Date: 22/01/2007
Source: KwaZulu Natal Provincial Government
Title: Ndebele: Legacy of King Cetshwayo during Isithangami


Speech by Mr S'bu Ndebele, Premier of KwaZulu Natal on the legacy of King Cetshwayo delivered during the Isithangami, Durban

Master of Ceremonies and Faciltator Mr Nhlanhla Mtaka
Colleagues Professor Jabulani Maphalala and Dr Reggie Khumalo
Members of the Isithangami here present
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a matter of great inspiration to see the people of KwaZulu Natal, in the form of Isithangami, come together, not as observers seeking to out compete one another in an orgy of criticism and denunciation of others, but with the serious intention to assist in the rebuilding and reshaping of our province and the continent.

I am certain that many present today are of the view that the future is Africa. As we launch this King Cetshwayo Commemorative lecture, we should first agree on one thing, that this great Zulu victory of 1879, popularly known as Isandhlwana was not an isolated reaction by a blood thirsty people. It was part of the continental wars of resistance against colonialism and imperialism and later apartheid.

It must be said that episodes of resistance occurred in almost every African colony. Some were settled by short, sharp actions while others were longer. After occupying the Asante capital, Kumasi the British were besieged there for four months until they sent for reinforcement. Elsewhere in West Africa, Samoure Toure, founder of the Mandigo Empire, waged an eight-year campaign against the French. In Rhodesia the Ndebele fought gallantly against white invaders. In Kenya the Nandi did the same. However some of these resistance wars were not in favour of Africans. In Namibia, the German invaders murdered three quarters of the Nama people between 1904 and 1908. In the British Cape Colony in 1806, Xhosa speaking South Africans recorded a number of deaths in the genocidal wars of resistance, in 1811-1812, 1834-1835, 1847-1848, 1850-1853.

While I have your ear, let me state what we see as the objective of my address this evening, by telling you what I am not going to be doing tonight. Firstly, we are not going to give you a lesson in the history of Zulu Kings or of kings and kingdoms in general.

Secondly, we are not going to be addressing you on King Cetshwayo, the Zulu monarch whose influence was limited only to the geographical area north of the uThukela River, and whose reach was perhaps proscribed by the ethnic group that he belonged to.

In a way therefore, this leads us directly to the perspectives we are going to adopt in looking at the legacy of Inkosi uCetshwayo. We are going to talk about King Cetshwayo variously as leader and defender of the people, Cetshwayo as international diplomat and statesman, and as peacemaker among others. Woven into one, these will form the historical tapestry through which I will speak about one of our greatest kings today.

In short we have taken the liberty to speak of the relevance of Inkosi uCetshwayo and his inspiration to the African Renaissance.

For a start let me stay with the struggle against colonialism through the ages. I would argue that the Bhambatha Uprising of 1906 was influenced in no small measure by the victory at Isandhlwana. I am equally aware that the battle of the Maji Maji from 1905?1907, waged against German encroachment in East Africa, was also influenced by this victory. The Algerian War of Independence (1954?1962) from which Frantz Fanon launched his psychoanalysis of the colonial mindset and system, also benefited from Isandhlwana.

If the Bhambatha Uprising started the art of guerrilla warfare in Africa, many subsequent movements on this continent which struggled by force of arms against racism and colonialism, therefore ultimately owed their conviction to the bravery displayed by the Zulu warriors in that famous victory. Therefore so does the Mau-Mau guerrilla warfare in Kenya (1952?1956); the first and second Chimurenga wars of liberation in Zimbabwe in the 1890s and 1970s and the Soweto students revolts in 1976 which unleashed thousands into the waiting arms of Umkhonto we Sizwe in exile.

It is important to speak of the struggle because I believe this is the basis for our true liberation and our ability as equals to seek an African Renaissance among the nations of the world.

