Motsoko Pheko

Introduction

The colonial destruction of Zimbabwe began in 1895. That was after that arch-agent of British imperialism, Cecil Rhodes had said:

Programme Director, Distinguished Guests, Sons and Daughters of Africa:

I want to greet you with an important African proverb. It says, “Until the lions and the lionesses tell their own history, the history of the hunt will glorify the hunters and not the hunted.”

LAND! LAND! LAND! There is a lot of talk about land in South Africa today. It looks like some people have been asleep about this important national asset. Others who talk about land today in this country did their part in betraying the land question.

It is estimated that there are six thousand languages in the world. 3,000 of them are in Africa. If languages that have faded away are counted Africa had more than the present number.

[DR MOTSOKO PHEKO delivered this address at the Department of Languages University of South Africa, 12 October 2016.]

Introduction

Programme Director, Distinguished Delegates Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank the Convenors of the 4^th Annual Spring Law Conference for inviting me to speak at this gathering and on such an important subject in our country – Land law and economic liberation.

One of the students that the apartheid colonialist police shot dead on 16 June 1976 was Hector Pieterson. According to the late Rev.

[Editor’s Note: Dr Motsoko Pheko deliverd this message of solidarity to the world-wide Pan African Convention held at Orlando, SOWETO, Azania 13 -15 June 2016.]

We shall miss his charming smile. We shall miss his towering height – “uFafa” (the tall one), “uZikhali” (his clan name). We shall miss his frankness and bravery in matters of national importance affecting the land dispossessed people of Azania (South Africa).