We cannot celebrate heritage without land, says ATM, calling for a ‘revolution’
A decolonised education system as well as a decolonised economy was a human right, the party said.
ATM’s communications manager Zama Ntshona
The African Transformation Movement has called for a heritage revolution that will put South African’s first. Calling for land to be expropriated without compensation, banks to be nationalised, ATM’s communications manager Zama Ntshona said a celebrating Heritage Day without a return of land to its “rightful owners” was fruitless.
He called for the constitution to be reviewed to become more Afrocentric, as the heritage of many could not be limited to food and clothing but needed a heritage revolution that allowed all those who lived in the country to benefit.
“We cannot celebrate Heritage Day without the return of the land to its rightful owners.”
A decolonised education system as well as a decolonised economy was a human right, he said.
This follows the EFF’s call for the removal of all colonial apartheid statues, this week. Calling for the removal of Die Stem from the national anthem, spokesperson Vuyani Pambo said the pre-democracy anthem was a spit on the faces of those who sang Nkosi Sikelela iAfrica, praying for the dignity and prosperity of all South African’s.
“Our heritage is rooted in symbolism, justice and the land. Without these, there is no heritage to celebrate. Our public holidays must become moments in which we reflect truthfully on our history and the road we have travelled as a nation,” said Pambo.
The party said there was no need for South Africans to celebrate Heritage Day. “As things stand in South Africa, there is no heritage to celebrate so long as we remain landless and on the outskirts of our own economy”.
Pambo said the heritage of the country was one of “dispossession and continued humiliation at the hands of the white minority”.
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