violence that have characterized the formation and consolidation of the South African
nation, even at their most unique, fall within the scope of the painful understanding that
deeds of violence have always defined the origin and political formations of nation states
(Ernest Renan 1990: 11). The “ imagined community ” that evolves out of this formation,
Benedict Anderson (1991: 7) remarks, is conceived “as a deep horizontal comradeship”
that makes a fraternity possible, “regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that
prevail”. The primacy of the comradeship that has been achieved in the South African
context through the institution of democracy upon a horizon of freedom then makes
certain specific demands of national transformation.
True freedom after all the centuries of struggle will be evident only if it translates into
better standards of living for the people. Without this, the violence done against the
departed will amount to an exercise in nugatory vanity. If truly the dead “freed me in
blood” (54), then it is necessary that freedom is spelt out in concrete, life-enhancing
terms. But first and foremost, it must be spelt out in abstractions that will “let us be
intolerant of evil/ of racism/ of sexism/ of poverty/ of disease (50). Subsequently, it must
be spelt concretely in the provision of social infrastructure: “electricity/ a house/ a school/
a hospital/ a street or bridge/a crèche/ (55).
The fifth part extends the reflection on what constitutes true freedom; but it also invites
one to recognize that metaphorically “freedom is history” and because “history repeats
itself” (59), the air of freedom that defines the post-apartheid era is a repetition of the
freedom of the pre-colonial days of yore. In the present repetition, however, the challenge
of experiencing freedom has become huge, but this is not to say that it is not attainable.
Living up to the challenge of the time is not a task that is limited to South Africa, but
ramifies the entire continent. If the fifth part blends a South African concern into an
African-wide concern, the sixth and last part is very clear in touching on the specific
implication of freedom in South Africa. By apostrophically addressing O.R. (that is,