There can never be an appropriate space and time to remind racists of apartheid’s crimes

The state of the nation address (Sona) was characterised by disorder which has become a common thing in South Africa.

The disruptions began when the EFF repeatedly called for Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan must be removed from Parliament and the Cabinet.

But this was not the only point of contention. The EFF also called for former apartheid president FW De Klerk to leave the House.

This eventually led to an hour-long suspension of the address and EFF left the House.

The points raised were valid but the inconsistencies around the terms under which the disruption ensued made it difficult for some South Africans to engage the legitimacy and the real substance of the points.

There can never be an appropriate space and time to remind racists of the grievous crimes that they committed against black people during apartheid.

De Klerk is one such racist who presided over a government that murdered thousands of black people. And at all times we must use every opportunity we get to remind them of this fact and make them account.

Therefore an argument that because we did not make racists account on Thursday, then we should not make them account today does not hold. This is mainly because the legacy of their injustice did not only affect us then but it continues to affect us today.

So quite honestly the call for De Klerk to leave the House is not only grounded on the history he participated in but rather as a result of a today that he benefits from.

De Klerk did not end apartheid. This is the other misconception that people have. The fact that he was the last president before a democratic South Africa and therefore he was sympathetic is false.

Democracy was ushered in by the millions of black South Africans who resisted and shed blood so that the minority rule could come to an end.

De Klerk was under pressure because the winds of change were blowing and freedom was the only language that black people spoke.

To give any credit to De Klerk is to undermine and be oblivious of all the deaths that happened during the transition is a big mistake.

The so called black-on-black violence was manufactured and sponsored by white apartheid racists.

If anything, De Klerk should be languishing in prison together with all those who watched wilfully the attempted dissemination of the black race.

The events of Thursday have successfully initiated a debate around the many things that we as black people have forgiven white people for without them ever asking for forgiveness.

This is a necessary and long overdue conversation that we should have had a long time ago about the things that we had to forego for “freedom”.

Many issues continue to plague South Africa but it seems to me that the basis of what we are going through is a result of inequality, the continuing reality that white people continue to control the economy while black people own almost nothing.

The removal of Gordon might be symbolic but before addressing this underlying problem the issues confronting us will resurface.

As the ANC I think it is important for us to take charge of such matters. As the liberation movement we ought to be taking leadership and controlling the narrative of what direction the country takes.

It cannot be that a minority party continues to arbitrarily bully us into always defending the indefensible. If this does not happen we will constantly find ourselves in a state of anxiety.

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