FREE DAILY EMAIL

Date : 03/10/2004
Source: The Presidency
Title: J Zuma: Anniversary of formation of Cradock Civic & Youth Associations


ADDRESS DELIVERED BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT J ZUMA AT THE 21st ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF THE CRADOCK CIVIC ASSOCIATION (CRADORA) AND THE CRADOCK YOUTH ASSOCIATION (CRADOYA) Lingelihle Hall, Cradock, 3 October 2004

Premier of the Eastern Cape, Nosimo Balindlela
Cabinet Ministers
MECs
Members of National and Provincial Parliaments
Mayors and Councillors
Family Members of the Cradock Four
Community Leaders
Members of the Cradock Community
Chief Whip of the ANC in the National Assembly, Mbulelo Goniwe
Friends and Comrades
Ladies and Gentlemen

We are gathered here today to celebrate the 21st Anniversary of the formation of the Cradock Residents Association (Cradora) and the Cradock Youth Association (Cradoya) that took place in 1983.

The birth of these two organisations was a milestone in our struggle since it indicated the will of our people to organize themselves and launch a final offensive against apartheid, during a period which the ANC had termed the decade of freedom: the 1980s.

The formation of Cradora and Cradoya was an event of historical significance, since many similar organisations were being set up across the length and breadth of South Africa, and were being organized under the broad umbrella of the United Democratic Front (UDF). Within a space of two years this had become a worrying factor to the apartheid regime, such that it was employing desperate measures to quell the tide of internal resistance, but to no avail.

The desperation of the apartheid regime was proven here in Cradock when they assassinated Comrades Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlawuli, in 1985, who were brutally murdered by the security forces of the ruthless apartheid regime. But this could not quell the spirit and determination of the people to be free.

The assassination of these comrades here in Cradock, and many others all over the country still remain vivid to many activists who were part of the liberation movement and the United Democratic Front (UDF), their brutal slaying in the hands of apartheid security, and their mutilated bodies, will forever remain etched in our memories and collective consciousness as a nation.

The assassinations and elimination of comrades that was taking place here in Cradock and in every corner of the country were part of the destabilisation strategy and Low Intensity Warfare that the apartheid regime had launched against our people, aimed at weakening the liberation movement.

When Cradora and Cradoya were formed they played an instrumental role in the upsurge of popular revolt against apartheid in Cradock and the Eastern Cape. They helped in the mobilisation and organisation of our people, around the bread and butter issues, and also for freedom and democracy. They were in the forefront of the struggles of our people at a local level and ensured that our people were united against apartheid.

Members of these organisations were part of the revolutionary mass of our people who responded positively to the call that had been made by the ANC President Oliver Tambo in the January 8 Statement of 1983, when he said:

(I quote)
"In the face of this enemy counter-offensive, we must hit back with all our strength, ensuring that the millions of our people are engaged in struggle. To increase our offensive power we must organise the people into strong democratic formations; we must organise all revolutionaries into underground units of the ANC; we must organise all combatants into units of Umkhonto we Sizwe; we must organise all democratic forces into one front for national liberation." (Close quote).

The formation of the UDF and its affiliates like the Cradock Residents Association (Cradora) and Cradock Youth Association (Cradoya) in 1983, and many organisations of popular mass support was therefore a direct result of this call made by President OR Tambo. The people of Cradock were therefore combatants of the ANC who were fulfilling this mandate we have spoken about.

The people of Cradock have never really found time to grieve and to heal the scars that were opened when they lost many activists and leaders. They did not find time to reflect about the significance of those killings, because the struggle had to go on.

When we celebrate the formation of Cradora and Cradoya we must also pay a special tribute to it for producing leaders and members of such outstanding courage.

We are therefore also here today once again to afford the people of Cradock with an opportunity to come to terms with their loss, to mourn, and to say that it is part of our policy to let the people deal with their pain, loss and grief in a public and communal way.

This has been done in various parts of the country and neighbouring countries like Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana where we have honoured those of our people who died in foreign lands, so that people will have closure from the pain that the apartheid regime visited upon them, this forms part of the Freedom Park Trust initiative that was launched a few years ago, and forms part of the Reconciliation and Cleansing Ceremonies.

