ANC Media statement on receiving the Mount Kilimanjaro four
15 December 2011
The Deputy President, Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe together with the Provincial Chairperson, Paul Mashatile and ANC Head of Organising, Fikile Mbalula will be receiving four ANC members who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to place the flag of the ANC on Uhuru Peak as part of the celebration of the 100 years of the ANC.
The four will arrive tomorrow at 19:00 at the OR Tambo International Airport.
The ANC welcomes the initiative of a group of businessmen who are members of the ANC decided early this year to begin training for the ultimate goal of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, to celebrate the centenary of the African National Congress. Tshilidzi Ratshitanga, Muthanyi Robinson Ramaite, Wiseman Khumalo and Leslie Mkhabela began mountain hiking in South Africa in April 2011. Amongst others they climbed Monk cowl, in Drakensberg, Table Mountain in Cape Town and Golden Gate in the Free State. On Wednesday the 7th December 2011 they boarded a flight destined for Kilimanjaro and began their climb on Thursday 8th December 2011.
There are several routes to choose to get to the top of Kilimanjaro. There is the shorter route named the Coca Cola route because of its convenient facilities such as flushable toilets and reasonable lodging and the longer route named the whisky route because of its toughness and lack of luxurious facilities. The ANC comrades decided to go for the ultimate challenge and chose the Machame route, which is the toughest of all the routes to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. The ANC is the oldest liberation movement in Africa and throughout its 100 years of existence it has operated from most countries in Africa because during the struggle against apartheid there was a long period during which it was burned from operating in South Africa. It had to seek refuge from other countries in Africa and Tanzania was amongst the few countries that braved the ultimate risk to accommodate the ANC to operate from within its borders.
It was most relevant therefore that this group of ANC comrades chose to symbolize their commemoration of the 100 years of the ANC by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Beyond celebrating the ANC’s lived history this great step by these ANC comrades also serves as a way of recognizing the role played by Tanzania in helping the South African struggle for freedom and democracy.
Tshilidzi Ratshitanga says: “At the verge of the Tanzanian independence in 1959 Benedict Lukembwe handed Julius Mwalimu Nyerere a lantern lamp when he visited his village and said – ‘this lamp is given to you by us the villagers as a present so that when we achieve our independence we place it at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro so that it could light beyond our borders to give hope where there is despair like in South Africa, Angola and Namibia, where the struggle for independence is still ripe’ In response Mwalimu said: “We will light a candle on top of mount Kilimanjaro which will shine beyond our borders, giving hope where there is despair, love where there is hate and dignity where there was only humiliation”
Armed with this powerful story the ANC cadres vowed to get to the top of Kilimanjaro, no matter how hard it was, to hoist the ANC flag and report to the forebears of the ANC and Tanzania that the ANC, the party which they fought through to bring freedom to South Africa, had now reached 100 years and was now the governing party of democratic South Africa.
Tshilidzi goes on to say: “climbing Kilimanjaro was hard and treacherous, it was no easy walk through the park, but when you are carrying the flag of the ANC, you are carrying the scars of liberation, the blood of so many that died in the trenches, the despair of families that lost their loved ones, memories of joy when we achieved freedom and with this on your shoulders you have no choice but to reach that summit. The life and times of the ANC were not easy, they were hard and treacherous and that is why it was most relevant to sacrifice the luxury of our daily lives to recognize this significant milestone by walking the hardest route until Uhuru Summit, at the highest point in Africa.
The group summitted Kilimanjaro on Wednesday morning (14 December), after 7 days of camping along the Machame route, raised the ANC flag and then afterwards the South African flag and prayed for peace and prosperity for all South Africans, for gratitude towards the people of Tanzania and for strength so that the ANC can remain strong in the next century. Ramaite adds that: “climbing Kilimanjaro also gave each of us the time and space to reflect upon our own lives, what we have to do to help the transformation of our country. It gave us time to reaffirm our commitment to the principle to serve without favour or greed, to behold the values of humanity and selflessness which the ANC needs to harness now more than any other time in its history of existence.”
Issued by:
Jackson Mthembu
African National Congress
Chief Albert Luthuli House
Johannesburg
Enquiries:
Keith Khoza 0828239672
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