Writing in The London Independent on 24 November 2006 Ian Herbert had this to say about Inkosi uCetshwayo and I quote:

"Britain had no reason to cherish the Zulu king Cetshwayo kaMpande in the early days of 1879. He inflicted on the British Empire the most crushing military defeat it had known. Only the legendary British fight back at Rorke's Drift, immortalised in the film Zulu, starring Michael Caine, has preserved the reputation of those military leaders who decided to take him on in the Zulu War."

Herbert continues: "But Cetshwayo has now been deemed worthy of an (appropriate) accolade that will hang outside the townhouse in Kensington, London, where he stayed, only three years after his massacre of the British." In its publication Sechaba, the then-banned African National Congress (ANC) said and I quote:

"On January 22 (1979), our movement commemorated the centenary of the battle of Isandhlwana. Indeed, it was more than just a commemoration, it was a celebration. On that day Cetshwayo's men outmanoeuvred and wiped out to a man, an entire column of the British invading force - the most modern and well-equipped that the world's leading colonial power could put up into the field. This was one of the most humiliating defeats in the annals of British military history?."

The Sechaba article continues and I quote:

"The remarkable heroism of our people resisted the robbery, rape and plunder of our land by invaders. The intruders paid dearly in life and blood. The indomitable fighting spirit among our people is based on the revolutionary and military traditions of our people: Griqua, Pedi, Sotho, Shangaan, Tswana, Xhosa, Zulu and others. The Shakas, Makandas, Sekhukhunis, Moeshoeshoes and Cetshwayos of today are in Umkhonto we Sizwe."

Describing the terrible cost of victory after the Battle of Isandhlwana, as the wounded did not make it to the purification ceremonies, King Cetshwayo said:

"I was King of the Zulus, had my country invaded by the Queen's troops, tried to defend my country, but was beaten, taken captive and brought down here (to Cape Town) by the Queen's orders. Here I intend to remain until the Queen restores me to Zululand."

So here we have established a hero of the liberation movements of the world and a diplomat. We have above a seeker of peace. We have here a unifier and we have a combination of traits that are necessary for the New Man, the New Woman of the African Renaissance and the quest for a new African identity.

It is important that, as we create a new environment for Africa's revival, we constantly and consciously remove any notion that an African identity is a racial one. This notion of race has at its heart the unscientific idea that race is a pure category. It is exactly this that was largely responsible for the perpetuation of racism and colonialism against those who were perceived to be of a lesser hue than others.

For this reason, it is important to state that the cost of slavery, colonialism and racism is not only a cost to Africans and other so-called Third World communities who were at the receiving end of these systems. The human cost of slavery is to be debited to the entire human race. This is the same human race that we know today emanates from one single source, which is Africa the Cradle of Humankind. The capacity to inflict death and destruction on self and neighbour tells us of the depths of depravity that human beings are capable of descending to. Against the atrocities of Rwanda and Burundi, our collective memories remain perhaps our potent weapon, but it is a true African Renaissance that will truly ensure that such never happens again.

Painful as it is sometimes is, for Africans to assume their correct position in the annals of history it is necessary that we look back. It is particularly necessary in a place such as Africa where to this day, we are still reaping the whirlwind of our collective follies as the human race, where the legacy of racial suppression continues to place the African in a position of economic subservience to the rest of the world. Thus, it will be appropriate that we are reminded that at one point Africa was also the Cradle of Science, Africa was once the centre of mathematics, as it has been the centre of philosophical and other intellectual pursuits. Most of this glorious past belongs to an era long lost during which there was extended peace and security on the continent, a condition that is necessary for the African Renaissance.

In a tribute to Congo's first President Patrice Lumumba, in the essay "Lumumba's Death: Could We Do Otherwise," published in his book Toward the African Revolution (1964), Frantz Fanon makes these observations:

"Africa must understand that it is no longer possible to advance by regions, that, like a great body that refuses any mutilation, she must advance in totality, that there will not be one Africa that fights against colonialism and another that attempts to make arrangements with colonialism. Africa, that is to say the Africans, must understand that there is never any greatness in procrastination and that there is never any dishonour in saying what one wants and that in reality the cleverness of the colonised can in the last analysis only be his courage, the lucid consciousness of his objectives and of his alliances, the tenacity that he brings to his liberation."

