The 2015 John Langalibalele Dube memorial Lecture is part of the annual Ujamaa Lecture series, this time exquisitely presented by renowned South African Playwright Dr Duma Ndlovu.
This lecture comes at a time when the South African nation is celebrating the legacy of Steve Bantu Biko, coupled by an ideological rebirth of the ‘Black consciousness movement’ –especially among the youth at Institutions of Higher learning. The talk centred on the theme, “Reconscientising South African Communities towards self-reliance: A ‘ghost dance’ with John LINGALIBALELE DUBE and Steve Bantu Biko?” It highlights the incessant quest by the two men for the common good of all South Africans amidst despair but yet hope for the future. Dr Duma finely articulates the ideals envisaged by the two men – lived in times apart but yet causally united by the deep desire for freedom and nation building. His artistry poignantly captures and delivers the ideals of these icons of struggle, with a sweet taste of their contributions that are yet to determine the greater future of a nation at the cross-roads.
by Dr Duma Ndlovu
Dube and Biko did things that were different and yet similar in the history of South Africans. They lived in the two sides of the centuries. We are forced to examine the linkages and start to explain the similarities of the work of the two opposite figures who died in the same century. Reincarnation can be a story of the ancestors but we can draw a lot from these two. The similarities especially lie in their understanding of self-reliance as very crucial in our lives as South Africans.
The question remains, is it possible to dance with these two without being part of their life? Dube’s emphasis was on the freedom of education and Biko on Black consciousness. The two were freedom fighters as much as they were community activists. The two were concerned about revolution and freedom of the society. Dube founded an educational institution ‘Ohlange’ more than 100 years now. The school was very prominent and is still significant today. For Dube education was the key to unlocking the closed white society.
When he arrived in USA, the slave trade had just been abolished 18 years before his visit. This is bravery. In 1901 – he build a school . 1904- founded the Sun; one of the newspapers in Natal which was published in IsiZulu. In a period of three years of the foundation of the school the students could read already. The first readers of the Sun were his students. Amazing. The Sun is still available even today to fight for the rights of the people. The school and the newspaper were the instrument of liberation during the time of Dube. The two were instruments for the blacks to rely on their resources.
Seventy years after, Biko comes in 1970 at the age of 20. Biko came at a time when the blacks needed freedom. Families were divided every day, women and children suffered and Biko could not just look and fold his arms. Biko was initially involved with the multiracial Union of South Africa. He also helped found South African Students Organization, SASO, whose agenda included political self-reliance and unification of university students in ‘black consciousness’. The actions of the people during the times of Biko were led by Ubuntu. SASO had the purpose of restoring the humanness of human beings that had been crippled by the apartheid. Dube and Biko believed in religion and theology. To this end, Dube was a pastor. Biko had a number of disciples who used the newspapers as a way to communicate the black consciousness. Of note is that although Biko was not a minister of the word, most voices from the church arose during his time and one of the critical voices was that of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Most of the ministers came up during the time of the black consciousness because religion was used to subjugate the black people. Black theology started during the time of Black consciousness.
Dube chose the path of freedom to free the blacks from the white oppression. South Africa was a defeated society, the society that had no fabric, but he did not use guns. He understood that the society needed repairing, regeneration and rebirth. Society does not need elder people but people with the will. Dube was 30 and Biko was 21 when they appeared on the scene to fight for the black lives in South Africa. Dube came with a program to re-gather the fabrics of the society. The school was a place of rebuilding the human mind. The arrest of Biko was unfortunate because he was an instrument of social regeneration. Biko and Dube were called to do things that other people could not do. This same call happens to such people today.
On the death of Biko, there were a number of false reasons given by the police but the truth later came out. There were also efforts to try to make the blacks remain low. The acts of brutality were becoming worse by the day. Cruelty was the order of the day. The killing of Biko is a reflection of how the blacks suffered. After killing Africans, they would go to the braai as if that was not enough. They could dine and wine after the killing. In African philosophy, any human being who once lived is not easy to just forget.
