Fifty years ago, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, then a US presidential candidate, visited South Africa and met Chief Albert Luthuli. This memorable meeting was recalled during a speech South African Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa gave this week.

“South Africa’s freedom from apartheid in 1994 was achieved through national and global efforts all merged in the quest and belief in the dignity of humanity, human freedom, and an equitable and just society,” said Mthethwa at the Luthuli Museum in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal on Monday.

The families of Robert F. Kennedy and Chief Albert Luthuli were at the event.

Mthethwa said that ahead of the 50th anniversary of the historic June 8, 1966 meeting between the two political luminaries, the commemoration of this anniversary “provides an opportunity to revisit our history as South Africa within a context of renewed public discourse and efforts aimed at filling all the historical gaps and broadening the scope of interpretation pertaining to our struggle for freedom from apartheid repression”.

The anti-apartheid struggle, and the country’s ensuing democracy, Mthethwa said, was brought about through a collaborative effort of people both in South Africa and in other countries and the “rippling effect of these efforts created and sustained change and brought hope for a better tomorrow”.

Kennedy visited South Africa during a five-day tour at the behest of the National Union of South African Students and met with Luthuli, who was the African National Congress’ president-general and a Nobel Peace Laureate, for just over an hour.

Mthethwa recalled Luthuli as “a man who fought for the betterment of his people; the coexistence of societies, irrespective of race; colour or creed and was himself banned and placed under severe restrictions”.

He recalled that Kennedy fought against organised crime and corruption and was an advocate for civil rights for African Americans. “In all, he stood for a better America and a better world.”

Mthethwa reflected that while Kennedy’s 70-minute meeting with Luthuli “insignificant as it might seem within the broader context of history, unquestionably had its own ripple effect”.

Kennedy’s visit, he added, came at the height of apartheid oppression when political organisations were banned and freedom fighters imprisoned or exiled.

“The decade of the 1960s was difficult one indeed, especially for those who believed in the universality of human rights; peace and social justice for all.”

He noted how at the time Kennedy visited, US civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jnr had publicly linked the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the struggle against apartheid repression in South Africa and how Luthuli and King had jointly issued a statement that called for sanctions against apartheid in South Africa.

Quoting the words of film producer Larry Shore, Mthethwa said: “‘Robert Kennedy’s visit gave opponents of apartheid – both black and white – hope and courage to challenge the apartheid system at a time when they felt isolated and few in the outside world knew what was happening in South Africa.'”

The minister said the anniversary “offers an opportunity for all of us to rekindle and reignite our commitment to fight and stand for what they believed and died for. And that is a better South Africa; a better America and a better world.”