Hon Deputy Speaker, hon members, on this occasion of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Indian community in South Africa, it is fitting that we express ourselves on unity in diversity.
When the Indians arrived in the colony of Natal to work on the sugar cane farms they were, in fact, no different from the African people, who were hunted like animals, captured and forcibly transported to the Americas to work on the farms, in households and in the construction industries that produced the great civilisations of Latin and North America.
These Indians, like African slaves and workers in America, came from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, but were united by their spiritual traditions which nourished their self-respect, self-worth and self-esteem, culture of self-help and self-reliance, and a sense of development and progress. These values sustained their human dignity in adversity and aroused the disposition to associate with one another for mutual benefit.
While working as slaves on sugar cane farms and in other industries the Indians, like Africans in the diaspora, rediscovered their spiritual traditions and harnessed them for spiritual growth and development. Thus they conducted their lives according to sound moral and ethical principles, despite the adverse conditions in which they lived and worked. The arrival of Mahatma Gandhi provided them with a spiritual and political leader who enriched all South Africans. We should note, in particular, the principle of nonviolent struggle that Gandhi shared with Martin Luther King Junior.
The social and economic advancement of Indians in South Africa, like that of Africans in the diaspora, proves correct the wise words of our icon, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, who said that social transformation cannot be achieved without spiritual transformation. The Indian community built its own temples, schools, mosques and cultural schools, through which they preserved and practised their diverse cultures, religions and languages.
Similarly, Africans in the diaspora rediscovered their heliocentric, that is, sun-centred, spiritual traditions which were taught by the African Sage Khem or Thoth Hermes. They built lodges for the preservation and propagation of their solar culture and religion. They practised this solar culture and religion in the Rosicrucian and Masonic Lodges, which could be traced back to the land of Khem, including ancient Ethiopia and Egypt.
The devotees of Karaism, which is a sun-centred religion or Hermeticism, collaborated with Ethiopian Christians who had seceded from colonial churches and established their own churches and schools. These institutions, like those of the Hindus and Muslims in South Africa, laid the foundations for nation-building and social cohesion in these communities.
The nationalist spirit kindled by these spiritual traditions and the working-class consciousness led to the formation of the Natal Indian Congress in 1894, and the Native Congresses of the four South African colonies at the beginning of the 20th century. It could therefore be said that spiritual traditions and worker consciousness catalysed the formation of nationalist organisations which became motive forces for the liberation of South Africa. The formation of the South African Native National Congress, SANNC, in 1912, renamed the African National Congress in 1923 and the South African Indian Congress, SAIC, was the product of spiritual and worker consciousness. The pact of the three doctors, Xuma, Dadoo and Naicker in the 1940s was the product of these people's movements.
It could be said, therefore, that moral and ethical values have always guided the founders of our nation, such as John Langalibalele Dube, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Abdullah Abdurahman who founded the African People's Organisation, APO, in 1902. Abdurahman was a coloured nationalist who used the words African and coloured interchangeably to include both black and coloured Africans, thereby transcending present-day discriminatory differentiation between Africans and coloureds which borders on a new form of racism.
The proliferation of incidents of moral degeneration, such as alcoholism, drug addiction, the tragic killing of others including foreign guests, and the abuse of women and children such as drugging and raping of girl children at schools, shows that cohesive nations cannot be built without value systems. Provision of social services including water, electricity, and social grants without a value system underpinning them cannot produce self-respecting, cohesive, caring and sustainable communities. Human development has both spiritual and material aspects.
Politicians alone cannot achieve both; they need partnerships with faith communities, including Hindus, Muslims, Karaites and devotees of African religion who were marginalised under apartheid colonialism.
In our work as public representatives, community workers and leaders we must learn from the Indian community, the African diaspora and the founders of our nation, that social transformation cannot be achieved without spiritual transformation. Regardless of our cultural, religious and linguistic diversity there is a common thread that makes all of us one in diversity.
"Motho ke motho ka batho" is the maxim that says "I am through others" or "I am because we are". This "botho" or "ubuntu" philosophy was first echoed in 1892 by John Langalibalele Dube, a founding President of the ANC, in his public lecture titled, "Upon my Native Land". Dube foretold the birth of a new Africa that would be a spiritual, humane and caring society.
