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Government’s long-overdue decision to reintroduce history as a learning area could not have come at a better time.
It is more critical now than even before that there be a proper record of the history of this country and the people.
The divisions of the past within and between the liberation movements has not helped much.
Throughout the execution of our liberation struggle and social life, many lives were lost as a result of the distortion of facts and the manner in which certain important historical facts were distorted.
As matters stand – and 25 years later – the past distortions continue to haunt us.
One example is evident in the manner in which the government has always gone about granting recognition to some of the iconic figures of our social, political and economic life from the dark ages of our land.
At its 107th birthday the ANC, in a strange twist of things, conferred its highest honour, among others, on Charlotte Maxeke.
It is not and must not be strange to honour a distinguished South African. Not at all.
The obvious problem is when you seek to create a distortion as the basis of that honour and in the process mislead the public.
The citation given to Maxeke for the honour was a distortion of history and should not have happened and should not be allowed to continue.
Some of the simple and objective facts in the public domain include:
. In 1912 at the launch of the SA Native National Congress (SANNC) – the predecessor of the ANC – Maxeke unsuccessfully attempted to have women participate in the conference. But that conference decided the time was not right for women to participate and that women should rather form their own structure. This led to the formation of the Bantu Women’s League (BWL).
. Women could not be members of the SANNC and the ANC until 1943, the year in which the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) was formed. Maxeke died in 1939 and she was, at the time, not a member of the ANC and the ANCWL was not formed yet.
. In 1943 a wholly new organisation, the ANCWL was formed. The BWL was not converted into the ANCWL.
The ANC needs to correct a historical injustice to women in general, and Maxeke in particular, if it wants its honour of her to be taken seriously.
Maxeke and many other gallant women fighters of her time suffered the indignity of being discriminated against purely for being women.
It was this reason alone that disqualified them from being members of SANNC and the ANC.
The ANC has a long history of aggravated patriarchy which needs to be corrected.
The ANC should be ashamed of itself for using this co-option and distorting the facts of history to honour Maxeke for clear political expediency.
Zubeida Jaffer and Thozama April have, after extensive research, recorded the true and uncontested facts, which include:
. Leaders of the then ANC failed to provide support to the anti-pass struggles of women. This is confirmed by the reported statement of Mrs CS Mallela in 1913: “Our men did not help us in our distress.”
. Leaders of the then ANC agreed with an apartheid leader that women should not be allowed to present their own grievances to the then government and could do so only under the leadership of men. Walter Rubusana, a past president of the present-day ANC, became the spokesperson of women whenever they had engagements with government, going as far back as 1908 at the East London City Hall.
. The Bantu Women’s League was not a creation of the ANC and was an independent organisation of women to champion the struggles of African people with a focus on women. The BWL was formed after the rejection of a request for women to participate in the SANNC.
There are thousands of women who mounted and led serious struggles against the colonial and apartheid governments on their own.
The first anti-pass protests were organised and led by women on their own.
It is also a distortion of facts and history to single out Maxeke for this honour. Not that she does not deserve one as the leader of this gallant cohort of women.
The irritation is when the efforts of thousands of women is ignored at the altar of political expediency.
The ANC must reverse and correct the historical injustice it committed against women.
It can do this by symbolically and retrospectively revoking its patriarchal position on women and their participation in the SANNC.
They should apologise to the generations of women who became victims of this regressive thinking.
Then the ANC must give a posthumous honour to the women and their leaders who led these struggles from the 1913 anti-pass protests.
The basis of our problem with patriarchy partly is that it has its roots in the 107-year-old liberation movement.
The so-called 1949 Programme of Action nowhere had the emancipation of women as an objective.
The ANC owes it not only to Maxeke but to Mrs Nikiwe, Miss Soga, Mrs Bhola, Mrs Msizi, Mrs Khuze, Mrs Mahabane, Mrs Moikagoa, Mrs Xala, Mrs Lesibe and Mrs Sililo among the many gallant women of our country.
It is important that the process of recoding and teaching our history be speeded up.
It is also important that society debates the issue of the privatisation of our struggle heroes.
It is clear that we need a public debate not only on Maxeke and who she was but also the totality of the struggle of the women of this country.
This debate is important, first to eliminate distortion and create confusion about who the icons of our struggle were and what they stood for.
Second, it is important that the legacies of these icons are not compromised at the altar of political expediency. Maxeke stood for clean and truthful leadership.
The least we can do in her honour is to tell the truth about who she was. We must tell no lies and claim no easy victories.
We owe it to the generation to come to record the truth and tell the truth for what it is.
Mannya is a former public servant and an advocate
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