NATIONAL Heritage Day celebrations in Mdantsane yesterday turned chaotic when Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and other guest speakers were booed.
The crowds wanted to be addressed by President Jacob Zuma, who is in New York to address the United Nations.
The national Heritage Day event coincided with the Mdantsane’s 50th anniversary.
The drama started when Motlanthe’s convoy made its way to Mdantsane’s Sisa Dukashe Stadium and the crowd, mostly clad in ANC colours, started chanting liberation songs and saying they wanted nobody else but Zuma.
As Motlanthe arrived the large crowd started singing Asphelelanga, uZuma akekho, loosely translated as “not all of us are here if Zuma is not here”.
When the programme director, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile, introduced Motlanthe he cautioned the crowd of more than 5000 to be respectful.
However, as the Deputy President took to the podium to deliver the presidential Heritage Day message the crowd burst into pro-Zuma songs. Motlanthe continued to be interrupted throughout his speech by the loud singing from a certain portion of the crowd.
Motlanthe urged South Africans to be more patriotic and promote their national symbols at every chance they get.
“As we celebrate this Heritage Day, we should keep in mind that our country has rich and diverse cultural heritage, and that is what we should embrace.
“We should harness our heritage to create employment opportunities,” he said. Speaking of Mdantsane, Motlanthe said the living conditions in the township, like those in many other South African townships, helped educate and conscientise many people about the need to fight oppression.
He said Mdantsane was a township intended to be a labour reserve during the apartheid era, resulting in the destruction of many black South African lives.
Motlanthe said although the 1913 Native Land Act was part of the country’s heritage, people were still suffering from its effects.
He described the act as a statute through which black people were dispossessed of their land, livestock, seeds, wagons and all forms of production, thus robbing them of their livelihoods, trampling on their dignity and violating their human rights. “One of the central causes of poverty and underdevelopment today is this legacy of land dispossession,” he said.
Mashatile and his provincial counterpart MEC Xoliswa Tom pleaded with the crowd to stop howling and singing.
But the defiant crowd took little notice and booed off opposition party leaders who were delivering messages from their respective parties.
First under fire was former ANC communication head and now COPE leader Smuts Ngonyama, who was howled at throughout his speech after he mentioned COPE.
An agitated Tom grabbed the microphone from Ngonyama and spoke sternly to the crowd, urging them to allow him to finish, even if they did not agree with his words. “Please comrades let’s demonstrate the respect we are known for when someone is speaking.”
Her pleas were totally ignored when it came to IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the crowd sang liberation songs throughout his speech. But they were attentive to premier Noxolo Kiviet and UDM leader Bantu Holomisa.
Buffalo City Metro Mayor Zukiswa Ncitha was not that lucky as she was booed from the moment she began outlining housing and other plans for the township in the current financial year.
ANC provincial chairman and finance MEC Phumulo Masualle was also booed briefly – but it stopped when he said he represented the ANC.
Prior to addressing the rally, Motlanthe first made a stop at the site of the Egerton bus boycott massacre memorial to unveil a plaque and lay a wreath.
As part of the township’s 50th anniversary, Kiviet and Mashatile hosted the Premier’s Heritage Awards on Monday night, where more than 50 outstanding residents were honoured for the way their activism in education, sport or political issues had contributed to the history of the township. — asandan@dispatch.co.za / mamelag@dispatch.co.za with additional reporting by Sapa.
Give us Zuma, howls crowd
The crowds wanted to be addressed by President Jacob Zuma, who is in New York to address the United Nations.
The national Heritage Day event coincided with the Mdantsane’s 50th anniversary.
The drama started when Motlanthe’s convoy made its way to Mdantsane’s Sisa Dukashe Stadium and the crowd, mostly clad in ANC colours, started chanting liberation songs and saying they wanted nobody else but Zuma.
As Motlanthe arrived the large crowd started singing Asphelelanga, uZuma akekho, loosely translated as “not all of us are here if Zuma is not here”.
When the programme director, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile, introduced Motlanthe he cautioned the crowd of more than 5000 to be respectful.
However, as the Deputy President took to the podium to deliver the presidential Heritage Day message the crowd burst into pro-Zuma songs. Motlanthe continued to be interrupted throughout his speech by the loud singing from a certain portion of the crowd.
Motlanthe urged South Africans to be more patriotic and promote their national symbols at every chance they get.
“As we celebrate this Heritage Day, we should keep in mind that our country has rich and diverse cultural heritage, and that is what we should embrace.
“We should harness our heritage to create employment opportunities,” he said. Speaking of Mdantsane, Motlanthe said the living conditions in the township, like those in many other South African townships, helped educate and conscientise many people about the need to fight oppression.
He said Mdantsane was a township intended to be a labour reserve during the apartheid era, resulting in the destruction of many black South African lives.
Motlanthe said although the 1913 Native Land Act was part of the country’s heritage, people were still suffering from its effects.
He described the act as a statute through which black people were dispossessed of their land, livestock, seeds, wagons and all forms of production, thus robbing them of their livelihoods, trampling on their dignity and violating their human rights. “One of the central causes of poverty and underdevelopment today is this legacy of land dispossession,” he said.
Mashatile and his provincial counterpart MEC Xoliswa Tom pleaded with the crowd to stop howling and singing.
But the defiant crowd took little notice and booed off opposition party leaders who were delivering messages from their respective parties.
First under fire was former ANC communication head and now COPE leader Smuts Ngonyama, who was howled at throughout his speech after he mentioned COPE.
An agitated Tom grabbed the microphone from Ngonyama and spoke sternly to the crowd, urging them to allow him to finish, even if they did not agree with his words. “Please comrades let’s demonstrate the respect we are known for when someone is speaking.”
Her pleas were totally ignored when it came to IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the crowd sang liberation songs throughout his speech. But they were attentive to premier Noxolo Kiviet and UDM leader Bantu Holomisa.
Buffalo City Metro Mayor Zukiswa Ncitha was not that lucky as she was booed from the moment she began outlining housing and other plans for the township in the current financial year.
ANC provincial chairman and finance MEC Phumulo Masualle was also booed briefly – but it stopped when he said he represented the ANC.
Prior to addressing the rally, Motlanthe first made a stop at the site of the Egerton bus boycott massacre memorial to unveil a plaque and lay a wreath.
As part of the township’s 50th anniversary, Kiviet and Mashatile hosted the Premier’s Heritage Awards on Monday night, where more than 50 outstanding residents were honoured for the way their activism in education, sport or political issues had contributed to the history of the township. — asandan@dispatch.co.za / mamelag@dispatch.co.za with additional reporting by Sapa.
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