by Gaynor Paynter

G21 Africa Columnist

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Gaynor Paynter & her sons

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - I bid you hello from South Africa, where summer temperatures in Johannesburg have escalated to 31 degrees Celsius - and this is mild in comparison with the rest of the country where the hottest places are reaching temperatures in the regions of 38 degrees. It truly makes one consider all manner and means of buying an air-conditioned car whilst driving in this heat - cars are stickily uncomfortable even at eight o'clock in the morning, and the thought of going out at 1 pm is enough to make one work through one's lunch hour.

One added advantage about the month of December is that a lot of companies in South Africa close down for Christmas, and these fortunate individuals can stay in their houses to avoid the sun and there is a lot less traffic on the roads than in other months.

Those of us whose employers do not believe in closing for the holidays are looking forward to Monday the 16th of December, a public holiday (The Day of Reconciliation), as an opportunity to take a much needed rest from the daily hustle and bustle. The Christians amongst us can make the most of the day to go and do our last minute Christmas shopping. This holiday, together with Christmas Day, the Day of Goodwill and New Year's Day make for an ideal mid-December / early January break, after the completion of a busy year.

I do feel, however, that now in particular with South Africa in the infancy of being a true democracy, it is particularly important that we do not forget the reason why 16 December has been granted the status of public holiday.

Without giving you a lesson in South African history, this is the brief summary of events preceding and culminating on that day.

In keeping with the theme of my previous letter which gave you a short history and description of the Drakensberg Mountain Range, 16 December is remembered for a tragic event which took place during the Great Trek of the 1830s, the main objectives of which were for the Voortrekkers to escape British Colonialism in Natal and set up independent republics on sections of land which they considered to be vacant. (They crossed the imposing mountain range in doing this). The events of 16 December 1838 played a huge part in shaping the future of South Africa.

The root of the problem can be found in the fact that the Voortrekkers discovered that some of the land they intended to convert into republics was indeed not vacant but rather inhabited by indigenous people, namely the Zulus. The Zulus naturally objected to the invasion as this was land that they had been living on for thousands of years.

This seemed an irreconcilable problem - both parties needed land on which to live, and skirmishes between the two were inevitable.

As the year 1837 drew to its close, a renowned Voortrekker leader, Piet Retief, began negotiations for the possession of territory with Dingaan, the then Zulu king. During the ensuing discussions Dingaan promised the Voortrekkers land on condition they returned cattle to him which had been stolen by Sekonyela, who was the Tlokwa (another indigenous tribe) leader. This seemed like a fair compromise and Retief arranged the successful completion of the return of the livestock to Dingaan.

History has it that Retief and Dingaan then signed a treaty, on 6 February 1838, laying down the terms of the land distribution. Proceedings took a turn for the worse and relations between the two parties were quite sour, when, during the treaty signing ceremony, Dingaan had Retief and his entourage murdered.

Many battles and confrontations between the Zulus and the Voortrekkers occurred over the next few months, wherein numerous lives were lost on both sides.

These events culminated on 16 December 1838 when about 10,000 Zulus under the command of Dambuza (Nzobo) and Nhlela sieged the Voortrekkers, but the 470 Voortrekkers, armed with guns, took victory in a battle which was later to become known as the Battle of Blood River. (The nearby river ran red with the blood of the 3000 Zulus who were killed. Of the Voortrekkers, only three were wounded, we're told.

In pre-democratic days in South Africa, 16 December was the public holiday known as Day of the Vow, as the Voortrekkers, whilst preparing for the combat took a Vow before God to erect a church, so that - should victory in the battle be theirs - they would forever remember the day as a day upon which they were spared by the grace of God. This was duly done and the date was remembered each year thereafter.

Today, the public holiday has been re-named The Day of Reconciliation and is seen as a day upon which all South Africans must concentrate on reconciliation between all races, colours and creeds - it is truly a day of national unity.

To my mind, it is of vital importance that the happenings of that day cannot be forgotten in the excitement of the coming festive season. We cannot forget the fact that we were all so intolerant in those dark days - because we can not and must not allow history to repeat itself, an event I fear may be happening as I write.

The media tells us that there have recently been bombings in various parts of our country, including Soweto, in busy northern suburbs and in public places - terrorist attacks in which "Right White" parties have been implicated as being responsible.

Apparently, also, the government has received a threat stating that it is going to be overthrown.. Injuries and deaths have occurred and it can only be a matter of time before individuals on the "Left" take it into their hands to seek reprisal. I live in fear of this as I myself have already existed through a time when terrorism and bombings were the order of the day - bomb threats were the norm at school and evacuation procedures were put into place and practised on a regular basis. I do not wish to see this repeated, and I hereby remind the perpetrators of the bombings of various contributing factors which I fear they may have forgotten.

In previous years of intolerance, many lives were lost - lives of people from all walks of life - neither Blacks nor Whites were spared in this horrifying time. In 1948 we decided to try intolerance and dogmatic approaches, and when all is said and done, we failed on a spectacular scale, with the rest of the world voicing its disapproval with the inception of sanctions and the removal of business.

Perpetrators of the bombings, I bid you: Remember 16 December, the Day of Reconciliation and honour it. Take it to heart by personally reconciling your differences. God gave us and our fellow human beings our very lives - surely it is up to Him and not to us as to when any human life should end? We have no right to take this into our own hands, for in doing this we are playing God.

In closing, I would like to take the opportunity to mention some current (and recently past) events which have caused a slight stir amongst South Africans, and uplifted our spirits.

Firstly, I would like to trumpet South Africažs latest sporting victory by congratulating one of our most famous golfing sons, Ernie Els, on winning the Nedbank Challenge Golf Tournament which was held at the luxurious Sun City earlier this week. It is no mean feat to win this prestigious tournament, but there is no doubt about it - Ernie is one of the best golfers in the world. We are proud that he is South African. Acknowledgement must also go to another South African golfer, Retief Goosen, who ended joint fourth in the same tournament. South Africans are world leaders in the production of quality golf players..

Secondly, South African citizens have just received a much needed economic break just before Christmas - the petrol price has come down by 16 cents a litre as a direct result of the Rand strengthening against the Dollar . For those of us who commute to work this is welcome relief, surely cuts in the cost of groceries and other commodities must follow.

Lastly, I write this on the eve of a full lunar eclipse (due to take place at 7.38 tomorrow morning). This event has drawn thousands of people to the Kruger National Park Game Reserve (South Africažs biggest Game Reserve both in area and number of animals) in our Limpopo Province. This is apparently going to be the best place to view the eclipse. It is being billed as a once in a lifetime event as the next full eclipse is due to occur only in another thirty years, and I am quite excited about the whole thing.

Please if any of you are going away for the holidays, take care, enjoy yourselves and return home safely.