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Date
: 07/02/2003
Source: Ministry of Housing
Title: Mthembi-Mahanyele: Unveiling of new name of Dept of
Housing's building
ADDRESS BY HOUSING MINISTER SANKIE MTHEMBI-MAHANYELE AT THE
UNVEILING CEREMONY FOR THE NEW NAME OF THE BUILDING THAT HOUSES THE
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING'S OFFICES, 7 February 2003
Programme Director
Heads of Institutions
Members of Staff
Ladies and gentlemen
For the past nine years the Department of Housing has been
exploring ways of making our services and location more accessible
to the people we are serving. On top of our priority list in this
regard was the need to identify a figure or an appropriate symbol
to which we could attach the work we are involved in. Very few
people know where we are located as a Department, yet we are in one
of the busiest corners of this city; at a corner of two of the
busiest one-way streets, which are also exits to the city of
Johannesburg.
We needed to come out of a shell and be visible to our clients and
all the people who might need our services. The most important
thing to do was that of renaming the building as a way of
expressing a collective consensus, which would encourage all
employees in this building and society in general to begin to own
what is good in our history and reject that which divided and hurt
us as a people. We ought to all feel that we want to pen a
statement on this new chapter opened by a democratic dispensation.
The new name affords us that and allows us to embrace progress and
development. For that we needed a relevant, a visible and an
identifiable image related to the services performed to the public
as well as a symbol we could all be proud of.
You will realise that the fact that it took so long to name this
building makes it clear that it was not easy to select a figure
symbol for our offices. I am delighted that no matter how difficult
this process might have been, we finally identified a suitable name
that would best identify with the poor, the homeless and the
critical task that is performed by this Department. I therefore
want us to celebrate for we have finally managed to come up with a
credible identity for our offices today.
The Department of Housing's central theme is "Housing the Nation"
and I must hasten to say that although we spent some time searching
for a name for our offices, we have, however, lived up to our
theme. My Department has worked tirelessly to try and house the
poor in decent and sustainable human settlements. Nothing deterred
us from giving shelter and secures tenure to eight million people
who had never experienced a decent and safe roof over their heads
before.
I am therefore pleased to announce that henceforth the name for our
building will be concise and palpable and make our offices
accessible, identifiable, respectable and also credible. Ladies and
gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that this building, from which
the policy and programme which delivered no less than 1, 45 million
houses to the poor, will be known as the Govan Mbeki
Building.
I trust that this is a well-chosen name, not due to his
relationship with our President, but because we all know that Mr
Govan Mbeki's philosophy emphasised the need for basic, decent and
acceptable quality of life for all the people in the country,
particularly the poor. During his lifetime, he supported the
Department of Housing's mandate of creating a viable and conducive
environment for our nation to move out of the trappings of
poverty.
We have chosen the name, Govan Mbeki, by virtue of the contribution
this outstanding individual made in the South African struggle, as
most appropriate. Throughout his entire life he committed himself
to serving the poor. Honouring this South African struggle hero by
naming the Department's offices after him will preserve his
philosophy and give the poor an appropriate symbol that they can
identify with, and give our Department the statue of an institution
serving the nation's homeless.
Oom Gov, as he was affectionately known, is one of those heroes who
have fought hard for the betterment of the lives of the majority of
the people of this country. He was a revolutionary, an educator, a
publicist, an organiser and a leader of our people over many
decades. He was a man who brought with him the rare qualities of
selflessness and utter devotion to the cause of the oppressed and
exploited of our country.
Born and bred in the rural Transkei some 92 years ago, he
contradicted the prevalent stereotypes of assuming that only a
certain class and background produces good leaders. He emerged from
a poverty-stricken background to lead the struggle for the
emancipation of the most marginalised in society. He left a legacy
that continues to remind us that the poor need a better life and
that the poor, if supported, participate in improving their
conditions. You will agree with me that by spending the better part
of his early life in the rural Transkei, he came to acquire
first-hand knowledge of the conditions and problems facing the
majority of small peasants, landless and homeless in the area, a
phenomenon, which was to be found in most parts of South Africa at
the time.
Oom Gov was among those who, early on, recognised the power of the
written word, as well as that of action by the people in the
liberation struggle. He possessed a sharp, critical mind; he had a
literary ability, which was capable of translating the reality of
apartheid South Africa in its social, political, economic and other
facets in the written word. In the process, he conscientised our
masses and helped catalyse the struggle for emancipation in South
Africa.
Among the actions he will always be remembered with is his
involvement in one of the fiercest of confrontations between the
oppressor and the oppressed in South Africa, which took place
between 1956 and 1960. The epic of the heroic resistance and
violent confrontation is to be found in many of his literary works,
including his book: " South Africa: The Peasants' Revolt". The
book, which was begun on rolls of toilet paper and smuggled out of
prison while he was awaiting trial under the Explosives Act, earned
him international recognition and an honorary doctorate of social
science from the University of Amsterdam.
In this book, Oom Gov demonstrated how the so-called helpless and
vulnerable can be a determining force in our society. In his
concluding remarks in this book he stated, and I quote:
"The peasants have demonstrated to the movement in practice what it
had always preached in theory, namely, impoverished peasantry, many
of them semi-proletarians, constituted a revolutionary force of
immense potential, once organised." Close quote.
Those who are involved in our projects such as the People's Housing
Process know what I'm talking about and will agree with me that
these words were like a prophecy to the work we are doing today. In
housing, we believe, as Oom Gov believed, that there is no person,
no matter how poor, who is helpless. We have in the past nine years
seen many individuals and communities rising up to face head-on the
plight of poverty and helping themselves fight for the betterment
of their lives.
I could spend the whole day explaining his involvement in the
struggle, especially the underground structures of the African
National Congress. Let me sum up, though, by saying that Oom Gov
was one of those leaders who would never surrender their noble
goals, no matter how difficult the course might be.
When the limits of peaceful, non-violent struggle were exhausted
and the decision taken to continue the political struggle using all
means available, including armed struggle, Oom Gov became one of
the key figures of the underground leadership. It was in this
capacity that he was arrested at Rivonia and later sentenced to
life-imprisonment with the likes of former President Nelson
Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Elias Motsoaledi, Ahmed Kathrada, Denis
Goldberg, Raymond Mhlaba and Andrew Mhlangeni.
As you already know, he is not being honoured for the first time
today. Twenty-two years ago the then Secretary-General of the
Africa National Congress, Alfred Nzo, announced the conferring of
the honoured title of Isithwalandwe on Oom Gov. He was not present
to receive the highest honour that his people and his movement
wished to bestow on him, because he was serving a life-imprisonment
sentence on Robben Island. Sadly too, he is not with us today to
witness this honour, because he passed away in 2001.
Lastly ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to use this name with
pride. What happens inside this House should not be contradictory
to what the name that has been inscripted outside stood for? Let us
all respect the principles that Oom Gov stood for and continue to
work for the betterment of the lives of the poor.
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