These values were embraced by Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme in his 1905 oration titled, "The Regeneration of Africa". Seme highlighted the importance of cultural heritage in nation-building, when he called for the creation of a unique civilisation for Africa and Africans. In other words, nation- building and heritage development could not be separated.
In his 1921 public lecture titled, "We are not Political Children", Rev Z R Mahabane, third President of the ANC, observed that Africans had been degraded and dehumanised, and he made the recovery of African humanity a prerequisite for the recovery of the humanity of all South Africans, both black and white. Mahabane planted the seeds of nonracialism which found expression in the Bill of Rights adopted by the ANC in 1923. The opening paragraphs of this Bill of Rights asserted the humanity of African people and demanded their right to participate in the economic life of the country.
It is not surprising that in its 2007 Strategy and Tactics document the ANC observed that the dark night of apartheid had been receding and called for a nonracial, nonsexist, united, democratic and prosperous South Africa, in which the value of every citizen is measured by our common humanity - ubuntu or botho.
The adoption of a resolution for the establishment of a committee on nation- building and heritage by this House is a recognition and acknowledgement by the hon members of the House that Parliament has a major role to play in nation-building and heritage development necessary for social cohesion.
The Muslim Ramadan, the Hindu Diwali festival and the African New Year and Rain-Making ceremonies take place around September and October. All these festivals, though not officially recognised are part of the living heritage of these communities and their celebrations serve to cultivate moral and ethical values within them.
The passage of a host of laws which were racially discriminatory evidenced the danger of separating law and morality. These values of a just and caring society should underpin our social and political order to prevent moral degeneration which manifests itself in, inter alia, corruption and related vices.
The establishment of the Parliamentary Interfaith Council by this Parliament recognises and acknowledges the role that faith communities play in the cultivation of moral and ethical values in our society. This council will provide an interface between Parliament and faith communities to ensure that there is no watertight separation between law and morality.
The strict observance of moral and ethical values within the Indian communities offers great lessons to African communities, especially in townships and informal settlements, who lost their cultural heritage under apartheid colonialism. These values are particularly important, in fact, indispensable, for nation-building and social cohesion. The interaction of all our communities, both black and white, is particularly important, as it affords South Africans opportunities to learn from one another, for mutual understanding, tolerance and respect.
The national conference hosted by the National Heritage Council and the South African Departments of Arts and Culture, Social Development, and Education on 31 August 2010 called for the recognition of Ubuntu Day and resolved to launch a campaign for the restoration of Ubuntu values and principles. Given the deepening moral degeneration in our society, such a campaign is long overdue. It is hoped that all faith communities and civil society in general will partner with government, Parliament and legislatures to run the campaign for moral regeneration and in particular the restoration of ubuntu values and principles.
The African Renaissance and Nepad, falling within the tenth strategic objective of Parliament couched as African renewal, advancement and development, should be an umbrella including a moral regeneration programme driven by government, civil society and, in particular, the interfaith movement.
In this regard, the classical Indian and African cultural heritage, which was suppressed under apartheid, could make a great contribution to nation- building and social cohesion. It is hoped that the new committee on nation- building and heritage development will become a parliamentary mechanism for the realisation of an activist parliament and the African Renaissance renewal, advancement and development of the African continent.
As I conclude, hon Deputy Speaker, let me say that what we can learn from the Muslim and Hindu communities is that values cannot be cultivated by a plethora of charters without the necessary cultural institutions to teach these values and integrate them into school programmes and out-of-school programmes. African communities have a lot to learn from the Muslim madrasah schools and Hindu temple schools. The establishment of African cultural heritage centres along similar lines could contribute to moral regeneration, mutual understanding and tolerance, social inclusivity and development of South African and African identity.
Let us take this opportunity, as the ANC in this House, to send warm fraternal greetings to the Indian community on the occasion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of their arrival in South Africa. My wish is that they will continue to make valuable contributions to building this nation. Thank you. [Applause.]