Dube and Biko’ fought for the dignity of the blacks. When you want to drive a human being, take away his dignity. The coming into the fold of Dube and Biko brought back dignity. They gave the blacks hope that it will be ok. The Soweto revolution was a message to say the war had started. Hope was brought by the two gentlemen. Determination led to more brutality but resilience helped the blacks to go ahead.
For Dube, dignity was restored through education. Dube is still effective a hundred years later. The act of Mandela to vote at the home of Dube at Ohlange in 1994 was a sign of respect for the work done by Dube. Failing to make that connection makes us not grow and not progress. Mandela connected the struggle of South Africa to the one who deserved it in the history of South Africa.
Biko was an incarnation of Dube but he did not receive the support from fellow South Africans. It’s surprising that today the young people are misdirected as they burn buildings and libraries in protest of poor service delivery. The young people are encouraged to respect the elders in view of what was done by the two gentlemen. We need to join the dots that have been created by the two gentlemen for us to go ahead as a people.
For too long, Africans have failed to see the role played by those who came before them. Dube is the face of any revolution. We learn how South Africa can draw inspiration from Dube. Dube died the day he was born 11 February and the same day Mandela was released from prison. That is not coincidence. Dube is the father dancing with Biko the son he never saw. This is a wish that even the sons of today dance with their fathers.
Biography: Duma Ndlovu
Duma Ndlovu is a South African writer and producer whose career has spanned three decades in the creative arts. A graduate of Hunter College in New York, he cut his teeth in the literary world with his theatrical contributions, concentrating largely on writing plays with a social message. This was inspired by the fact that he came of age during the turbulent years when Agitprop, (agitation propaganda theatre) was the order of the day. He was hugely influenced by the theatre of Gibson Kente and the teachings of Steven Bantu Biko and made it his challenge to fuse the work of these two giants into his literature and dramatic work.
His first professional play, SHEILA’S DAY a tribute to his domestic worker mother, profiled the lives of two women, from both the US and South Africa, who meet to compare notes on their experiences as domestic workers from both continents. Their similar journeys take both women through struggles as domestic workers who are caught up in human rights protests in both countries. The United States character, Ruby Lee Thomas Johnson, ends up in a bus sitting next to Rosa Parks during that fateful ride when she refused to give up her seat to a white man, and her South African counterpart, Qedusizi Buthelezi, moves to Johannesburg in search of a passbook and a job but runs into a march by 20 000 women, (August 1956), on their way to Pretoria to burn their pass books.
He has to his credit a list of other plays and musicals including; BERGVILLE STORIES, THE GAME, THE RITUAL, THE DOOR, THE JOURNEY (A musical) MEMEZA (A musical on the life of Pop Queen, Brenda Fassie) and THE PHOTOGRAPH. He is currently working on a play; I SAY WHAT I LIKE (a play about a fictitious meeting between Dr. Nelson Mandela and Steven Biko when the latter visits Mandela on Robben Island). His collection of South African plays; WOZA AFRIKA, was published in New York by GEORGE BRAZILLER publishers in 1987 and is currently working on another anthology of South African theatre that includes interviews with some of the luminaries of the theatre.
But his most influential work has been the South African Venda soapie, MUVHANGO, which has influenced how society looks and views one particular society, the previously marginalized group, the VhaVenda people. Through this television drama, which was written and produced by Mr. Ndlovu, societal perception of the Venda language has changed and his work has placed the previously marginalized group at the centre of discussions about South African cultures and her people. Muvhango is a daily soapie that runs on SABC 2 from Monday to Thursday. As though that was not enough, he has recently added another feather in his cap, the highly popular and successful new entrant into the soapie world, UZALO, the SABC -1 soapie that is now the most watched program on television, shot entirely on location in KwaMashu in Durban.
Mr. Ndlovu’s dramas have always spoken of the experiences of the marginalized and the underdog, and through his writings he has sought to inspire and challenge. He has to his credit a large body of work that has made the artistic fraternity the more richer. In May 2011, the University of Venda conferred upon him an honorary PhD in English.