The African national Congress has declared 1979 "The Year of the Spear" in commemoration of the centenary of the great battle when amabutho ka Cetshwayo (Cetshwayo's regiments) won great victory at the battle of Isandhlwana. We commemorate this event not because we like to glorify our past. On the contrary we draw serious lessons from our past, lessons which help us to take decisions for the execution of the struggle today, we assess and evaluate our past with the aim of mastering the present and planning the future.

This decision has serious implications for individual members. Whilst basing ourselves on the positive traditions of our people we have to wage a bitter struggle against negative traditions and tendencies: laziness, complacency, "impatience", sectarianism and factionalism of any kind. This is the essence of the interconnection between revolution and tradition.

Isandhlwana taught us many lessons. One of them is the significance of unity, an ideal which is cherished by all our people and finds expression in our freedom songs: "Mzulu, Mxhosa, Msuthu hlanganani" (Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho unite). It is important to state that unity has a clear political content. When we talk of unity we mean the unity of the healthy forces of our society. We exclude those who collaborate with the racists or those who are working for international imperialism.

What about the military traditions of our people? They are still alive, especially among the rural population and are expressed in dances, folklore, drama, theater and music. It is our noble task to invoke and develop these traditions to meet the demands of the new situation which has arisen since Isandhlwana.

The mergence of the working class and intelligentsia towards the end of the last century signalled the emergence of new forces which were destined to play an important role in our struggle for national liberation, self-determination and social emancipation and this led to the transformation of the African national Congress in 1912.

This is a landmark in our long march to freedom. When Umkhonto we Sizwe was formed in 196, the ANC laid a foundation for producing freedom fighters of a new type; men who are inspired by the deeds of their forefathers , the grandchildren of the warriors of Isandhlwana. In the Wankie operations of 1967/68 the soldiers of Umhkonto - the Spear - showed high qualities of courage and determination, high political convictions and moral standards. Theses qualities included physical fitness, high mobility and speed, iron discipline and fearlessness. Like Cetshwayo's soldiers they were confident in their own capability and making skillful use of the tactic of surprise attack - hit and run and drawing the enemy up all manner of blind alleys.

The soldiers of Umkhonto we Sizwe are sons and daughters of the toiling masses of the South African workers and peasants hence their closeness to the masses who confide in them and they in turn have confidence in them. Some of them have already contributed to the production of material wealth which they were not allowed to enjoy. They are entering the country to fight as urban and "bush" guerrillas. They have seized the traditional weapon of our people - the spear - they are building and strengthening their organisations the ANC, mobilising the people and in the tradition of the warriors of Isandhlwana they are thrusting the spear into the bosom of the enemy.