GRACA MACHEL CHALLENGES YOUTH

(At Waterford KaMhlaba)

MBABANE – The theme was to unbind Africa, and Mama Graca Machel rekindled the fire that burnt the shackles.
The former Mozambique and South Africa’s first lady was the cherry on top of what has been a marvellous week at prestigious multi-racial school, formed as an instrument to oppose the oppressive apartheid system in South Africa, Waterford Kamhlaba United World Colleges.

She was a perfect choice for a keynote address at an event that brought together pupils, parents and guests in the latter stage of the celebration of the Africa Week at the school.
Among the guests was Nedbank Managing Director Fikile Nkosi, who was one of the panellists during the discussions held since Wednesday at the school.
Former Waterford pupil and Yale alumnus Wabantu Hlophe, anchored the discussions after Mama Graca’s keynote address. And the moving lecture by the world renowned political activist was preceded by a captivating pupil-led African music concert.

Hers was just simple; to challenge the current generation of pupils to interrogate the socials ills in their lifetimes, the same way the likes of anti-apartheid activists Samora Machel, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo did in their lifetimes when they brought apartheid to its knees.

In her eloquent best, Mama Graca, as she is affectionately known, was unwavering as she rallied the youth to re-embrace the African values centred on oneness, selflessness and empathy at the packed auditorium.
She placed the burden of responsibility on the shoulders of the pupils to use their education to confront the systems that breeds poverty, gender violence and lack of clean water supply in Africa. 

“Be conscious of the power you have and use it to change the continent. Change it by challenging systems that cause the social ills. Challenge governments who pass laws that are counter-productive to the people’s needs, not by burning houses and breaking down bridges, but by being united in one voice. Change by voting those governments out of office,” she said.

One thing that came out clear from her address was when she challenged the youth to use their education to engage in debates and conduct research that would determine the causes of the social ills such as teenage pregnancy.
This was after she had shared a news article on how about 1 000 pupils, estimated to be at Grade V, were said to have fallen pregnant at Ekurhuleni outside Johannesburg. 

A question had been posed to her, on what they could do to bring in new ideologies in communities without breaking the bond with the elders when confronting issues like child pregnancy and gender violence.
“You need to be united and determined to speak in one voice. You need to develop tactics on how to implement your strategies.

“You have an opportunity with social media to mobilise as many people as possible to be able to speak in one big voice. The challenge with most campaigns has been that organisations were so fragmented and therefore couldn’t make an impact,” she said to a round of applause.

She said the youth of this generation has to create its own history and that they need to come up with ways that would leave the same, if not more significance, than the Machels and Mandelas of this world.
She said the current issues confronting the society today are issues of poverty, gender-based violence, developmental inequalities stemming from the way economic development is conceptualised or systemized.

She punched holes at the education systems and the GDP concepts of defining development of a country, ignoring the millions who are cramped in abject poverty. “We need scholars who would vigorously engage in debate and researches that would stimulate change in these economic development systems and patterns.

She went on to say: “we need to begin to define a human being in her holistic nature; body, mind and spirit. The current systems, even of education, should go beyond providing knowledge and skills, but should connect with our spiritual needs.

“That is where the culture of sharing and being empathic to one another comes in. You have a responsibility to develop a generation that will fully and truthfully rekindle the African values of ‘we’ from the ‘I’.”
She passed a stern warning to Africa to learn from the mistakes of the unsustainable development experienced by the so-called developed countries.

“Don’t allow the Chinese and any other nation to come and destroy your environment in the name of development. In South Africa, there are communities who can’t drink waters from their rivers that have been contaminated by mines,” she said.
At the end she said the future was in the youth’s hands and it was upon them to make a change.

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