An Open Letter to Mr. Fikile Mbalula, Stop the Selective Memory; Honour History Honestly

Dear Mr. Fikile Mbalula,

Secretary General, African National Congress

Your recent remark in whilst on your annual January 8th charm offensive in the North West Province — that people of the North West Province must “forget” Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope — was not merely a political gaffe. It was a gratuitous dismissal of a complex historical record, a disrespect to a people’s memory and achievements, and a vivid example of the double standard the ANC applies when it chooses which leaders to lionize and which to erase.

History must be contested, not censored. It must be interrogated for truth, not flattened into slogans. If the ANC insists on a perpetual cult of selective remembrance for its own icons, then it must tolerate the same scrutiny for leaders outside its ranks. The people of the North West Province — the Batswana Nation and all citizens who care for honest history — deserve better than an offhand instruction to “forget” a chapter of their past that produced enduring institutions and infrastructure beyond your myopic thinking.

A Record of Tangible Achievements

Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope’s administration of Bophuthatswana (1977–1994) occupies a contested place in South Africa’s history. Whatever one’s view of the politics of homelands, the material imprint of that era in most parts of present day North West Province is undeniable and needs sober recognition when assessing public leadership and legacy.

Consider Some of the Lasting Achievements Frequently Cited by Historians, Analysts and Residents:

- Sun City Entertainment Resort: Conceived and built as a major tourism and entertainment hub by the Mangope homeland administration, Sun City became one of the region’s most prominent economic assets and remains a symbol of large-scale development undertaken during that period. The fact that it was stolen right under the noses of the people by the corrupt lot must never undermine the prowess of establishing it as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) before you even knew that such is a possibility. This model was pioneered by the Mangope administration, the very prowess you want us to forget today...!!!

- Mmabatho International Airport: Built to high technical standards for its time, the airport featured advanced landing systems (ALS) and modern facilities that positioned it as an aviation asset of significance in the region. This leadership was ahead of time considering that in the 32 years of your rule, you are yet to built an airport close to the same infrastructural power this airport built in the 80s has.

- Bop Recording Studios: Often celebrated for world-class facilities, the studios were a creative hub that attracted local and international artists and produced high-quality work, contributing to cultural and artistic life beyond provincial borders. Under your watch, this world-class facility stands as a white elephant, thanks to the rot of corruption that is synonymous with your administration since you started governing South Africa in 1994. Your administration has stolen infrastructure and deprived locals and international creatives opportunities to maximize the use of this iconic facilities.

- Convention and conference infrastructure: Bophuthatswana invested in large-scale venues intended to attract and host local and international conventions and events, an unusual scale of public infrastructure for the region in that era. This plan worked and worked well and produced wonders under the Mangope administration and died a slow death after your administration took over in 1994. Today the Mmabatho Convention Centre is in shambles, thanks to your failure to appreciate let alone respect nor acknowledge Mangope's good deeds.

- Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation: The establishment of a broadcasting entity with sophisticated production facilities provided local media capacity and a platform for regional communications. African Countries such as Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, etc. including the present day SABC, all benefited from learning the prowess of broadcasting at the highest level from this establishment.

- Higher education initiative: The development of tertiary institutions under local stewardship — institutions intended to serve community needs and expand access to higher learning in the region — remains an important legacy to examine. The University of Bophuthatswana (UNIBO) which your administration changed to the North West University (NWU) is a success story of a Community Built and Owned Project, thanks to the leadership prowess of Mangope, the very man you want us to forget about. This is the only unique community ownership model that ensured a community finances, build and manage a university in the world.

These examples are not offered as a blanket endorsement of every policy or practice of the homeland administration; rather these examples are offered as facts about infrastructure and institutions that continue to matter to this very moment. How dare do you begin to suggest that we should forget this achievement by Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope without you demolishing and flattening all the infrastructure this man's vision delivered to our benefit. A fair public conversation must acknowledge achievements where they exist, even as it critiques other aspects of governance and politics.

Double Standards and Selective Hagiography

What is objectionable about your intervention, Mr. Mbalula, is the clear asymmetry: the ANC’s relentless canonization of certain figures—most notably Nelson Mandela—while often dismissing, deriding or suppressing discussion of other leaders’ accomplishments, as you are doing to Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope. The result is a politicized memory that privileges party loyalty over historical nuance. This talks to shallow mindedness and self-hate by those trusted with leadership of society as per your demonstration.

If the ANC celebrates Mandela’s legacy in every forum, it cannot legitimately instruct others not to commemorate Mangope’s contributions or any other leader they choose to commemorate, the same way as you choose to celebrate those you choose to celebrate freely without being dismissed and or directed otherwise. You cannot demand that only your chosen narratives be enshrined and cherished. Public memory is not the exclusive property of any individual or any political party or any government or any organization. To permit selective memory is to allow politics to rewrite substantive evidence of development and social organization, and allowing this without challenging it is a perfect recipe for disaster. You are doing to your people, the exact same thing that colonialism and apartheid systems did to you, and this can never be correct...!!!

This is not merely academic. The politics of remembrance shapes policy, investment, identity and local pride. When the state erases or belittles a region’s successes, it contributes to alienation and fuels division. Worse, it erodes public trust: if citizens perceive that praise and punishment in history are dispensed according to partisan advantage, they lose faith in the fairness of national discourse.

A plea for honest, accountable commemoration

We ask the ANC and its leaders to consider doing these three very important things:

1. Recognize complexity: Acknowledge that historical figures can be both flawed and consequential. Accept that development legacies deserve evaluation on their merits, not partisan convenience.

2. Stop the rhetorical denigration: Avoid careless language that dismisses entire communities’ memories. Political leaders should model respectful engagement, especially when addressing regions with painful postcolonial experiences.

3. Support transparent historical review: Back independent, scholarly and community-inclusive inquiries into the homeland era’s record—its achievements, failures and human costs. If the ANC stands firmly for democratic maturity, it should welcome rigorous appraisal rather than suppress it.

The politics of today will be judged by the archive of tomorrow. If the ANC champions Mandela as an icon worthy of endless commemoration, it must also allow others the dignity of being judged by history—warts, merits and all.

A Final Word to the People of the North West

People in the North West and beyond are rightly insisting on fuller accounts of their past. They do not ask for uncritical glorification; they ask for recognition that development and dignity took many forms and came from many leaders. Public discourse should be robust, but it should also be honest.

Mr. Mbalula, an open democracy demands more than a dismissive soundbite. It demands an openness to truth and a willingness to engage with the full texture of our shared past. If the ANC wishes to claim moral leadership in South Africa’s future, it should begin by treating the nation’s collective memory with the seriousness it warrants.

To the people of the North West Province, remember the words of Nelson Mandela when he acknowledged that his glorious organization, the African National Congress is destined to treating you this way as you are experiencing today, Nelson Mandela said;

"If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government"

By Nelson Mandela

An Open Challenge to Mr. Fikile Mbalula

I hereby challenge you for a live radio interview to challenge you on what i believe was a reckless statement and to afford you the opportunity to state your case and clarify what you said which prompted this open letter...!!!