“For first and foremost, we are sons and daughters of this soil. We are born of Africa and have this landmass as our vantage point. Therefore we should not look at our destiny through the eyes of others but through our own wit and wisdom, through an understanding of Ubuntu and a common humanity, as this is what makes us at one with ourselves and at home with the world,” Mthethwa told the gathering at the National Library’s Centre for the Book in Cape Town.
“Even as we have been subjected to the ravages of colonialism, segregation and apartheid and as we acknowledge that we reside in an era of rapid globalisation, even as others seek to dehumanise us and leave us with their culture of violence, which we fight every day, every point of the way, we still need to stand our ground.”
The colloquium was part of a series of Africa Month colloquium programme that are being conducted by the department around the country under the theme, “The Year of OR Tambo: Building a Better Africa and a Better World”.
Mthethwa paid tribute said African for-bearers, who launched spirited defiance against colonialism, through numerous liberation movements on the continent.
“Liberation movements on our continent strove to free their country from colonialism and later neo-colonialism. We recall these heroic struggles and milestones because these narratives are important even in this new time in shaping our identity and setting our agenda,” said Mthethwa.