THE celebration of August as national Women's Month has been marked with great zeal and spectacular fanfare.
The event held in East London drew scores of women, who came from all the provinces to reflect on their current challenges and proffer ways of addressing them.
My great concern with these celebrations is not how they have been crafted, but in their abysmal lack of historical sensibilities.
The popular narrative deals with the 1956 woman's march to the Union Buildings to oppose the extension of carrying of passes by women as though that event was an end in itself, or for that matter, that it was the first of its kind. Granted, this historic action exemplified bravery beyond the call of political duty.
My concern is, however, with the ahistorical nature that underpins most of our celebrations. For example, it is noteworthy to accept that women embarked on a major campaign in 1956 to oppose the pass laws, but that campaign was not the first or the last of its kind.
The first major campaign waged by women against passes was in 1913, just after the imposition of the 1913 Land Act.
Thousands of women converged in Bloemfontein and brought pressure on the newly formed Union government of Louis Botha to abolish passes. They called the Orange Free State, the Orange "Slave" State and scores of them were arrested and others beaten up.
The second major campaign against passes was launched by Charlotte Maxeke, the first inaugural president of the ANC Women's League in 1919.
Maxeke, born Manye, was a woman of great distinction. She qualified overseas and on her return established a teacher and theological training institute called Wilberforce in Evaton in the Vaal.
In 1919, Maxeke squared up with the repressive regime of Jan Smuts, who had just emerged triumphant after World War 1 as he was instrumental in the establishment of the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations.
The 1919 march drew large crowds and rattled the racist foundations of the Smuts government.
As we celebrate the gallant struggle of the women of 1956, we dare not forget the equal gallantry of the class of 1913 and 1919. Their brave deeds must not be allowed to recede into historical oblivion on our truncated and sometimes jaundiced view of history.
It is also to this end that the struggles of Walter Rubusana, Modiri Molema, William Wauchope, Knox Bokwe, Langalibale Dube and S.E.K Mqhayi, to name a few, will remain buried under the disused debris of national forgetfulness for so long as we fail to develop a deep-rooted historical consciousness.
We highlight the 1956 women's march in so far as it represents the pinnacle of resistance of women against passes, but to give an impression, wittingly or unwittingly, that it was the only event that merits our appreciation and remembrance, is at best untenable as it is historically defective.
The same ahistorical attitude is glaringly displayed when we celebrate the role of various leaders in our struggle. We tend to reward the leader who reaches the winning post first and forget that he was part of the relay race where the baton was transferred from one able runner to the other.
For example, Oliver Tambo shouldered the ANC, almost single-handedly, for more that 30 years in exile. He opened diplomatic relations, traversed political virgin ground by initiating military training and also dealt with the vicissitudes of exile and its attendant psychosis that plagued a generation of fighters.
He gave them hope that one day they would land on the shores of an independent, free and democratic South Africa.
There is a risk that Tambo's historical contribution is gradually lapsing into rear memory. We must loathe a political approach that seeks to diminish our rich historical scope of reference.
Problems we face were encountered before and solutions lie in a sojourn to that past. In the words of slaves on the US plantations: "The past is no forgotten vistas upon which we dare not look, like the wives of Lot, afraid that we shall turn into pillars of salt..."
- The writer is director of the Pan African Foundation
Women fought many battles
THE celebration of August as national Women's Month has been marked with great zeal and spectacular fanfare.
The event held in East London drew scores of women, who came from all the provinces to reflect on their current challenges and proffer ways of addressing them.
My great concern with these celebrations is not how they have been crafted, but in their abysmal lack of historical sensibilities.
The popular narrative deals with the 1956 woman's march to the Union Buildings to oppose the extension of carrying of passes by women as though that event was an end in itself, or for that matter, that it was the first of its kind. Granted, this historic action exemplified bravery beyond the call of political duty.
My concern is, however, with the ahistorical nature that underpins most of our celebrations. For example, it is noteworthy to accept that women embarked on a major campaign in 1956 to oppose the pass laws, but that campaign was not the first or the last of its kind.
The first major campaign waged by women against passes was in 1913, just after the imposition of the 1913 Land Act.
Thousands of women converged in Bloemfontein and brought pressure on the newly formed Union government of Louis Botha to abolish passes. They called the Orange Free State, the Orange "Slave" State and scores of them were arrested and others beaten up.
The second major campaign against passes was launched by Charlotte Maxeke, the first inaugural president of the ANC Women's League in 1919.
Maxeke, born Manye, was a woman of great distinction. She qualified overseas and on her return established a teacher and theological training institute called Wilberforce in Evaton in the Vaal.
In 1919, Maxeke squared up with the repressive regime of Jan Smuts, who had just emerged triumphant after World War 1 as he was instrumental in the establishment of the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations.
The 1919 march drew large crowds and rattled the racist foundations of the Smuts government.
As we celebrate the gallant struggle of the women of 1956, we dare not forget the equal gallantry of the class of 1913 and 1919. Their brave deeds must not be allowed to recede into historical oblivion on our truncated and sometimes jaundiced view of history.
It is also to this end that the struggles of Walter Rubusana, Modiri Molema, William Wauchope, Knox Bokwe, Langalibale Dube and S.E.K Mqhayi, to name a few, will remain buried under the disused debris of national forgetfulness for so long as we fail to develop a deep-rooted historical consciousness.
We highlight the 1956 women's march in so far as it represents the pinnacle of resistance of women against passes, but to give an impression, wittingly or unwittingly, that it was the only event that merits our appreciation and remembrance, is at best untenable as it is historically defective.
The same ahistorical attitude is glaringly displayed when we celebrate the role of various leaders in our struggle. We tend to reward the leader who reaches the winning post first and forget that he was part of the relay race where the baton was transferred from one able runner to the other.
For example, Oliver Tambo shouldered the ANC, almost single-handedly, for more that 30 years in exile. He opened diplomatic relations, traversed political virgin ground by initiating military training and also dealt with the vicissitudes of exile and its attendant psychosis that plagued a generation of fighters.
He gave them hope that one day they would land on the shores of an independent, free and democratic South Africa.
There is a risk that Tambo's historical contribution is gradually lapsing into rear memory. We must loathe a political approach that seeks to diminish our rich historical scope of reference.
Problems we face were encountered before and solutions lie in a sojourn to that past. In the words of slaves on the US plantations: "The past is no forgotten vistas upon which we dare not look, like the wives of Lot, afraid that we shall turn into pillars of salt..."
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos