Dr Allan Boesak says there is ”no way” he can accept an award from the African National Congress for his role in the forming of the United Democratic Front.
”I do not want to be arrogant, but I must say to the ANC that it is not awards that I want — it is that commitment and that honesty and that keeping of promises that I really want,” he said on Wednesday.
Boesak, a founder and patron of the UDF, told a media conference in Somerset West he would find it impossible to participate in the UDF’s 20th birthday celebrations this week.
The celebrations begin with a church service in Cape Town on Wednesday and climax on Sunday with a rally and an awards ceremony.
However, Boesak said he had been ”ostracised, ignored and discarded” by the ANC when he was jailed for theft of donor funds from his Foundation for Peace and Justice.
The ANC — which knew he was not guilty — had reneged on an undertaking to accept collective responsibility for what had happened with the funding.
”It became clear that for all intents and purposes I was being written out of the history of the struggle,” he said.
Under normal circumstances he would have been very excited to receive such an award.
”But under the circumstances I am in now, I cannot accept that award. I have not asked the ANC for awards. I have asked the ANC to walk the path of justice with me. I have asked the ANC to honour its commitments … I have lost ten years of my life, I have lost my livelihood, I have lost much of my past. I have lost my integrity, I am branded as a criminal –I am branded as one who has betrayed the struggle in the most horrific way. No award can give me back all of that.”
He said that more than a year ago he sent an application for a pardon to President Thabo Mbeki, and had not yet even had the courtesy of an acknowledgement.
He said there were few things that would have given him more pleasure than to be part of the birthday celebrations.
”After all, I did call for the formation of the UDF. I was present and in fact the main speaker had its birth … So my decision not to participate in the celebrations has been an extraordinarily painful and difficult one.”
Boesak said he nonetheless remained a member of the ANC, which was the best vehicle to realise the ideals he had fought for. – Sapa