Africa's journey to rebirth and reawakening

Walter Sisulu understood that liberation is a process, not a moment

- MPHUMZI MDEKAZI

ON JUNE 12, we gathered at Vaal University of Technology (VUT) not just to honour the towering legacy of Walter Sisulu, whose birthday was on May 18, 1912 - a revolutionary, a father of our democracy, and a quiet architect of freedom - but the day was also used to reflect on the deeper, historical roots of the struggles that continue to shape our continent.

Walter Sisulu believed, above all else, in the unity, dignity, and potential of African people, and he understood that true liberation would not come with the lowering of colonial flags, but with the dismantling of colonial logic - embedded in institutions, economies, and minds.

It is for that reason that, partially, the fulcrum of his inaugural memorial lecture looked back - not to dwell, but to understand, so that we may act differently going forward.

I would assume that, as we gathered in the Vaal, we all knew that our problems as the African continent are located at the Berlin Conference of 1884.

In 1884-85, in cold, chandelier-lit halls of imperial Europe, 14 European powers convened what is now known as the Berlin Conference - also called the Congo Conference. Not a single African was present. Yet the lives of millions would be irrevocably changed.

There, the continent was carved up like a pie. Arbitrary borders drawn across ethnic groups, kingdoms, ecological zones and ancient trade routes. Entire civilisations dismembered. Africa was not seen as a place of peoples, cultures, or sovereignty, but as territory to be occupied, extracted, and exploited.

This process was legitimised by the so-called principle of “effective occupation,” which required European powers to demonstrate control over African territories to claim them. In truth, it was a licence for conquest, enslavement, and cultural erasure.