Rewriting the history of transition the first step down a dangerous path

By Mondli Makhanya – Sunday Times 21st February 2010

At the height of the battle between Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky, the former was doing everything in his power to ensure that Lenin’s mantle passed on to him.

In later years, having won the struggle, Stalin went to the extreme lengths of airbrushing Trotsky out of photographs in which he shared a stage with Lenin and clearly appeared as the right-hand man. It was an extreme case of the rewriting of history, something that is practised the world over for political expediency.

South Africa is currently experiencing a mini-version of this rewriting of the history of our transition. The greatest casualty of this, as always, is the truth. The truth that one generation leaves behind for its descendants.

With the soiling of truth and memory you also harm the lessons that future generations can take from current generations. When history is distorted for whatever reason they can never know how we solved the problems of our time and what wisdom they can take from us.

Take the recent attempts, gaining currency in the ANC, to credit PW Botha rather than FW as being the Nat who made the leap out of the laager.

In his state of the nation address President Jacob Zuma made no bones about which apartheid leader he believed opened the way for change.

“Allow me to mention the role played by former President PW Botha. It was he who initiated the discussion about the possible release of political prisoners. President Botha worked with the former Minister of Justice, Mr Kobie Coetsee, who was in turn assisted by Dr Neil Barnard and Mr Mike Louw. They played a significant role in the process leading to the release of Madiba,” he said.

Zuma then went on to say that Botha had initiated the process “that laid the groundwork for the historic announcements by President FW de Klerk, 20 years ago”. In passing, he praised De Klerk for his “courage and decisive leadership”.

In the past fortnight Zuma has, along with some leaders of the ruling party, been actively playing down De Klerk’s role in the transition and, strangely, upping Botha’s role instead.

Now I hold no brief for De Klerk. We all know he was on the verkrampte wing of the National Party in the ’80s. And that it was during his tenure as president that elements of the apartheid state, in cahoots with Inkatha and other surrogate formations, unleashed horrendous violence on black communities.

But it was he who recognised in 1989 that the whole apartheid project just was not sustainable, and that the state would ultimately collapse in the face of mass resistance and international pressure.

It took vision and boldness to set the country on a path that would result in the demise of his party’s raison d’être: white supremacy. But now that he has emerged as a rallying point and a champion for groups fighting for the rights of the Afrikaans language, his role in history is being doctored.

Emphasis is now being placed on the fact that Botha approved initial contact between his lieutenants and ANC leaders in exile and on Robben Island.

Conveniently overlooked is the fact that Botha imposed Draconian states of emergency and put in place the state death squads that sought to prevent democracy ever dawning. In his heyday, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the Augusto Pinochets of this world.

An even greater crime being committed is the writing of Thabo Mbeki out of history. In the same speech in which Botha was lauded, there was not a single mention of Mbeki. This thing of pretending Mbeki did not exist has been a pattern in the past year or so.

Yes, during his presidency Mbeki did some horrible things and caused great pain to this nation, for which many will find it very difficult to forgive him.

But to pretend that the man who was at OR Tambo’s side during the heady ’80s, and who was a key emissary, played an insignificant role is to distort reality.

Mbeki’s role in secret contact with South African agents in the late ’80s is well-documented. As is his role in the talks with the white South African academics, businessmen and civil society who trekked to Lusaka and other African capitals to hear the ANC’s side of the story.

Those talks softened white opinion-makers’ attitude to the ANC, and by the time the unbannings happened, the organisation had been somewhat de-demonised in those circles.

I’m sure those who seek to write Mbeki out of history have their reasons.

For many, revenge is more than ousting him from power. He has to be slowly deleted from memory. The narrative of the transition had to change so that he can feel the pain while he is still alive. This rewriting is subtle and carefully implemented.

Now that is dangerous. If you start fiddling with history in that manner, there is no telling where it will stop.