A defining moment in S. Africa's history

By M. S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, JUNE 25. On this day, 46 years ago, the Congress of the People, a gathering of 2,884 delegates drawn from all sections of South African society, began a two-day meeting at Kliptown near Johannesburg. The initiative for the congress was taken by the African National Congress, which was joined by the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Organisation and the Congress of Democrats.

The four organisations broadly represented all the racial groups of South Africa, the Africans, the people of Indian origin, the Coloureds and the Whites. The organisations were also united in their opposition to the apartheid regime and their commitment to a non-racial, democratic South Africa.

At the end of two days of deliberations, marked by active participation by the delegates, the Congress adopted the Freedom Charter on June 26, 1995. That day came to be celebrated annually as Freedom Day by the ANC and all democratic South Africans, in exile or in prison or fighting in the trenches within the country, though this is no more the case since the advent of democracy. The 10-point charter became the policy document of the ANC the following year, and remained the defining document of the South African revolution.

The charter declared: The people shall govern; All national groups shall have equal rights; The people shall share in the country's wealth; The land shall be shared among those who work it; All shall be equal before the law; All shall enjoy human rights; There shall be work and security; The doors of learning and culture shall be opened; There shall be houses, security and comfort; There shall be peace and friendship.

The directness, simplicity and eloquence of these formulations, in particular the opening formulation in the Preamble - ``South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white'' - has inspired and will continue to inspire generations of South Africans. These ideas, and their amplifications in the relevant paragraphs, have profoundly influenced the crafting of democratic South Africa's Constitution, with its unequivocal commitment to human and democratic rights. In the words of the President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, ``The Freedom Charter is not merely an historical document; it remains still an important guide about the direction in which we should take our country''. (ANC Today, June 22, 2001).

However, the actual policies of the democratic Government in practice have, either by choice or because of circumstances and compulsions beyond its control, not always remained true to the commitments and promises made in the charter. This is not surprising, for such is the case with even the most inspiring and scientifically crafted of manifestos envisaging a whole new world, not to speak of a new South Africa.

Democratic South Africa has also stopped observing June 26 as Freedom Day which is now officially observed on April 27, the anniversary of the day on which in 1994 all adult South Africans voted for the first time in a democratic election. Strictly speaking, April 27 should have found official recognition as ``Independence Day'', marking the transition from colonial bondage to freedom and political independence.

Perhaps, given the ambiguous way in which the transition was negotiated, with no clear-cut ``winners and losers'', such demarcation between the past and future was not possible. Nevertheless, the differing perceptions of the past, present and future of South Africa underlying these concepts, as indeed the positing of the concepts of ``Freedom'' and ``Independence'', continue to be in contestation.

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Section  : International
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