PELENG - “A COMMUNITY OF COMRADES” Yesterday marked a year since the passing of Nelson Mandela. Here in Botswana there were three high profile public memorial services held in his honour – at Gaborone, our second city Francistown and at Peleng, Lobatse where Madiba stayed and was protected in 1962. Below is my remarks at the Peleng Remembrance. “A COMMUNITY OF COMRADES” - REMARKS AT MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR NELSON MANDELA HELD AT THE PELENG COMMUNITY HALL LOBATSE. I am most humbled to be here among you in the Peleng Community Hall. I cannot think of a more appropriate place for us to come together, here in Botswana, to pay tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela. It was here in Peleng, in February 1962, that Nelson Mandela, aka David Motsamayi, took the first steps in transforming the then newly born Umkonto we Sizwe (MK) from its initial campaign of demonstrative sabotage into a dedicated military formation of trained freedom fighters. It was also here in Peleng, in October 1962, that the African National Congress held its first conference in exile, following its banning inside South Africa in the wake of the March 1960 Sharpeville massacre. Bringing together for the first time since 1960 key comrades from the organization’s external wing then being established under Oliver Tambo and the underground leadership then operating inside South Africa, it was also here in Peleng that the ANC formally embraced its evolved identity as a liberation movement, including the armed struggle of the MK. While the conference was officially convened at the community hall, key decisions were formulated and confirmed at side meetings mostly held at the home of Ntwaesele Thatayone ‘Fish’ Keitseng. This is the same modest home, which can be seen today, that not only provided shelter and security to Nelson Mandela, when he was here but also, at one time or another, to the likes of Walter Sisulu and Arthur Goldriech, Joe Modise, Harold Wolpe, Dan Tloom, Joe Slovo, Oliver Tambo, Jack Hodgson, Govan and Thabo Mbeki, Ronnie Kasrils etc, in other words virtually the entire underground leadership of the ANC and their allies during the 1960s. The home of Comrade Fish, along with the home of John Kgaboesele, which housed Samora Machel among others, are material testament of Peleng’s special place in our region’s shared freedom struggle. There can be little doubt that there are other homes in this community that also have many stories to tell. In as much as it takes a community to nurture a child it also takes whole communities to sustain a freedom struggle. Patriots like Keitseng and Kgoboesele were able to take and survive the risks they did because they were part of a community of patriots. In the parlance of liberation struggle Peleng in the early 1960s was a small but absolutely critical liberated zone were freedom fighters could swim in relative safety. One hastens to say relative because in looking back we should not overlook the danger that was all around at that time. All but forgotten bombings took place here (including inside Keitseng’s yard), disappearances took place here, agents and double agents lurked in the shadows here. But this community, during the last years of colonial overrule in our country was already liberated in its spirit of cosmopolitan resistance. Nelson Mandela, like Fish Keitseng and the other heroes of their generation, succeeded against all odds not because they saw themselves as heroes, but rather because they acted as humble disciplined cadres of a revolutionary movement. It is therefore appropriate that in remembering Mandela we also remember his fellow comrades, including some of the citizens of this country without whose contributions the legacy of Mandela and the history of this region would have been very different. An ordinary son of Kanye who through his unbending commitment to justice made an extraordinary contribution to Southern Africa’s liberation, as well as the politics of Botswana, during the early 1960s Fish Keitseng was the key figure in establishing an underground transit system by and for the ANC that secured the movement of refugees through Botswana; ultimately rescuing thousands of freedom fighters, from Mozambique and Namibia as well as South Africa. Other local figures who worked closely with Fish included Motsamai Mpho, Klaas Motshidisi, Anderson Tshepe, Michael Dingake, Mack Mosepele and Sam Chand. (The latter along with three other members of his family was murdered by Vlakplaas agents led by Eugene DeKock at his Sikwane home in April 1990; it was a long and bloody struggle.) There were others, outside of Fish’s network, who were also part of the story of the pipeline, such as Lenyeletse Seretse, who at the direction of Seretse Khama sheltered and protected Oliver Tambo in 1960 among others with his Malekantwa regiment (including Mandela during his 1962 talks with Khama in Serowe). The role of traditional authorities in such places as Mochudi and Molepolole