From those who met him, it was always clear that Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe would leave his mark in South African history.
When I grew up in Daveyton, we used to chant a slogan that went: "We will never betray Sobukwe." The man led in deed and thought.
I remember the Sobukwe Inaugural Lecture at Fort Hare organised by the Steve Biko Foundation in March 2003, where the late Es'kia Mphahlele made an allusion to the "crass political mediocrity, even immaturity", asking rhetorically: "What nation forgets its political and intellectual ancestors so cruelly?"
The name Sobukwe was not mentioned, even by one government official, including the caretaker president.
We owe it to ourselves as a nation as we commemorate Human Rights Day to acknowledge that not mentioning the name Sobukwe is a betrayal and a distortion of history. Even the ruling party will, of course, admit to this fact of history.
Such distortion cannot be allowed to go on forever.
Thulani Ka Skhosana,
Benoni
It is betrayal to forget Sobukwe
From those who met him, it was always clear that Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe would leave his mark in South African history.
When I grew up in Daveyton, we used to chant a slogan that went: "We will never betray Sobukwe." The man led in deed and thought.
I remember the Sobukwe Inaugural Lecture at Fort Hare organised by the Steve Biko Foundation in March 2003, where the late Es'kia Mphahlele made an allusion to the "crass political mediocrity, even immaturity", asking rhetorically: "What nation forgets its political and intellectual ancestors so cruelly?"
The name Sobukwe was not mentioned, even by one government official, including the caretaker president.
We owe it to ourselves as a nation as we commemorate Human Rights Day to acknowledge that not mentioning the name Sobukwe is a betrayal and a distortion of history. Even the ruling party will, of course, admit to this fact of history.
Such distortion cannot be allowed to go on forever.
Thulani Ka Skhosana,
Benoni
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