IT is ironic to see those who for so long vilified Joe Slovo turn him into something of a new South African saint. He wasn’t. If anything he was a down-to-earth, unpretentious, though quite remarkable, man.
Many of his exceptional qualities have been cited in the past few days, but there are two which deserve highlighting.
The first is his overwhelming contribution to non-racism. He was probably the most popular white man in Africa because of his unbending opposition to apartheid, his willingness to sacrifice in the struggle against it, and his political acumen. White South Africans, including those who persecuted and pursued him, are greatly indebted to him for his role in ensuring that the struggle against apartheid remained by-and-large a non-racial struggle — an extraordinary fact that accounts to a large extent for the goodwill that has survived the bitter battles of the past.
It is a part of the history of his South African Communist Party that is often forgotten: whatever the foolishness of its slavishness to Moscow in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, what cannot be underestimated is the importance of the non- racial flag it flew more consistently than any other political body.
Even as minister of housing, Slovo showed that it did not matter that he was a white minister with a white director- general and a white media representative — as long as he showed progress in the delivery of houses. It is a sobering lesson for those carried on the emotional wave of Africanism, and those less successful government departments that have put affirmative action before delivery.
The second factor relates to his political acumen. One of the most remarkable aspects of Slovo was his ability, over many decades, to foresee political and social developments and adjust his thinking timeously. It was this ability that led him into the struggle in his younger days and away from the Soviet Union in his latter days. It was this strength that made him see the need for compromise in negotiations and the need to take a pragmatic, and non-ideological, approach to housing.
In politics, there is a fine line between opportunism and flexibility. Nobody ever accused Joe Slovo of the former; many have praised him for the latter.
One hopes that he will have not one monument built to him, but hundreds of thousands, in the form of the houses that will be built on the foundations he laid in his short tenure as minister. It will be a lasting, tangible, pragmatic and deserved memorial.
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