A lot has been said in the past days about Madiba the reconciler, the man of forgiveness. But we must remember that he was the commander in chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was one of those who led the armed struggle. He was tough, he was a freedom fighter who said we’ve exhausted all our peaceful means of change and now it’s time to take up arms.
Those who really praise Madiba for being a reconciler are the middle class and particularly whites. This allows them to feel less guilty. But he is remembered and honoured by the poor and working class particularly for being a fighter.
Madiba was part of a whole group of remarkable people who all supported each other. Some were in favour of armed struggle and some thought it was wrong to take up arms, but they respected each other and each other’s view, and they all continued to support each other. These were people of enormous integrity. They included Chief Albert Luthuli, Walter Sisulu, Roy Naidoo, Oliver Tambo, Yusuf Dadoo, Moses Kotane, Helen Joseph, my father Bram Fischer and others. They supported each other because there was a mutual recognition of each other’s integrity. They all put other people before themselves. None of them sought power, recognition or money for themselves. Their cause was to bring freedom and justice to South Africa. They were true servants of the people.
But behind these leaders were many other people who supported the collective of the leaders. There were the families of the people who had gone to prison or who had gone into exile. They tried to keep their families together and still support the struggle. Albertina Sisulu and Caroline Motsoaledi come to mind. But there were many others, families that you may or may not have heard of, but who worked in quiet ways, often behind the scenes and without public recognition to bring about the change that today we are so grateful for.
To illustrate this point, I want to talk a little today about one such remarkable South African family. In the Naidoo family, five generations have been involved in the struggle for a free and just South Africa. The family spans a century of huge social upheaval and changes in the politics of this country. The Naidoo family was involved in the struggle throughout this time, first in legal battles for freedom and when this was no longer possible, in the underground struggle.
Thambi Naidoo came to South Africa in 1889. He was a founding member of the Transvaal Indian Congress and its first president. He was a very close colleague and collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi. He became involved in the early passive resistance campaigns against discriminatory laws which had been passed against Indians. Thambi Naidoo was arrested 14 times, the first time being in 1907.
Thambi’s son, daughter and daughter-in-law were all involved in the passive resistance campaigns in 1946-1947. At one time in 1947, 17 members of the family were in prison at the same time.
Roy Naidoo, Thambi’s son, was the chief volunteer officer for the defiance campaign in 1952, while Nelson Mandela was commander of this campaign.
The Naidoo home in Doornfontein was a central part of the struggle; in spite of being raided constantly by the security branch from the time of the passive resistance all the way through the struggle years, it was a meeting place for people of all races who came together to share food and ideas with each other. Ama Naidoo, Roy’s widow, continues to provide a warm, loving “struggle home” long after Roy’s death. Zenani and Zindzi Mandela were taken in by the family when their mother Winnie was in detention.
And it was not just that home in Doornfontein where people were cared for. Roy’s sister married and lived in Pretoria, and was known to everyone as Mrs Pillay. She and the Pretoria family continued their quiet support. For example, during more than four years of the Treason Trial, and during the Rivonia trial, Mrs Pillay organised her troops and ensured that the defendants were fed every day of those trials.
Roy and Ama’s children Shanthie, Indres, Murthie, Ramnie and Prem all joined the freedom movement and as repression increased, they began to suffer vengeful persecution – solitary confinement, torture and imprisonment.
These are the sort of people we need to remember and honour today.
My father Bram grew up in the aftermath of the South African War where his people had lost the struggle against colonialism. His family would at the time have described themselves as nationalists. This nationalism was not conservative, but was a critique of British imperialism. And later, when he joined the Communist Party which he felt was the only party where he could fight for equality for all; he saw this as a natural progression from fighting for the rights of one group to fighting for the rights of all South Africans.
It saddened him to see how his people, who had fought for their own liberation, could then become oppressors of others. We see the same happening with Zionists in Palestine. We see it happening in the xenophobic attacks in this country. We must guard our revolution.