If our very dearly beloved Ahmed Kathrada was here today he would ask ‘What’s all this fuss about”? He would likely argue that there is no need to ‘memorialise my life through a permanent exhibition at Constitutional Hill, or anywhere for that matter.’

Ahmed Kathrada. (Photo: Gallo Images / The Times / Moeletsi Mabe)

With reference to the preamble in our Constitution that we “Recognise the injustices of our past; Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; Uncle Kathy would:

• Underplay the injustice he had suffered and argue that he is not due any honour for having suffered; and
• He would claim no victory for the immeasurable victory that his generation had secured.

He would make no demands for memorialisation at all, and yet it is for precisely these reasons that we are exactly where we need to be today:

• To make a fuss of Ahmed Kathrada;
• To honour his life of selfless sacrifice — starting when he was a young boy till the day he died;
• To memorialise his immense contribution to our freedom; and
  To thank him for the difference he has made and the priceless legacy of his life.

There are many things that I will cherish since the first time I met Ahmed Kathrada almost 18 years ago, including accompanying him the Robben Island on four occasions. What is indelibly etched in me, though, was standing at Kathy’s bed about five hours before he would breathe his final breath. I stood there quietly crying as I thought of the disturbing and painful concerns he had felt and expressed during the final months of his life. He saw how the very purpose of his life and the lives of other giants of his generation — the Mandelas, the Sisulus, the Tambos, the Mbekis to name a few — were being placed at risk by an emerging generation of leaders, many of whom were failing to honour the promise of our constitution to:

• Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;
• Lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law;
• Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and
• Build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.

Instead, Ahmed Kathrada in his final years, as witnessed by many of us, found himself experiencing a shift:

• Where there was growing evidence that the virtue of selfless sacrifice, service and public interest were being overtaken by the vulgarity of selfish service and the pursuit of narrow self-interest;
• Where public office was seen as a means to self-enrichment instead of raising others from poverty and unemployment;
• Where the attempts to heal the painful divisions of our past were being overtaken by those actively creating new divisions that weaken our resolve to build a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;
• Where the very foundations that Kathrada’s generation, and others before them, painstakingly laid through sacrifice, pain, and often death, were being eroded; and
• Where the material well-being of the most vulnerable and poor have been woefully and inadequately addressed.

We have become a society more divided and void of true social cohesion — characterised by greed, violence and corruption.

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In the past few years, I have personally had a ringside seat to the devastating effect of State Capture. Where institutions like SARS, the NPA, the Hawks, other departments and critical SOEs became personal fiefdoms used to serve a corrupt intent instead of the interest of all South Africans. I can attest that the damage through State Capture is real beyond anything the Nugent or Zondo Commissions could ever fully capture or describe. It is deeply systemic and will take persistent efforts, fearless resilience and years to repair. Anyone still in denial about State Capture is either complicit or still undermining the very work to root out corruption.

Ahmed Kathrada during the launch of the ANC’s centenary celebrations on December 4, 2011 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Foto24 / Nelius Rademan)

In fact, we are not yet in the clear — these corrupt and collusive elements that seek to undermine the integrity and capability of the state still lurk actively within these institutions.

We should remind ourselves every day that Corruption is not only a government phenomenon. It is a societal phenomenon.

The Kathrada generations were ordinary men and women like us. They weren’t perfect. They were aware of their own human frailties. They did not possess superhuman abilities. But what set them apart was:

• Their integrity, authenticity, and clarity about what theory stood for;
  Their single-minded commitment to a worthy cause for which they were prepared to pay the ultimate price;
• Their capacity to give selflessly of themselves with no regard for material benefit or fame;
• Their insatiable desire and commitment to leave a world behind, better than what they found; and
• They remained unified in their common cause — despite challenges, even then.

What do we as a society do to ensure we honour the life of Kathy and those of his generation?

1. We must hold our elected public officials accountable and demand they remain true to the promise of their constitutional oath of office.
2. We must build a competent and capable state by celebrating a meritocracy that rewards the ethic of hard work and excellence instead of entrenching partisan loyalty as the standard for employment.
3. We need to instil the culture and values of true public service at all levels of government. Those of us privileged to hold positions of influence and leadership must act as stewards who hold in trust the hopes, expectations and well-being of South Africans.
4. We must measure our success (whether government, private or civil society) only by the measurable difference we make to the lives of ordinary South Africans to eradicate poverty, deliver quality education that makes our young people employable in a modern economy, and grow an economy that creates meaningful employment, includes everyone and shares the growth dividend equitably within society.
5. We must hold those who perpetrated State Capture to account but at some point, we have to focus on healing, building and delivering the promise of our Constitution.

Lastly, and most importantly, if there’s one thing we’ve learnt it’s that Goverment on its own can never address our challenges and fix SA — we need strong social partnerships.

Social activism at grassroots level brought us our 1994 democracy. The next phase of our democracy will only come about through the resilient efforts of social activism at grassroots level.

That’s where organisations such as the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation (AFK) have an inordinate role to play and why the spirit and qualities of Ahmed Kathrada must be our guiding compass.

To do so, the AKF must increasingly create greater independence from conventional party politics and continue its quest to be a truly inclusive force for change; embrace our true South African-ness based on the timeless values of non-sexism, non-racism, and definitely place our common interest as a nation above the narrow interest of individuals or factions.

I am particularly encouraged by the next generation of young people — we depend on you to take this work forward.

May this exhibition in honour of Uncle Kathy remind us that there’s much work to be done.

Thank you. DM