A Poem by Afzal Moolla.
1.
Freedom!
The shackles have been cast off.
The manackles broken.
People once squashed
under the jackboot of Apartheid are free.
Free at last!
The promise of true freedom came on the 27th day in that April of 1994.
Freedom from prejudice.
Freedom from institutionalised racism.
Freedom came and we danced.
We cried.
We ululated as we elected
our revered Ntate Nelson Mandela.
President Nelson Mandela!
Our very own beloved ‘Madiba’.
Black and white and brown and those in-between,
All hues of this rainbow nation rejoiced as we breathed in the air of the promise of true freedom and democracy.
2.
Today we pause.
Today we remember.
Today we salute;
The brave ones whose sacrifices made this day possible on that 27th day of April 29 years ago.
Today we dance.
We sing.
We ululate.
We cry tears of joy and tears of loss.
We cry tears of remembrance and tears of forgiveness.
We cry tears of painful reconciliation and tears of wounded memories.
Today we pause.
We acknowledge the tasks ahead.
True striving for true freedom from hunger.
True commitment to clothe the naked.
True change to house the destitute.
Today we reaffirm,
that promise of freedom.
From want.
From hunger.
From eyes without promise.
Today we reflect.
On unfulfilled promises.
On the proliferation of greed.
On the blurring of the ideals of freedom.
Today we say;
We will take back the dream!
We will renew the promise!
We will not turn away!
Today we pledge;
To stand firm.
To keep the pressure on our government.
To remind those in the corridors of power,
that the gallant martyr Solomon Mahlangu's* final words still resound - that we the people need to savour the fruits of the tree of freedom*.
3.
Till that time,
when all shall share in the bounty of democracy,
We shall remain vigilant and strong.
We shall continue to struggle.
We shall raise our fists in our revolutionary salute!
We will always proclaim -
Amandla! Awethu!
All Power to The People!
* - Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was a South African freedom fighter, struggle activist and operative of the African National Congress militant wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was convicted of murder and hanged in 1979.
Afzal Moolla was born in exile in Delhi in 1972 to ANC anti-apartheid activists Moosa 'Mosie' and Zubeida Moolla. He returned to South Africa in 1990. Afzal works and lives in Johannesburg.