Was proud and inspired to be in the company of three outstanding south African citizens the Minister of Arts Culture Paul Mashatile appointed to be Advocates of Social Cohesion, that is, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, retired Constitutional Judge Yvonne Mokgoro and former Robben Islander Ahmed Kathrada to celebrate Peace Day. The significant thing about the event was the inter-generational exchange of ideas about how we got to be where we are and what needs to be done now for the future. The biggest disappointment was to observe that the youth is largely trapped in the outdated thinking of the 1960s where people preach violence for the return of the land, economic justice etc. The fact of the matter is that -with all due respect to Umkhonto we Sizwe and other liberation armies - the over celebrated guerrilla warfare did not deliver us this democracy. Kathrada made it very loud and clear that a few hundred guerrillas would not have defeated the apartheid war machine. It was non-violent, peaceful negotiations strategies that brought us this democracy and freedom. If we were to choose between war and peace, sane South Africans will always choose peace because there are no winners in war
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 15:23:46 +0000
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