The Guyana High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa, recently held a Reception to observe Guyana’s Republic Jubilee Anniversary, 2020. There was also a project by the High Commission for the benefit of young children in the internationally known South Africa town of Soweto.

Life for the majority Indigenous South African population has changed dramatically for the better since apartheid was dismantled and Democracy established in South Africa in 1991. Fifty years ago, apartheid was the official Law in South Africa, a country where Black South Africans were kept in brutal suppression by the white minority government. At that time, Guyana had absolutely no contact with that white racist minority government. Instead, Guyana played an important role in the international movement to dismantle that evil system in which the white minority government gave the very best of the land and its riches to Kit and Kin, and left just the arid lands and crumbs for the indigenous Black majority population. However, the clock was ticking towards the end of that evil system of governance. And as the South African songbird, Miriam Makeba sang, “My piece of Ground” and “Mama Africa”, claiming the lands of her ancestors in song; a plea which Guyana’s international superstar, Eddy Grant, also sang about in his song “Johana Gimme Hope”, during the violent years of apartheid.

Following his special visit to South Africa during the apartheid years, as an “Honorary White”, Guyanese Author, Educator and Diplomat E.R. Braithwaite, the author of “To Sir, With Love” stated, “There’s nothing between you and sudden violence if you’re Black in South Africa.” With the dismantling of apartheid and self-rule for the Black majority of South Africans, Democratic Elections were held resulting with the internationally known and revered Nelson Mandela becoming President.

Guyana which previously had absolutely no connection whatsoever with the previous racist white minority government established Diplomatic relations with South Africa in 2017. Dr. Kenrick Hunte, the former General Manager of the now-defunct AGRI BANK in Guyana and Professor at the Howard University in Washington, DC, USA, was accredited High Commissioner. Dr. Hunte is also accredited to several other countries in southern Africa, including Mozambique and Namibia. For Guyana’s Republic Jubilee 2020, the Guyana High Commission in Pretoria held a special Reception, as well as an impressive and humanitarian project; the formal opening of an Early Childhood Education Project for four and five-year-old children in Devland, Soweto. That project was financed with donations by Guyanese and Barbadians based in New York and Pennsylvania in the USA. Many of them had visited South Africa. The High Commissioner and his wife also made personal financial contributions to the project.

At that Reception for Guyana’s Republic Jubilee, 2020, Dr. Kenrick informed me that, “Acknowledging that Guyana is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society, striving to be One People, One Nation, One Destiny, the celebration began with a silent prayer to commemorate the different Faiths in Guyana”. The Reception commenced with the singing of the National Anthems of South Africa and Guyana by New York-based Guyanese journalist, Hugh Hamilton, accompanied on the piano by the wife of the High Commissioner, Claire Hunte. Hugh Hamilton and his wife Indira, were on a tour of South Africa at the time of the Republic Anniversary.

In response to a question of mine regards the South African Songbird, Miriam Makeba, the High Commissioner’s wife, Claire Hunte, who is a pianist versed in music for many years, said, “She was a great and talented singer who stayed true to her culture even as she connected with her international audience.” It will be recalled that Miriam Makeba was a special Guest of Guyana at CARIFESTA in 1972 – Proof that Guyana and the Indigenous South Africans had a special connection for decades. Since he arrived in South Africa, High Commissioner Hunte has been engaged in many fora, including Radio Interviews, enlightening audiences about the role of Guyana in the Freedom Struggles of South Africans and other countries in Southern Africa. That Guyana now has a High Commission in the former land of apartheid and celebrating Guyana’s Republic Jubilee, is an achievement boldly conceived half a century ago and sadly hardly known by younger Guyanese today.