National assembly Speaker, Thandi Modise, says South Africa’s leaders must not shame the Rivonia trialists in their graves and betray the trust voters have put in their hands.
She delivered a memorial lecture on Raymond Mhlaba as part of his centenary celebrations. She says Mhlaba’s greatest fear was the misdirection of resources from the poor and the deserving into the pockets of others.
“So what do we say to Raymond Mhlaba? Do we tell him this movement that he was proud to put his energies in, is a shadow of itself? Do we say to Oom Ray we are facing GBV and we don’t know what to do. What do we say to Oom Ray when we waste state resources when the poor have nothing to eat? We need to do something about this, we need to think, we need to claw back, we need to retrace our steps,” says Modise.
Raymond Mhlaba centenary celebrated
The Raymond Mhlaba Memorial Lecture presented by Modise, has brought the land restitution issue sharply back in focus.
Modise said a young “Oom Ray” realised that the people must get their land back to have their dignity restored. While at school he formed the Mayibuye Student Organisation with the aim to take back the land.
Modise says it is imperative that the land restitution process is completed.
“Oom Ray must rest easy and well in his grave because we, his children are all going to do what he dedicated his life to, the affinity of the African people and their land being restored. The dignity of the African person, the idea that my identity is linked to my piece of land and that my identity is linked to that piece of land and my history cannot be taken from that piece of land,” says Modise.
Raymond Mhlaba | Centenary lecture of late ANC stalwart
