21 October 2002
We are gathered here to exhume the bodily remains of Anton Muziwakhe Lembede, the founding President of the Congress Youth League. Like many other leaders he had to be buried many miles away from his home village.
As a freedom fighter, a leader, a visionary and a man of the people, he was accepted by all Africans as their own son, brother, uncle and father. Ka seSotho e ne e le lehlokoana la tsela
Comrade Anton Lembede was a child of his own environment. He came from humble beginnings in Umbumbulu. He was a talented learner, whose talents were not lost to those who interacted with him, even at that early stage of his life.
Working as a kitchen servant, and saving in order to put himself through school, his talent was recognised and he was awarded a bursary to the Adams Teacher Training College.
Lembede had a passion for learning and while teaching learnt Afrikaans and Sesotho. He took his matriculation by correspondence courses and got a distinction in Latin. Then, also by correspondence course, he gained a degree in Philosophy and Roman-Dutch Law.
In 1943 he moved to Johannesburg and, after serving articles under Pixley ka Isaka Seme, he joined Seme's firm as a full partner.
Anton belonged to a generation of the Youth, which infused a new militancy into the spirit of African nationalism. This was a generation that was always prepared to engage the leadership of the African National Congress, with a view to ensuring that this ANC could indeed fulfil its historic mission.
Once the ANC, at its annual congress in 1942, agreed to the formation of a Congress Youth League, Anton Lembede initiated meetings with some of his peers, including Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. In 1944 he was then elected as the first President of the League, with Oliver Tambo serving as its secretary.
From the outset, as enshrined in the Manifesto of the Congress Youth League, these young patriots, under the able leadership of Anton Lembede, understood and asserted the need for Africans to be their own liberators:
"[The African] now elects to determine his future by his own efforts. He has realised that to trust to the mere good grace of the White man will not free him as no nation can free an oppressed group other than that group itself. Self-determination is the philosophy of life which will save him from the disaster he clearly sees on his way"
This vision had a profound impact on the shaping of the thoughts of this generation of freedom fighters, which was to transform the ANC into a mass-based organisation ready to struggle for the liberation of our people.
They added oomph into what was then a sluggish ANC, by criticising constructively and taking responsibility to give effect to their criticisms in action. The Congress Youth League, under the leadership of Anton Lembede, saw energising the ANC as a challenge, because:
"Defects in the organisation of the people against oppression cannot be cured by mouthing criticisms . . . [Therefore], in response to the demands of the times African Youth is laying its services at the disposal of the national liberation movement, the African National Congress, in the firm belief, knowledge and conviction that the cause of Africa must and will triumph"
Lembede's rare brain left such a strong mark on the revamping of the African National Congress in the period during and following the Second World War. Unfortunately our movement became much poorer when ill-health robbed us of Lembede's talents on August 2, 1947.
However, the stream of Lembede's profound thinking continued to flow through the minds of Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Robert Sobukwe, Duma Nokwe and many others.
This generation of leaders remained in harness, within the African National Congress, to the very end of their lives. From Programme of Action of 1949 through the Campaign in Defiance of Unjust Laws in the 1950's, to the Congress of the People, the banning of the ANC, the formation of Umkontho weSizwe, incarceration, exile and underground to the victory of democracy in 1994.
Like Lembede, the stream of their thought has continued to flow through younger generations within the leadership and membership of the African National Congress and beyond. Lembede's thought was the inspiration for later generations of youth leaders, including Ida Mntwana, Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Mary Moodley, Ruth First, Duma Nokwe, Johnny Makathini, Harry Gwala, Curnick Ndlovu, Chris Hani and Thabo Mbeki, Barney Pityana, Steven Bantu Biko, Mapetla Mohapi, Mathew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkontho, Ford Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Solomon Mahlangu.
The Presidency of Anton Lembede has been emulated by the ANCYL, from Nelson Mandela, to Patrick Molawa, to Peter Mokaba.
It is our firm belief that the current generation of the ANCYL and youth in general would continue to be a source of fresh ideas and challenging criticisms. That they would continue to celebrate achievement and excellence in these interesting and trying times.
Besides the African National Congress, what monument now stands to the memory of J.B. Marks, Moses Kotane, Albert Nzula, Alex la Guma, Moses Mabida and Anton Lembede?
In celebration of the life of Anton Lembede, we must continue to apply our minds as to the need for a hero's acre, within the challenging context of rewriting our history and celebrating our heritage as a united, non-racial, not sexist, democratic and prosperous nation.
It is a coincidence of history that the community of Umbumbulu would, over the coming weekend, receive the remains of two of their beloved sons: Anton Lembede and Japhet Ndlovu.
I thank you