Follow the dictates of the Freedom Charter, Motlanthe

Former President Kgalema Motlanthe urged his colleagues in the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) to live by the dictates of the country’s founding document, the Freedom Charter.

He was addressing a gathering of members of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies to mark the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the historic Freedom Charter at the famous Kliptown Square in Soweto on 26 June 1955.

Motlanthe, who is also a former resident of Alexandra, bemoaned the current tendency of his colleagues in the ANC whom, he said, had “succumbed to the sweets of office and developed corrupt tendencies”.

“We need to revisit the noble principles of the Freedom Charter to remind ourselves of our obligations as the servants of the people, and not their masters,” he said.

“This is one of the most seminal documents in the history of this country and the freedom struggle, and should be held in high esteem as the fundamental guide to our day-to-day activities in and outside government.

“We should constantly ask ourselves whether we’re still living by the principles espoused in the Freedom Charter, and if not, then we must take corrective measures to ensure we return to those noble principles.”

Also speaking at the event was Leon Levy, a former trade unionist and president for nine years of South African Congress of Trade Unions, which was a forerunner of present day Cosatu.

In his address, Levy outlined the proceedings of that day in 1955 when multitudes of people arrived from all corners of the country and walks of life, black and white together to adopt this historic document which contains the founding principles of a democratic South Africa.

“There were scores of detectives from the apartheid police who came to take notes of what was said, and hundreds of policemen who swooped on the gathering of the Congress of the People and closed all exits before taking down the names and addresses of each and every person present,” said Levy.

“The commendable thing was the calm with which the people conducted themselves in the face of adversity and [the] antagonistic tendencies of the regime police force. They sat down calmly and in song, as the police took down their details.”