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Date : 05/04/2004
Source: Department of Education
Title: K Asmal: Launch of Armed and Dangerous book


ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL, MP, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, AT THE LAUNCH OF ARMED AND DANGEROUS: FROM UNDERCOVER STRUGGLE TO FREEDOM, BY RONNIE KASRILS, MP, MINISTER OF WATER AFFAIRS AND FORESTRY, Johannesburg, 5 April 2004

It is truly a pleasure to say a few words about my comrade and dear friend, Ronnie Kasrils, and his new book, Armed and Dangerous: From Undercover Struggle to Freedom.

Yes, this is a new book. Do not be deceived by its apparent similarity to other books-one published in 1993, the other published in 1998-which happen to have the same title, as well as the same author. Do not be deceived. These are different books.

The book that was published in 1993-Armed and Dangerous: My Undercover Struggle against Apartheid-was a great book. For the first time, we got the inside story-on the ground and underground, in exile and in the country-of the courage and dedication of our people who were engaged in a sustained military struggle against apartheid.

Ronnie Kasrils' life was that struggle. He was there at the beginning. He was there in exile. He was back here in 1989, coming back into the country, during a time of great danger and uncertainty about our future. Published in the midst of difficult negotiations over our future, that book helped us understand an insider's experience of our principled and disciplined struggle against apartheid.

The book that was published in 1998 was also a great book. Published under different conditions, now in a democratic South Africa, that book, although it was also called, Armed and Dangerous, was a different book. That book gave us the opportunity to think about the transition from opposition, which included armed struggle, to governance, a transition that placed Ronnie Kasrils in the Ministry of Defence as Deputy to Minister Joe Modise.

During our transition from opposition to governance, I once made the mistake of casually remarking that we should not have an educator as Minister of Education just as we should not have a military person as Minister of Defence. In the abstract, maybe that is a good principle. But in our history, within the ANC, we produced soldiers, like Ronnie Kasrils, with a difference.

He was a scholar-soldier, writing books on the great British philosopher and campaigner for nuclear disarmament and world peace, Bertrand Russell. He was a poet-soldier, writing poetry for the liberation movement under the name, ANC Khumalo. During the 1970s, he wrote profoundly moving, inspirational poetry for the soldiers of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the generation of Soweto. For those of us working in the international anti-apartheid movement, he wrote this rather humorous poem, "City of London Profit Man," which he subtitled, "a jingle for the overseas investors in apartheid".

City gent
Money gent
Profit man
Louse
Stuffing your guts
With goose and grouse
Gold and gin
And dividends received
On what else does your belly feed?
Fat Bug!

City gent
Money gent
Profit man
Louse
Pewking
In his summer-house
Be-gloved be-jeweled
Tie-fidgeting breed
BEWARE!
We'll put an end to greed
POP!

The book published in 1998-Armed and Dangerous-gave us an opportunity to think about our transition-as the subtitle read, "from undercover struggle to freedom"-but it also made us aware of the continuity in principles, dedication, and collective action that flowed from the struggle into our democratic government.

Now, this book, published in 2004, is an entirely new book. In timely fashion, it appears during our celebrations of ten years of freedom and democracy in South Africa.

Do not be fooled by the title-Armed and Dangerous. This is not the same book. This is a new book. It allows us to reflect back on our history of struggle, which some might regard as almost ancient history, as a living memory that we must do everything we can to keep alive in our maturing democracy.

This new book, I can assure you, is definitely worth reading. In the updated sections, Ronnie Kasrils reveals that even after the resolution of our conflict and the birth of a democratic South Africa-even after we had established an ANC government-he continued to be armed and dangerous.

In this new book, he makes the surprising revelation-never before told-that I was the one responsible for arming him.

When he became Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry in 1999, I held a little ceremony-or party-to which Ronnie Kasrils was invited. I wanted to introduce him to his new staff and new offices. I also gave a farewell speech.

In this new book, you will find the inside story of that event, revealed for the first time, by Ronnie Kasrils. I quote: Kader Asmal "introduced me to his old department at his farewell function, presenting me with a water pistol. I filled it whilst he delivered his swan song and when he was done pursued him around the stage giving him a fair drenching."

So: Still armed, still dangerous. I might have been responsible for keeping him armed, but Ronnie Kasrils was entirely responsible on his own-and in his own way-for still being dangerous.

