The Past and the History

Every group of people has a past. A family, a village, a nation. The past consists of all that has happened, being said, written or built. No one can summarise the past. The past is everything. The past is incalculable.

When we look into the past we create history. This means that we select certain events or artefacts. We focus on specific casual links between those events. And we describe these chains of events with certain concepts.

Was F W de Klerk the President of South Africa or the Deputy President of South Africa? Or both? This is a question that South Africans answer differently today. On the website of F W de Klerk Foundation one can read that he is “the former President”.

In the State of Nation Address, however, South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, addressed him as “former Deputy President”. History is written differently. The truth is that F W de Klerk was State President in the apartheid era. When South Africa became a democracy in 1994 he was Deputy President.

Why is this important? Because de Klerk's presence in the parliament at the SONA this year was heavily questioned by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). The Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Thandi Modise, did not entertain their complaint. The EFF wanted de Klerk to leave but his presence in the chamber was defended. Not because he claims that he once was the President but because he once was one of two deputy Presidents of South Africa.

I agree with what Michael Lapsley wrote on his Facebook wall the day after the SONA:

I consider the anti-democratic behaviour of the EFF at SONA totally unacceptable and actually reprehensible.Nevertheless I have to admit that emotionally part of me was pleased to hear FW called out.

To understand why Michael Lapsley writes this, one has to know that this Anglican priest lost both his hands and one eye when he opened a letter bomb in his home in Harare in 1990. The bomb was placed in the letter by the apartheid regime and at the time F W de Klerk was the State President. In his autobiography: Redeeming the Past. My Journey from Freedom Fighter to Healer (Orbis Books, Maryknoll 2012), Michael Lapsley writes:

So I hold de Klerk politically and morally responsible for my bombing. He may not have personally ordered it. He may not even have known about it, though it’s possible that he did. But he certainly knew about and did nothing to dismantle the machinery of state that carried it out. Despite this, I have yet to hear one word of remorse or acknowledgement of personal responsibility from F. W. de Klerk, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, about the evisl perpetrated by the apartheid state that he headed. Instead, his attitude is, “I saw nothing, I knew nothing, and I did nothing” (page139).

What really ignited the fire this time was that F W de Klerk Foundation had issued a statement saying that

… we cannot, from a legal point of view, accept that apartheid can in this manner be made a crime against humanity. 

I cannot understand why they had to come out with this statement right now. But it really shows that South Africa needs a continuing reconciliation process. Michael Lapsley also acknowledges this:

As an Institute for Healing of Memories we believe it is time for a new national conversation. [A]bout our pain and trauma that is so close to the surface and which needs to be healed if we are to attain peace with ourselves and create a kind, compassionate and just Society.

The South African Council of Churches (SACC) also issued a statement in response to the F W de Klerk Foundation. Amongst other things they said:

The statement issued by the De Klerk Foundation yesterday on February 14 - the Day of Celebrating Love, amplifying Mr De Klerk’s position that apartheid was not a crime against humanity, but a Soviet propaganda ploy, cannot go unchallenged by the South African Council of Churches. Apartheid was not only a crime, it was more than that, it was a gross sin against the image of God in the humanity of Black South Africans, generally called non-whites, who were legally treated as sub-human, and without the basic rights due to normal human beings.

So, one has to understand the dynamics behind the protests of the EFF. Still, I agree with the Speaker that F W de Klerk should remain in the room. One cannot remove him from the past. In my understanding the EFF tries to rewrite history.

The SONA itself dealt with the failure of Eskom to supply South Africa with electricity, the weak public finances and the problems with state-owned enterprises. Important issues and I really hope the present Government will be able to improve the lives of South Africans.

Ramaphosa also welcomed three distinguished persons the evening of the SONA:

Tonight, we are joined by Zozibini Tunzi, whose ascendance to the Miss Universe title is a reminder of our potential to achieve greatness against the odds. 

We also welcome Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, who led a group of determined and united South Africans to become the 2019 World Rugby Champions. 

We are joined this evening by another remarkable young person, Miss Sinoyolo Qumba, a Grade 11 learner from Lenasia South, who spent much of yesterday helping me to write this State of the Nation Address.

Just to end this blog post I realised that I really appreciate the title of Michael Lapsleys autobiography. 

Redeeming the Past.

Not the History, but the Past. Food for thoughts.