We are here also to recognize the role of ordinary people of Cradock, for their outstanding role in the fight against apartheid. We say when the ANC was still banned and was in exile the actions that ordinary people took to oppose apartheid greatly inspired many of us and was a constant source of strength, and we knew that apartheid rule would come to an end sooner rather than later.

Your fearlessness and courage encouraged us in all our efforts. We are happy to say today that the role that was played by internal democratic mass formations was a determining factor in finally breaking the neck of the apartheid regime. We say the active role that was played by the masses of our people was instrumental, towards the final outcome, and you were truly the midwives of the democratic breakthrough of April 27, 1994.

The urgent business that confronted our country after 1994 was how to re-build a nation from the debris of apartheid, and lead towards a greater goal of nation building and reconciliation.

This year we have celebrated ten years of freedom and democracy. As we enter the second decade of freedom we need to deal with a challenge of demoralisation and disillusionment of many of our people who were active in the struggle against apartheid.

It is a challenge to all of us to make sure that democracy and freedom also bring about the material changes in the lives of our people. Freedom in our country has provided us with real opportunities to change the lives of our people for the better.

But freedom also comes with its own responsibilities which require that our people must be the agents of change and transformation, freedom means that we need to take an active interest in the reconstruction and development of our country.

The UDF through Cradora and Cradoya empowered us with many skills, and those skills need to be utilized today as we rebuild and reconstruct our country. We need those skills of mobilisation and organisation today more than ever before to be used in mobilising our people to enter into a people's contract with our government to build a better life for all.

We need the greatest majority of our people to work in partnership with the government to deal with issues that directly affect their communities like crime, job creation initiatives, provision of basic services to our people in an accelerated and focused way. We must realize that government on its own cannot deal with all these challenges without the support of the people.

The government has launched various initiatives to deal with issues of unemployment, poverty, underdevelopment, lack of skills and crime - all geared towards changing lives of people for the better and building a people's contract with our people.

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is among some of these government interventions aimed at dealing with the issues we have mentioned above. Our aim is that it will create over a million jobs in the next five years and would empower people with skills, training and experience that people will use in future when they look for employment.

We are also involved in interventions to boost the Second Economy where most of our people find themselves. We have also launched the Community Development Workers (CDWs), those of our people who will deal with speeding up the pace of service delivery to our people, and would bring it closer to the people. We hope that the community of Cradock will benefit from such interventions.

We are happy when we see that the people of Cradock are still actively involved in initiatives that will change their lives for the better.

In line with the legacy of the UDF we need to strengthen the structures of the civil society in our communities so that they can articulate problems that people face. Such structures must meet regularly. There must be a continuous consultation and contact between the membership and the leadership. That is the only way we can ensure that our elected leaders at local level account to the people and are closer to them.

We need to develop a strong leadership, the kind of leadership that we want is the leadership that takes the people seriously, that has the interests of the people at heart, a leadership that puts people first and is not driven by self interests, a leadership that consults people on serious issues that affect them and the leadership that fights against factionalism within our communities.

We are aware that next year in June you will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the assassination of the Cradock Four we believe that the Matthew Goniwe Trust Fund that was launched four years ago, would have developed enough capacity to deal with some of the issues that affect the community, and would have made tremendous progress in ensuring that it contributes meaningfully to the development of Cradock.

It is within that context that we support initiatives of the Trust that it plans to support no less than 50 school children in next year's academic calendar. There is also the issue of the unfenced graveyard in Cradock which we hope that the Trust Fund can also raise funds for, so that our people's last resting places are treated with dignity and respect.

We hope that when you organize the 20th Anniversary of the Cradock Four, it will be done properly and also honour all other comrades of Cradock who died during the struggle, and that you will organize it together with the Freedom Park Trust which is experienced in organising events of this nature.

Amandla! Awethu!
Long Live Cradora Long Live!
Long Live Cradoya Long Live!

Issued by: The Presidency
3 October 2004
Source: SAPA

SPONSORED BY

Advanced