Ten years on from freedom

BY Stephen McGlade

South Africa's Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba

Having recently agreed to contribute to An Phoblacht, I asked myself, what is of interest to the readership that we don't normally hear about weekly? Speaking recently to a friend, Khona Dhama, from South Africa, about current issues there, the Peace Process here, and pretty much everything else, it occurred to me that other readers who share a similar interest in the history and politics of South Africa would be interested to discover what's going on there from the perspective of those leading the change. I spoke to African National Congress Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, who outlined the new realities of the fast-changing, contemporary society that South Africa has become since the dismantling of the Apartheid regime.

Malusi Gigaba is the youngest serving South African Government Minister and member of the ANC's Executive Council, aged 33.

Gigaba first became involved in the freedom struggle at a young age, when political involvement was a huge risk, especially if you were young and living in Kwazulu/Natal.

"There were the Apartheid regime's forces of repression — the South African police, the South African defence force and other death/murder squads," he recalls. "Youth occupied the most forward and dangerous fronts of struggle, making the most sacrifices and carrying the most difficult responsibilities to make South Africa ungovernable and Apartheid unworkable."

Gigaba believes there was simply no time to ponder involvement, because people were sucked into the vortex of the struggle and stayed the course. "We accepted the enormous obligations that the struggle and the movement gradually imposed upon us, young as we were."

Gigaba like many young republicans here at home throughout the conflict, found himself at the forefront of struggle as a full-time activist.

Comrades in struggle

I asked what were his first recollections of the conflict in Ireland. Gigaba recalls that at a young age he would shout slogans about the IRA, which he says he knew nothing about for a long time. "Eventually we were taught that the Irish people were waging a common freedom struggle as us, which meant that Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army were allies of the ANC. However, since then, we have been keenly interested in the struggle of the Irish people, wishing that the Irish conflict is resolved in a manner that is both peaceful and in favour of the Irish people. There is a great closeness between our struggle in South Africa and the struggles of the sister people in Ireland."

Unfortunately, we in Ireland have not had the privilege of hosting a visit by the Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, but his colleague, Robert McBride, former political prisoner, was here in June past to take part in the Coiste na n-Iarchimí annual Scoil Samraidh in South Armagh. I had the privilege of chairing the session in which McBride spoke of his experiences in struggle. On the specific notion of managing to now be part of the system as a chief of police, as opposed to being against it as he had been during Apartheid, McBride very wittily replied, "I have always fought criminals", to rapturous applause from the republican audience.

Gigaba explains that the democratic order has become a reality of South African society. Ordinary people participate in the system and processes of governance through a whole range of programmes that the ANC-led government has initiated to engage the people. "Government Ministers and other public representatives are accessible and always in contact with the mass of the people and the social distance between us has been bridged," he says.

Tackling poverty

Gigaba says many social advances have been achieved since the ANC won power. He believes that there has been tremendous social progress as a result of development-focused programmes. "Poverty is being drastically alleviated through such direct interventions as social grants, education is improving, more and more people can afford fair rations of food, water and electricity. Basic services are accessible to the poor, houses are accessible and government continues to improve its housing delivery programmes and others."

For those of us in Ireland who have the luxury of these basic living commodities, unlike many families throughout the beautiful but impoverished regions of South Africa, it is obvious that the gap between rich and poor is a massive void. I visited the Province of Natal in 1999 and spent four weeks working with a paralegal NGO in an attempt to secure the equivalent of our social security benefit for those who were illiterate and unable to complete forms to secure these benefits that exist. These poor families lived in townships adjacent to multinational hotel complexes, casinos and those on the flipside of the socio-economic spectrum.

All of these people though, vote for the ANC and Gigaba, whose Ministry has particular responsibility for improving living conditions, is clear about not taking their vote for granted "Through our people's efforts, a better life is being created," he says. "Communities are getting integrated. Basic services are improving. However, more could be done, and there is a great commitment in the ANC to do more. We never take for granted the incredible support the ANC enjoys among all South Africans."

Negotiations

The process of negotiation for the ANC was obviously quite a tortuous one, as it proves to be here at home also, however

Gigaba argues that the entire process of struggle is not a straightforward romantic journey. He says it has many twists and turns, depending at all times on the objective reality that revolutionary movements must grasp in order not to make mistakes.

"There are several difficult compromises the ANC has had to make to reach the situation in which it is today," he concedes. "And there are still many more that may need to be made. The compromises made must not deviate from the primary goal. You may from time to time take political detours, but never change the goalposts. The movement must only make such compromises when these are possible and will enhance the stature of the movement among the people."

Gigaba and the ANC knew that once they defeated apartheid they would have to govern South Africa. He says, because they knew this, they were in many ways prepared and yet in many other ways they were not, as Mandela lamented at the 49th National Conference of the party. He says there are many lessons the ANC is learning from practical experience as they go along.

With an eye on our situation, I asked Malusi Gigaba to sum up his thoughts on the transitional phase of struggle towards governing. "Learn, struggle and always be in the frontline of more radical change. Always be in the heart of mass mobilisation and in the frontline of the defence of unity of action, cohesion and integrity of the movement. Be critical and disciplined. Avoid opportunism and corruption and careerism."

Quickfire Round with Malusi Gigaba

Favourite food: Salmon fish

Favourite holiday: Where my parents live at the village of Mandeni, north of KwaZulu/Natal province.

Favourite book: Anything by Shakespeare

Favourite Film: My wedding video

Future Ambition: To serve the people of South Africa, especially the poor and working people, such that they say of me when I die: 'There lies our favourite son'