In December 2013, Rivonia trialist and Struggle stalwart Ahmed Kathrada gave a public tribute at a memorial service for former president Nelson Mandela.
After acknowledging that SA had been blessed with a calibre of women, men and organisations who made invaluable contributions in pursuit of a free, just and equitable country, "Uncle Kathy", as he was affectionately known, singled out Madiba’s contributions as an activist and leader who fought for a cause greater than himself.
The most powerful characterisation of Mandela by Uncle Kathy that day was not of Mandela as a revolutionary, nor descriptions of him as a global symbol for reconciliation. Uncle Kathy’s most compelling description of his fellow Rivonia trial accused and former prison mate was of Mandela as his brother and friend.
Reflecting on the closeness of a bond that was forged through a shared determination to change the fortunes of the oppressed majority suffering under the Apartheid regime’s large-scale crime against humanity, theirs was a brotherhood that was sealed under conditions that are the definition of the revolutionary slogan “victory or death”.
The personal is political
Uncle Kathy’s heart-wrenching tribute brings to life the activist slogan that animated movements the world over in the 1960s and 1970s: the personal is political. His relationship with the Rivonia trialist and other comrades in the Struggle for liberation was a deep well of courage, determination, fortitude and passion from which he undoubtedly drew during his days as a political prisoner in the 70s and a prisoner of hope in his latter years as he watched the country that he and millions of people from his generation were willing to die for, shrink from the promise of a democratic SA.
At a time in his life when it was possible that Uncle Kathy was grappling with ensuring a better SA, a person who arguably represented a political north star for him had passed on, and so his sense of loss was understandably accompanied by a feeling of being politically and morally lost.
Political action is very rarely an individual pursuit. In most cases, no matter how resolute a person is about correcting injustice or fighting for what is right, the most accessible form of power is not what they draw from a mind filled with ideology or a heart filled with courage, but from the energy and momentum that collective thought and action creates.
The dynamic pulse of large protests like those we saw in cities across the world at the height of the #BlackLivesMatter movement is determined by the quality of the micro relationships that build camaraderie.
It is those bonds of trust, exchange of ideas, shared vision and recognisable love for people and country fostered in homes, taverns, street committees, community meetings and lunch breaks that develop the personal connections and intractable bonds that become the DNA of transformative movements for social justice and political revolution.
Tribute to Luzuko Koti
In the past two weeks, the passing of broadcaster, activist, storyteller and patriot Luzuko Koti once again showed the power of relationships in efforts to take political action. Endless tributes from Koti's family, friends and colleagues paint a picture of a person who invested deeply in relationships and people as the foundation for any change in SA. Koti dreamed with other people. He contested ideas with people.
He empowered people and valued the role of people from all stations. Being comrades with people, he shared a vision of change, which was a default setting for Koti. He replaced the common address of political allies as “Comrade” with the more action-oriented term “leader”, a naming convention he used to signal that he had identified in someone the potential to lead and would at every turn remind them of that mantle and its various missions.
From Koti’s days as a Cosas leader, his building of exceptional young professional journalists as communicators, his time spent at Cope and most recently his launching of the Rivonia Circle, he carried with him a cadre of change-makers over decades of activism and public service who at the time of his untimely death rallied around each other and hs family, as an important act of love for Koti and an intentional act honouring his politics that where not only public but overwhelmingly personal.
As a tribute to Koti, I urge all who are passionate about SA and its future to remember that politics is above all else about people. May we invest as deeply in the strong communities for change as we do ideology and political action.
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