You will find other revelations in this new book. But I still find things that make me wonder what he means. For example, he says that while he was in the Ministry of Defence, he envied me because he was spending all of his time balancing budgets, but "The likes of Kader Asmal were bringing joy to the impoverished masses by laying on clean water to millions".

Now what does that mean? What does he mean by "the likes of Kader Asmal"? Who am I supposed to be like? Who is supposed to be like me? I don't know what he means when he says, "The likes of Kader Asmal . . . ."

Nevertheless, I do know exactly what he means when he says that we brought joy to people through water. And I know that over the past five years, as Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry-the wet and wild portfolio-that Ronnie Kasrils has known that joy just like "the likes of Kader Asmal."

If you look back at the poetry of ANC Khumalo during the 1970s, the poet seems to know that one day Ronnie Kasrils will be Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry in a liberated South Africa.

Here are waters and forests, in his moving farewell to M P Naicker:

It was as natural and sweet as mountain water
To call him 'qabane' and 'mfowetu'
As natural as it was for him
To place a friendly arm around our shoulders
And join in our joyous rounds of song.

When Freedom's sun rises out of the Indian Ocean
When Freedom's dawn breaks over the vast Malutis

Showering gold over the forests of sweet green cane
Over the land so gold and green and ebony
Your heirs will secure that final prize
With firm grip and steady gaze.

Here are forests, again, in his poem, "Spear of the Nation":
Let all behold
The spear in flight;
The singing metal
Cast from the mould of our red earth;
The great shaft
Fashioned from the trees
Of our timeless forests.

Ronnie Kasrils has embodied our capacity for transformation: Changing from fire to water. Changing from Red to Green. But there is also principled continuity in this life, a sustained commitment in theory and in practice to the liberation of our people and a better life for all. As his autobiography shows, throughout his life, in the words of the poet ANC Khumalo, Ronnie Kasrils has been dedicated to:

Life, not death,
Hope, not despair,
Dawn, not dusk,
New, not old,
Struggle, not submission.

Minister Kasrils and I go back a long way. In re-reading his autobiography, he reminds me that when we were together at the Kabwe conference in 1985, I said to him: "Soul brother"-yes, we used to talk like that-"it's good being with you because you're the kind of person things start happening around." He took this remark as a version of the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

Yes, we have lived in interesting times. Minister Ronnie Kasrils is still a person that things happen around. Ronnie Kasril's book reminds us of just how interesting and eventful our times have been. Our interesting times, however, have not been a curse but a blessing.

Last Wednesday, the Department of Education held a celebration - Keeping the Memory Alive, Shaping the Future-that was one of the most moving events I have ever attended. We were launching new books for teaching and learning about our history-for keeping the memory alive in our schools.

But we were also celebrating our capacity for memory-in the present-through the creative arts, poetry and music. We heard the most extraordinary praise poetry, about a slave woman who was freed in 1838, which linked us with her suffering, her endurance and her freedom of spirit. We heard the most extraordinary choral music, performed by high school students from our Tirisano Choir, that was the most pure, beautiful sound of freedom. We heard students reading testimonies from people-black and white-who had suffered under apartheid education, but had emerged from all that damage with free minds and hearts.

In all of this greatness-the confidence, the creativity, and the brilliance of our young people-we see the fruits of our freedom. This is what Ronnie Kasrils fought for. This is what so many of our comrades fought and died for.

At the event last Wednesday, our Nobel Laureate in Literature, Nadine Gordimer, spoke to us about the meaning of history. Our history, she said, needs to be animated by a "history from the inside", a history that emerges in the creativity of literature, through our novels, poetry, and plays, revealing the inner, intimate story of minds and hearts in history.

Ronnie Kasril's book, Armed and Dangerous, is an insider's account of the history of our struggle that is also what Nadine Gordimer calls a "history from the inside". Of course, there is enough adventure in this book to rival any novel. But we also read in and through all those daring exploits a story of mind and heart-a story of strategic thinking and deep devotion to the cause of freedom-that animates all of the action and drives the drama of the book.

So, I celebrate this new book. I congratulate the publisher, Jonathan Ball, for producing this new book. And I pay special tribute to my comrade, friend and soul brother, Ronnie Kasrils, for continuing to make things happen.

I thank you all.

Issued by: Department of Education
5 April 2004
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za)

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