Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon members and comrades, ever since its founding in 1912, the ANC has dedicated itself to the historic mission of uniting our people in the struggle for the liberation of black people in general, and African people in particular. We have drawn great inspiration from these decades of unbroken struggle by South African revolutionaries who have fought side by side, one decade after another, to fulfil this mission. People of South Africa have made a monumental contribution to the democracy that we all enjoy today.
There are a number of heroes and heroines that are worth mentioning in the limited minutes allocated to me. Starting with the heroines, I would like to limit my number to only four women: Mme Albertina Sisulu, Mme Dorothy Nyembe, Mme Ruth Mompati, and Mme Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
We all know that Mme Albertina Sisulu was a nurse and a dedicated, committed, loyal politician. She worked hard in bringing the apartheid regime to an end and ushering in a new democratic government. At one stage she was imprisoned, banned and exiled. She was really instrumental in the 1955 launch of the Freedom Charter, and also took part in the historic march to the Union Buildings in 1956, protesting against oppressive laws. This ANC veteran and stalwart played a major role in shaping women's politics in South Africa and ensuring that women played a meaningful role and were well represented in all spheres of government.
Mme Dorothy Nyembe was one of a generation of forceful women whose courage, energy and commitment helped to bring down the apartheid regime. She spent 18 years in prison during the extremely difficult times of the struggle. This stalwart played a leading role in mobilising women in KZN to embark on campaigns that rallied resistance to the state and helped shake uo the notion of women's subordination to domesticity among black men. These campaigns culminated in the huge, powerful Anti-Pass Campaign on 9 August 1956, going to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum to the then Prime Minister Strijdom, to oppose the extension of passes to women. In 1959 Mme Dorothy Nyembe and other women called for a total boycott of the beer halls.
The immense contribution by this stalwart calls for us to recommend, through Minister Mashatile, to the Minister of Correctional Services, Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, in her programme of renaming prisons to rename the female prison in Kroonstad after this gallant fighter. Mme Dorothy Nyembe, who vehemently and consistently fought for justice, deserves this fitting gesture.
Mme Ruth Mompati worked as a teacher until 1952 when she got married. That year she joined the Defiance Campaign as a volunteer. When she relocated from Vryburg to Johannesburg she did not want to continue teaching. The apartheid government was on the verge of introducing the notorious Bantu Education.
The Education Department had asked the North West Teachers' Union, of which Mme Ruth was a member, and various other teachers' organisations to look at the education curriculum and systems, and advise the government. The teachers worked hard and came up with documents which were supposed to have been used. As these drafts were being handed in, Bantu Education was announced, ignoring all the work that they had done. The regime had never intended to use what the teachers proposed.
When the state of emergency was declared she worked and held numerous underground meetings with the underground committees. She also held regular meetings with Moses Kotane, who held their group together and was the most important link when the leadership were in jail. Her underground activities led to her arrest.
Mme Ruth Mompati went into exile in 1962. She underwent military training and held office as secretary and head of the women's section of the ANC in Tanzania. From 1966 she served as a member of the ANC's National Executive Committee. This stalwart deserves to be mentioned here today.
Mme Winnie Madikizela-Mandela became involved in ANC politics during the 1950s. Mme Winnie had to endure a forced separation from her husband. She was also subjected to a virtually uninterrupted series of legal orders. She was banned, but continued to work for the ANC underground.
Mme Winnie's courage and bravery inspired many young people in South Africa women and men equally. Because of her dedication and commitment to women's development, empowerment and emancipation, women are today well represented in Parliament, in local government, in the private sector and in various areas of the public sector. It is no surprise that when you travel on the continent and internationally you come across streets and buildings that are named after this hon stalwart, Mme Winnie Mandela.
The list of heroes I would like to honour for the sterling and instrumental role they played in shaping the politics and socioeconomic landscape of South Africa is exhaustive. Allow me, Deputy Chairperson, to select the three heroes that are worth mentioning today: Solomon Tshekiso Plaatje, who is popularly known as Sol Plaatje, Steven Bantubonke Biko, and Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu. Sol Plaatje was a politician, journalist, human rights campaigner, novelist and translator. He was one of the most gifted and versatile black South Africans of his generation. This hero was in the forefront of public affairs of the African people for the greater part of his adult life, as a politician, writer and journalist.
His profound passion was directed at the struggle of African people against injustice and dispossession during the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. He believed in the preservation of African languages and stories, and buried himself in writing the literature that we have to read today. Today we have a Sol Plaatje Municipality in the Northern Cape, dedicated to this hero for the immense role he played in South Africa.
Steven Bantu Biko was the most influential and radical student leader and law student of the 1970s. He became a martyr of the freedom struggle and posed one of the strongest challenges to the apartheid regime in the country. This honourable hero inspired many students during that time.
One of his characteristics was his political activism, which culminated in his engaging in educating and making black people conscious of their plight under the oppressive regime. His writing and commitment to Black Consciousness is the main legacy he bequeathed to later generations in South Africa's struggle for freedom. Unfortunately, his political career was aborted when he died at the hands of the brutal apartheid regime in 1977.
Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu joined the ANC in September 1976. He trained in Angola and Mozambique as a soldier. This young hero was executed in Pretoria Central Prison on 6 April 1979. He was hailed by the ANC as a hero of the revolutionary struggle in South Africa. The ANC named a training facility in Tanzania the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, Somafco, in honour of his courage and dedication. A plaque in Mamelodi Cemetery carries his last words. They read:
My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight.
Hon Deputy Chairperson, these were heroes and heroines of a special kind. The story of these heroes and heroines should continue to be told at home, as my colleague has just said. It should be told at schools, from the lowest level to the highest level. It should be told in the political gatherings that we have. It should be written in our literature. It should also carry the valuable message that we owe what we have today to these heroes and heroines.
Madam Deputy Chairperson, South Africa is endowed with world-class heritage sites: iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal, KZN, Robben Island here in the Western Cape, the Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in KZN, the Mapungubwe Region in Limpopo, the Vredefort Dome in North West, and the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape in the Northern Cape. This heritage picture tells one of a country extremely rich in heritage and culture.