Langa gets to deepen the debate on ‘Freedom’ during Freedom Day Imbizo

And if you ask me where South Africa has gone wrong and is likely to go wrong in the future, by all accounts I would have to say the lack of youth leadership and development would be high among the reasons. Of course, the lack to absence of these community forums and Imbizos for all citizens; and lack to no action of fixing the problems are what South Africans need to urgently address

 

THANDISIZWE MGUDLWA l Wednesday, April 26, 2023

 

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – ON Thursday, April 27, 2023 South Africa will mark 29 years since the democratic election took place in 1994.

As I’m writing this article today April 26, I can’t help not to stress that I may not get to finish this article, should the rolling black-outs bequeath itself on the populace as has become the norm.

As I’m writing this piece from the Langa Public Library of Cape Town, where a thought-provoking and yet somewhat emotional event commemorating Freedom Day has just ended. The Freedom Day Imbizo was organized by the Langa Public Library.

Interestingly, this year marks the 100th year of the birth of Cape Town’s oldest township, Langa, which came about due to the Cape Town City Council, passing the 1923 Urban Areas Act, an act driven to restrict and control the movement and lives of the indigenous Black African population.

Needless to say, the staff of the Langa library quite outdid themselves for at least managing to get some of the elders of the community to come out and share their experiences, thoughts, and knowledge about colonial oppression and Apartheid. The elders of the community also would urge  the community, especially the youth to stand up and fight for their rights and what is rightfully theirs, rather than wait on the government and other people to do things for them.

In all, the crowd of about 30 people who participated in the Imbizo (community gathering) shared their views on what they understood about the meaning of freedom, while some raised the point that the lack of economic freedom for the Black majority meant that real freedom had yet to arrive.

From unemployment to crime, residents and organizers reflected their disappointment and unhappiness about the post 1994 dispensation which has failed to offer South Africans of even the basic human needs like electricity, acceptable housing, water and food to name a few.

The residents also raised concerns around the quality of education of the Black child, which was strongly influenced by western values and neglected the African perspective, including African languages. But an important development of the gathering was the question of the youth kept coming up.

An example of this was when a female representative of the local South African Police Service (SAPS), gave a detailed account of how the youth had failed to organize themselves as the opportunities for empowerment including the Junior National Commissioner Project were available especially under the current incumbent Minister of Police, Bheki Cele.

She explained that the Junior Provincial Commissioners falls under the Junior National Commissioner Project, which sadly was absent in the Langa community debate. The Junior National Commissioner Project is one of the SAPS’ Youth Crime Prevention flagship project that seeks to provide the youth of South Africa an opportunity to contribute and play a meaningful role in ensuring a safe and conducive learning environment in schools.

And according to the SAPS, among the objectives of the Junior Commissioner Project is to advocate for the development and nurturing of leadership capacity, skills and mentoring of young people in communities.

“There has been a growing trend in the number of young people, including those within the schooling environment, who are involved in crime either as perpetrators or victims. This is indeed one of the strategic interventions; we are focusing on institutionalizing school based crime prevention and working on the psychology of these children, a critical element of developmental crime prevention” – said then National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Khehla Sitole, in 2019.

Back to the Freedom Day Imbizo, another area that received serious attention from the residents was the issue of the lack to absence of such gatherings (Imbizos) on a regular basis and when just gatherings occur they are not well communicated to the rest of the community and after they occur there’s usually little or no action to follow up on matters discussed.

In this regard, the staff of the Langa library committed themselves to playing their part in addressing this matter by working with their contacts and networks and promised to deliver more of just community gatherings with leaders and representatives from various sectors playing a role in the education, informing and empowerment of  the people. This point of regular meetings and youth organizing themselves, probably stood out during this gathering more than anything else.

Just like self introspection became another rallying cry for people to fix themselves first before looking at the outside world, this would not necessarily close-shop on collaboration and collaborations of all stakeholders, especially those people in need of resources and means to play their part.

Along with the failures of elected representatives, government officials and community structures, which are meant to serve the people, Langa residents have once again, like many others throughout South Africa sent a strong message that whatever has happened or not happened until now, the changes that are needed would have to come from the people’s efforts themselves.

And if you ask me where South Africa has gone wrong and is likely to go wrong in the future, by all accounts I would have to say the lack of youth leadership and development would be high among the reasons. Of course, the lack to absence of these community forums and Imbizos for all citizens; and lack to no action of fixing the problems are what South Africans need to urgently address.

NB: Mgudlwa is an award-winning journalist and resident of Lang