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Date : 08/04/2006
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mlambo-Ngcuka: Commemoration and unveiling of stone of Inkosi Ntsikayezwe Sigcau, Tabankulu


  Address delivered by the Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, at the 10th commemoration and unveiling of the stone of Inkosi Ntsikayezwe Sigcau, Tabankulu

Premier of the Eastern Cape, Nosimo Balindlela,
Minister of Public Works, Inkosazana Stella Sigcau,
Chairperson of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA),
Patrice Motsepe,
Traditional Leaders,
Religious Leaders,
The Ama Mpondomise Community

It is really a pleasure and a privilege for me to be here with you today as we honour and commemorate the 10th Anniversary since Inkosi Ntsikayezwe Sigcau passed on to the world of our ancestors thus joining the Great Kings of the Ama Mpondo people like his great great, grandfather iKumkani u Faku, and many others.

King Faku holds a special place in the hearts of the Ama Mpondo nation as one of the greatest kings and as the nation builder of Ama Mpondo. Many African nations also hold him in high esteem and hold his name in awe as one of the great kings to have graced the African continent. He is regarded as one of the unifiers of the Pondo people and those who were his subjects.

I Nkosi Ntsikayezwe Sigcau belonged to the Royal Reigning Line of the Ama Mpondo Kingdom. I Nkosi Ntsikayezwe Sigcau exhibited in all his life the legacy that was left by his forefathers, the Great Pondo Kings, as he always reflected a strong leadership capacity, bravery and sense of identity.

He committed himself to fighting for the liberation of all of South Africa at all costs. This further endeared him to his people who, despite the fact that he was a King, was also an elected representative of his people in the Eastern Cape Legislature from 1994 until his death in 1996. He dedicated his life to ensuring that African people are freed from mental slavery, poverty, colonisation, of the mind and any form of oppression. In him we had a King who embraced both traditional leadership as well as modern democratic principles.

It is important as well that while we honour and remember Inkosi Ntsikayezwe Sigcau we also pay a special tribute to the heroes of the struggle like Chief Bhambatha ka Mancinza Zondi, who a hundred years ago was at the head of a struggle of enormous proportions when he led the Bhambatha Rebellion against the Poll Tax that was imposed on Africans.

Preparations are well under way to mark the centenary of the Bhambata Rebellion, which took place in April 1906. This process will initiate celebrations in recognition of the bravery of the African people in fighting colonialism and its various forms of repression such as land and other dispossession and unjust tax laws. The anniversary also serves as an injunction for us to speed up comprehensive land reform, including the implementation of the resolutions of the Land Summit.

When traditional leaders led their people against the poll tax, they demanded Africans' sovereignty over their land. In commemorating Chief Bhambata's heroic deeds, we pay tribute to the leadership of 1906 for their valiant struggle for land rights in South Africa. We know that Chief Bhambatha also solicited help from other African kings in order to wage this struggle.

As government we are calling on the nation as a whole in all its sectors to celebrate the leaders of 1906 and to commit ourselves to ensuring that the land rights protected by our democratic Constitution are enjoyed by all.

Although the poll tax uprisings were suppressed by military force, resistance to oppression continued as new forms of struggle emerged, among them satyagraha of Mahatma Gandhi of which the centenary is also marked this year, and the formation in 1912 of the African National Congress which united all African ethnic groups after the call made by Pixley Isaka Ka Seme at the opening of the Conference when he said:

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