Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum congratulates AmaBhele National Association on first Ndlela KaSompisi Memorial Lecture

This media statement is also available in Sesotho I isiZulu I isiXhosa I Setswana

Soundbite: Barend Uys (English)

Soundbite: Barend Uys (Afrikaans)

AfriForum today congratulated the AmaBhele National Association (Amanasso) on the successful hosting of the first annual Ndlela KaSompisi Memorial Lecture. The civil rights organisation attended the lecture and also expressed the hope that this event will play an important role in public discourse in the country in the future. The lecture was held yesterday (1 June) in Durban.

“It is gratifying that the AmaBhele people are taking responsibility for preserving and promoting their cultural identity and heritage by commemorating historical figures who played a significant role in the history of their people and the country. A healthy cultural self-image and pride in the origin of a cultural community are essential for communities to know that they can shape their own destiny,” says Barend Uys, Head of Intercultural Relations and Cooperation at AfriForum.

AmaBhele from across the country collaborated to establish Amanasso in 1970 with the aim of preserving AmaBhele heritage, addressing socio-economic challenges, and uniting AmaBhele across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region with the aim of promoting progress.

The AmaBhele were already settled in the area of present-day Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal by the 18th century, but due to the conflicts and migrations of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, they spread and also settled in the Eastern Cape and Lesotho.

Ndlela KaSompisi, after whom the new annual lecture series is named, is considered an important leader in the history of the AmaBhele people. Ndlela was the son of Sompisi KaGuqa who, together with a group of AmaBhele, went to live in the Zulu Kingdom. Here, Ndlela, who was known as a brave warrior, gained status in the Zulu Kingdom in the 1820s. He was later appointed prime minister and general by the Zulu king Dingane and was one of the main commanders of the Zulu forces during the Battle of Blood River. He also saved the life of the later Zulu king Mpande by warning him of a plot by his (Mpande’s) half-brother, Dingane, to assassinate him and by ensuring the defeat of Dingane’s forces by those of Mpande at the Battle of Maqongqo. In doing so, Ndlela not only played a key role in preventing the downfall of the Zulu royal house but also contributed to making the establishment of good relations between Afrikaners and the Zulu Kingdom possible during the reign of King Mpande in the 1840s.

Uys considers the opportunity to attend and speak a few words at the first Ndlela KaSompisi Memorial Lecture a tremendous privilege. “Our generation is once again in the privileged position to establish good relations and cooperation between the various cultural communities in southern Africa based on mutual recognition and respect. The network of cultural communities established through this plays an important role in enabling prosperous and peaceful coexistence for all communities here at the southern tip of Africa,” concludes Uys.