Thus defined, the African renaissance is an opportunity for Africans to set the agenda according to their own realities and to take account of the reality and the world around them. It is about Africans being the agents of their own history and masters of their own destiny. A question may be asked as to why the renaissance of the continent is so important to South Africa.

Indeed as pointed out by Andrew F Cooper, "because of its unique position and experience with transformation, the expectation on South Africa as a catalyst for an African Renaissance, remains exceptionally high."

Advancing the African Renaissance cause to the international audience in 1999, President Thabo Mbeki spoke of "the inspiring perspective of African unity and solidarity and the renewal of our continent as the cornerstone for the role of Africa" in the world. President Mbeki said it was critically important to develop "Pan African solidarity into a popular movement for an African Renaissance and that accordingly?political organisations and governments in all African countries should be mobilised to act in furtherance of the objectives of the African Renaissance. Equally, the masses and their organisations in all African countries should similarly be mobilised. We must pay attention to the intelligentsia, professionals, traditional leaders, cultural workers, the media, and bring them into the popular struggle."

President Mbeki further argued that the conditions existed for the African Renaissance to become a practical programme of action to enable:

* the completion of the continental process of the liquidation of the colonial system in Africa
* the recognition of the bankruptcy of colonialism and neo-colonialism by the masses of the people throughout the continent, including by the middle strata
* the weakening of the struggle among major powers for spheres of influence on our continent at the end of the Cold War.

It was thus in the interest of all Africans to encourage the realisation of these goals throughout the continent, at the same time as they are pursued in each individual country. This would make participation in world politics by Africans more meaningful. Indeed, the participation of provinces in their self-defined roles in South Africa's own renaissance will make the country's participation in the African Renaissance more meaningful.

In essence this would ensure that when we say the people shall govern we mean that among others democratic institutions have been established, but we also mean that there are structures and sufficient efforts towards the economic development of the continent.

This means:

* establishing the institutions and procedures that would enable the African continent collectively to deal with questions of democracy, peace and stability
* achieving sustainable economic development that results in the continuous improvement of standards of living and quality of life of the masses of people
* qualitatively changing Africa's place in the world economy so that it would be free of the yoke of international debt burden and no longer a supplier of raw materials and an importer of manufactured goods
* ensuring the emancipation of women of Africa
* recovery of Africa's creative past to recapture the people's cultures, encourage advancement of science and technology
* strengthening the genius independence of African countries and continent in their relations with the major powers and enhancing their role in the determination of the global system of governance in all fields; including politics, the economy, security, information and intellectual property, the environment, and science and technology
* using African culture and language to redefine Africa's identity relative to the rest of the world.

To return to the beginning, I would argue that King Cetshwayo had a lasting influence on the liberation struggle against colonialism and apartheid. I have also argued that the current trajectory of the African Renaissance, which is part of the continued liberation of Africa, is a continuation of the victory at Isandhlwana. I would also argue that between these strands there is no doubt that King Cetshwayo, in the way he carried himself while in London and in dealings with white people, was also a diplomat. He was able to keep a cool head in the face of adversity.

It is also clear that when unity was needed, King Cetshwayo was able to argue for the setting aside of personal differences with his brothers, in order that they could face a common enemy that wanted to annihilate the Zulu nation. These I would argue are some of the key tenets that are necessary for Africa to take its place in the community of nations.

It is clear that the personal character of the political King Cetshwayo is complex and varied. It is easy to conclude however that with further study and research, King Cetshwayo will begin to occupy his rightful place in the history of Africa and humanity as a whole.

This will not happen automatically. History is what is recorded. Put differently, what is not recorded is not history, no matter how heroic an achievement it is. This is the challenge posed by the African Renaissance to intellectuals and the Wise among our people in KwaZulu Natal to document events of the past and present, so we create our own history and histography.

I thank you.

Issued by: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
22 January 2007