‘Youth can learn from ex-leaders’

The younger generation needs to be taught about SA’s leaders, particularly Inkosi Albert Luthuli, KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu said.

Durban - The younger generation needs to be taught about the country’s leaders, particularly Inkosi Albert Luthuli, the first African recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Premier Senzo Mchunu said.

“This is critically important because, since the beginning of this year, we have seen the country getting divided along racial lines. Inkosi Luthuli was a firm believer in the unity of our people,” Premier Senzo Mchunu said when he paid tribute to Umkhonto we Sizwe military veterans who took part in the fight against apartheid.

Speaking during the Amadelakufa Awards ceremony, which honoured the veterans, at the Greyville Convention Centre on Friday night, the premier recalled that during Luthuli’s term of office as the leader of the ruling party, he formed alliances with Indian, White and Coloured organisations.

“Luthuli was also instrumental in the development of the Freedom Charter,” he said.

Mchunu said the Amadelakufa Awards ceremony was timely as it took place a few days after the commemoration of the release from prison of former president Nelson Mandela.

“The month of February will remain engraved in our minds as it marked the beginning of the total dismantling of apartheid,” he said. February also marked the unbanning of the ANC and the SA Communist Party.

The premier said the government would mark August 5 this year - the anniversary of the day Nelson Mandela was captured outside Howick in 1962 - to pay tribute to all struggle stalwarts, especially the soldiers of Umkhonto we Sizwe, who took up arms to advance the vision of Mandela.

The Amadelakufa Awards was one way which the government aimed to preserve and promote history, he said.

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