as well as Serowe is, I believe, a story that needs to be further explored and told. As crucial as Peleng was, the pipeline could not have successfully operated but for the fact that its movements were facilitated by Batswana across the country from Pitsane Molopo to Kasane/Kazangula; from Maun to Francistown (1963 ‘White House’ bombing etc.). For those of us who can remember the times before Mandela’s release the fate of the Chands and many others is a reminder of the fear and mistrust born out of real danger that was always present until that wonderful day when we saw Nelson emerging hand in hand with Winnie just as Hugh Masekela had predicted in song. Speaking personally, at the time I felt as if a great weight was suddenly lifted. At the beginning of 1989 I was convinced that our country like the rest of this region faced years of escalating violence as the apartheid regime continued to release its dogs of war into neighbouring states as well as its own townships. It was in this context that I knew something of Fish Keitseng for many years before I found it appropriate to introduce myself to him, a greeting that ultimately resulted in my (along with Barry Morton’s) collaboration in his memoires. It was only after Mandela was inaugurated at the Union Buildings that it was appropriate for academics to begin to chronicle and share the story of Comrade Fish and others. In 1962 Fish Keitseng not only housed and provided security for Mandela but also organised his air transport to Tanganyika, from where Mandela embarked on his famous tour to secure widespread international support, political and military for the MK. At the end of the tour it was also Fish Keitseng who in extremely dangerous circumstance, safely secured Mandela’s return journey from Mbeya (Tanganyika) to Kanye via Kasane on the evening of the 23 July 1962. By the morning of 24 July 1962 Mandela had safely reached Lilliesleaf, two weeks before his subsequent arrest outside of Durban. When the ANC was meeting at his home in October 1962, Fish along with Thabo Mbeki and others were being detained in Southern Rhodesia in what turned out to be a massive joint operation by the Apartheid regime and the Rhodesians aimed at strangling the then emerging ANC – SWAPO – ZAPU nexus of resistance to white minority rule. Ultimately 39 detained freedom fighters, including Thabo Mbeki and Fish Keitseng where put on a Rhodesian Railways train bound from Plumtree to the waiting apartheid regime authorities in Mafikeng via the then Bechuanaland Protectorate. Fortunately Fish was able to smuggle out information of their intended fate to Motsamai Mpho and Klaas Motshidisi in Palapye, where protests were organised to prevent the train from proceeding with its detained passengers. Thus was Thabo Mbeki able to fulfil his destiny. Today I like to think of Mandela as a bright star in a constellation of stars, the many comrades, including people from this country who secured our collective freedom. Between 1966 and 1994 the democratic development of Botswana was in the shadow of apartheid and thus under constant threat. Science tells us that when we look up into the heavens we are actually seeing the reflections of stars from different points in time. Some are 12 light years away, others hundreds. When we look up we are thus literally viewing cosmic history. Metaphorically Mandela’s star is now shining down on us alongside the comrades who have preceded him, including his friend Fish, former schoolmates Walter Sisulu, Olver Tambo and Seretse Khama, and their mentors such as J.B. Marks and Z.K. Matthews. He also joins such heroes in the firmament as Sandile and Sekwati, Moshoeshoe and our own Sechele, whose earlier armed struggles against colonialism and white supremacy were a foundation as well as inspiration for the MK. In September 1961, after he was deported from South Africa following his prosecution alongside Mandela and 154 others defendants in the Treason Trial, Fish addressing the people of Peleng: “Verwoerd chased me saying I was a dangerous element. I came to the B.P. and when I arrived at Lobatse I was told to go back to Kanye, where I come from; but I refused, saying a brave dog when chased by someone does not go into the house, but just stands by the door and starts barking at the enemy. So I told them – the administration – that I want to stay at the border gate and bark at Verwoerd.” Today we live in a better world because Fish stayed at the border, and Mandela crossed it. (The same border that was established by the 1852-53 Batswana-Boer War, when Sechele’s warriors burned the Boer farms west of Rustenburg.) Let me conclude by saying how pleased I am that we are celebrating the legacy of Mandela by also celebrating Peleng’s place in his long walk to freedom. The contributions of this community must never be forgotten. A Luta Continua! Amandla (Awethu)! Pula!
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 08:32:25 +0000
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