Earlier this spring, the South African government announced that it was presenting the O R Tambo Award posthumously to former President of Guyana Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. The prestigious award is given to foreign citizens who have promoted South African interests and aspirations through co-operation, solidarity, and support.
Forbes Burnham was a vocal and active supporter of the struggle for dignity and freedom for ALL South Africa’s people, and this award was in recognition of that support.
Now that award has been deferred indefinitely. Driven by petitions to the Government of South Africa, and by some whose voices have been eerily silent in the quest for justice for the hundreds of murdered Guyanese during the last 20 plus years, including the death of Satyadeow Sawh a serving Minister of the Government of Guyana. Those voices include, Dr. Horace Campbell, a Jamaican-born US resident who is attempting to convict the late Forbes Burnham in the public court of opinion for the death of Dr. Walter Rodney without any evidence but by mere speculations, and an individual named Aayjay Murphy a resident of Marietta, Georgia.
Guyanese have essentially allowed the history of Guyana to be rewritten by those with self-serving motives. We all must take bold and deliberate steps to correct this. The leaders of nations across the world have perpetrated untold amounts of horrifying suffering on fellow human beings, but almost every one of them have managed to hold their leaders in the highest esteem. Britain, among others, was the architect of slavery but no one is ready to cast aspersions on any of their monarchs or prime ministers. Several American presidents were the owner of slaves and until as recently as the 1960s, the citizens of the United States were marching and dying to gain their right for political representation. In 2013, Mississippi finally managed to officially abolish slavery when it ratified the 13th Amendment, yet the United States holds proud and close their revered leaders.
There has been no proof President Burnham was the architect of the demise, suppression or enslavement of anyone and therefore, the speculations and stories must remain just that. In the words of the old African story tellers, it is all “Anancy Stories.”
Dr. Horace Campbell’s petition and his reasons for President Burnham ineligibility for the O.R. Tambo Award should not overshadow the unselfish, committed, unwavering, courageous support President Burnham along with the people of Guyana demonstrated for the freedom of the peoples of southern Africa. The support came at a time when the world was being buffeted between the wills of the super powers, and an independent stance was seen as a stand with the enemy by either side. Burnham’s independent position precipitated the wrath of both sides of the geo-political divide by sometimes not so subtle sanctions. President Burnham’s support for the anti-apartheid forces came in the form of:
- Guyanese men and women being dispatched to fight against the apartheid regime
- Financial contributions at a time when Guyana was in desperate need of foreign currency
- Material and logistical support including the use of Timehri International Airport as the stop-over for flights en-route to support the anti-apartheid freedom fighters
- Political support in the halls of all national and international forums, from the United Nations to the meetings with members of the Non-Aligned nations and all government leaders.
- Guyana under the leadership of Forbes Burnham, taking a lead role in its principled stand against sportsmen who violated international agreements and persisted to perform in South Africa
- Commissioning of the African Liberation Monument on Namibia Day on August 26, 1974, on the grounds of the Umana Yana with the inscription “Mourn not for us who died but for our brothers everywhere who live in bondage and in mourning turn away to act”
- Training and development of individuals from South Africa at Guyana’s institutes of learning.
Here is a quote from President Burnham on the occasion of the opening of the International Forum on the Liberation of Southern Africa at the National Cultural Center, Georgetown, Guyana, on April 30, 1981:
“The liberation struggle in Africa is not a mere cold historical fact. My Party, My Government, My fellow Guyanese recognize it is an important aspect of the rhythm of revolution and change which has swept the world in the wake of the second world war. We have been inspired not only by the achievements in Asia but also by those in Africa, and found new strength as we embarked on the task of our own emancipation. Africa has indeed been in the vanguard of the struggle for the dissolution of imperialism and colonialism in recent years.
The results are there to be seen not only in the form of some fifty independent African Nations, but also in the form of several new states in the Commonwealth Caribbean. We would hopefully be playing but a small part of the debt owed while seeking to consolidate our own independent status, if we were to support and give every assistance to the struggle in Namibia and South Africa.
Together our countries succeeded in 1966 in persuading the United Nations to terminate the South African mandate in Namibia and establish a Council for Namibia as the legal administering authority.
Guyana finds some reason for the pride in the fact that it has served on that Council from its very creation and has filled the presidency on one occasion so far. The Council’s importance has grown over the years and so has the general recognition accorded it. This is attested to by the increase in membership now includes many who were ones to scoff at it.”
President Burnham was embroiled in difficult and divisive debate by members of the opposition parties in Guyana who vociferously opposed his unwavering support for ridding South Africa of the apartheid regime. This support should not and cannot be marred by any unsubstantiated stories by anyone in their quest to tarnish or destroy the legacy of Forbes Burnham.
The deferment of the O.R. Tambo Award has not only cast aspersions on the character of President Burnham but attempts to negate the blood, sweat and social and economic struggles as a result of the punitive measures imposed by western governments on Guyana for Burnham’s support of regime change in South Africa and the policies of his administration.
In 2013 as we sit in the confines of our homes, and words like freedom, democracy and regime-change are being liberally applied as a solution to all ills, we must cast our minds back to April 1981 when President Burnham said in an address to the international Forum on the Liberation of Southern Africa in Georgetown, Guyana:
“The internal contradictions, the will of the Africans themselves and the resolve of freedom loving peoples throughout the world will ensure the eventual liquidation of the dastardly system and ensure the freedom of the oppressed masses.”
At that event, President Burnham pledged $250,000 to freedom fighters, which represented an additional gesture to the regular yearly contribution which started at $60,000 and later increased to $200,000.
Does any of this seem reminiscent of what we in the US have been doing to free the people of the Middle East from their oppression in the very recent years? Can it be said that President Burnham was ahead of his time.
President Jacob Zuma: The Oliver Tambo Award is certainly a prestigious award and as a Guyanese by birth, the decision to “defer the posthumous awarding of the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo indefinitely” to President Burnham, the foremost champion of the freedom of Southern Africans, is a painful pill to swallow.
Many people played a part in supporting our brothers and sisters in South Africa. For me, that meant turning down lucrative job assignments and losing out on promotions because I would not go to South Africa and be labeled “honorary white” with a “special pass” that would have allowed me to be treated differently. It meant making the decision that I would not knowingly buy goods that were produced under the auspices of the regime. And, it meant naming my daughter Kimberley to remind me of my freedom even as those working in the Kimberley gold mines were brutally treated and “enslaved”.
These were small actions in comparison to the hardships endured in South Africa, but as time has testified, it was the small and large actions combined that brought the oppressors to their knees. President Burnham, on behalf of all the people of Guyana, took actions that were unimpeachable in supporting the freedom fighters of South Africa. That is an indisputable, documented fact. Was he perfect, no, but I ask… who is?
History is a great story teller, and the pages are constantly turning. Until we turn to the page that can provide irrefutable proof of the allegations in the petitions against Burnham, I say we should stick to the facts and the O.R. Tambo award should be presented to President Burnham for his stand against the oppression of the peoples of southern Africa.
