.

As members of the ANC and as South Africans, we must draw great inspiration from the fact that we were not passive observers but active participants in the historic events we have mentioned - the parliamentary elections in Burundi, the inauguration of a new Government of Sudan, and the adoption of the Gleneagles Africa programme of action.

These successes constitute a few more critical steps towards the renaissance of our continent and our country. However, as a movement and a country, we still have a long journey ahead of us to achieve the objective we and the rest our continent set ourselves, to realise the goal of a better life for all.

Among other things, this means that we must ensure that the ANC continues to maintain its strength, its unity and its historic character as a repository of the aspirations of the masses of our people. In this regard, members of the ANC must always remember that their membership of our organisation means they have the honour and privilege to run and manage the ANC in trust for our people.

For example, all our members must remember what one of our founding Patrons, the "Paramount Chief" quoted by Pixley Seme, advised about what is required of members of the ANC.

As he said, "There should be among other things a firm resolve on the part of every member to eliminate factors which have in the past proved fatal to the continued existence of such Societies. They should set their faces strongly against the jargon of racial feeling, the ebullition (heated incitement) of the element (of tribalism), and the excessive display of political partisanship."

All this requires that all our members should know that whatever they do will always be subject to the intense and critical scrutiny of the masses of the people. The masses will not permit us, members of our organisation, to weaken or put their movement, the ANC, in disrepute.

This is because, as Pixley Seme said, these masses are convinced that through the African National Congress, their common "household", they "have the opportunity and means with which to influence the public opinion of this country and to greatly assist the South African Statesmen who are working for the peace, prosperity, and the development of this land."

As we observed the 75th Anniversary of the ANC, on 8 January 1987, our late President, Oliver Tambo, said:

"The people have daily been expressing their allegiance to the premier instrument of liberation they have created, the African National Congress, the democratic parliament of the people of South Africa.

"In the 75 years of its fighting existence, our movement has established its place as the force that has led the people as a whole under widely different conditions, but always correctly and consistently, towards final victory. In the new situation with the new tasks ahead of us, we are certain that your movement, the ANC, will live up to its responsibilities."

This "force that has led the people as a whole under widely different conditions, but always correctly and consistently, towards final victory", must, as before, live up to its responsibilities during this highly favourable period for the further advance of the national democratic revolution and the African renaissance.

More Information:

• Draft Charter of the Private and Public Health Sectors

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