Thank you, Deputy Chair. Deputy Chairperson, Minister Mashatile, hon members, exactly 99 years and 255 days ago on this day the people's movement was founded in Mangaung, Bloemfontein. The movement is the oldest living national liberation movement in Africa, and next year, in exactly 110 days from today, 8 January 2012, this movement of the people will be celebrating its centenary, an historic achievement. In cricket we would say, "100 not out."
This is indeed a great achievement and we owe it to our founding fathers. Their vision to unite all our people to fight against colonialism in defence of their rights and freedom is what we cherish today.
This vision was shared in 1911 by Pixley ka Seme, when he said:
The demon of racialism ... must be buried and forgotten ... We are one people. These divisions, these jealousies, are the cause of all our woes and of all backwardness and ignorance today.
Today, as we look back with pride, we must pay tribute to all our national heroes, the great visionaries of our struggle and true leaders of our people, whose vision and deeds have enriched the pages of human history. The ANC has over the decades produced leaders who had clarity of vision, and unwavering commitment and dedication to the cause of freedom. They understood the political conflict in South Africa very well, and how it could be resolved.
History will not forgive us if we do not remember all the heroes and heroines of the many wars of resistance that were fought after the arrival of the first settlers from Europe by the gallant and brave San and Khoi, the Xhosa tribes in the Cape, and all our people.
King Adam Kok, the first leader of the Khoisan people was incarcerated and held in the Castle, in a section of it which was called the Donker Gat. Adam Kok was held because he refused to submit to the demands of colonialism. Many leaders of the Khoisan, such as Autshumato, and his niece, Krotoa, were some of the first prisoners on Robben Island, in 1658 and 1669 respectively. The Khoisan people resisted colonialism from the very beginning and paid a high price for that. Some were even banished to Batavia, today part of Indonesia, because of their opposition to colonialism. Many lost their lives.
We are happy that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is currently processing and finalising the National Traditional Affairs Bill, which will give recognition to the Khoisan people.
From the beginning our leaders, Dr John Langalibalele Dube, Solomon Plaatje and others, in response to the formation of the union, committed themselves to fighting the demons of colonialism. They challenged the introduction of the Natives Land Act of 1913 and passes which controlled the movements of Africans. They sent delegations and petitions to Britain to appeal the laws, but all those attempts were continuously ignored, and thereafter government policies became harsher and more racist.
During the period after its establishment in 1912 the ANC began a passive and nonviolent struggle against colonialism. The leaders were John Langalibalele Dube from 1912 to 1917; Sefako Makgatho from 1917 to 1924; Z R Mahabane, who served his first term from 1924 to 1927; Josiah Gumede from 1927 to 1930; Pixley ka Seme from 1930 to 1936; Z R Mahabane, who served his second term from 1937 to 1940; and A B Xuma from 1940 to 1949.
Anton Lembede led a young group of leaders from the ANC Youth League in 1944 which radically changed the programme of the ANC and boosted the leadership of Dr James Sebe Moroka. In 1949 the young leaders brought new life to the movement. Here I am referring to leaders such as Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and many others, who believed that Africans would be freed only by their own efforts. They began to involve the masses of the people in militant struggles and introduced the programme of action later adopted by the ANC in 1949.
This started the Defiance Campaign against the racist laws of the then government. The Defiance Campaign made huge gains for the ANC because, firstly, it increased its membership. Secondly, it resulted in closer co- operation between the ANC and the South African Indian Congress. Thirdly, it led to the formation of new organisations, such as the South African Coloured People's Organisation and the South African Congress of Democrats, which was an organisation of white democrats. These organisations, together with the South African Congress of Trade Unions, Sactu, formed the Congress Alliance.
Led from the front by Chief Albert Luthuli, who became the ANC President in 1952, Comrades Walter Sisulu, Yusuf Dadoo, Oliver Tambo, Ismail Cachalia, Nelson Mandela and other Congress Alliance leaders came together to organise what was called the Congress of the People, a conference of all the people of South Africa, which presented people's demands for the kind of South Africa they wanted. The demands called for, among other things, the people to govern; the land to be shared by those who worked it; houses; work and security; and free and equal education. These demands, drawn together, resulted in a document called the Freedom Charter, which was then adopted at the Congress of the People in Kliptown on 26 June 1955.
Also, under the leadership of Prof Z K Matthews and Lionel Bernstein, who played a critical role, the Congress Alliance was a big success and of great importance. It brought blacks and whites together on a much greater scale in the fight for justice and democracy. The Congress Alliance was an expression of the ANC's policy of nonracialism. This was expressed in the Freedom Charter, which declared that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white". [Interjections.] I was telling you that the other day.
However, the massacre of peaceful protestors in Sharpeville and the government banning of the ANC and the PAC left our leaders with no other choice but to take up arms. They went underground and continued to organise secretly. That led to the formation of our glorious people's army, uMkhonto weSizwe, MK, to hit back using all the means within our power in defence of our people, our future and our freedom.