DO BETTER The author challenges South Africans to reevaluate what it means to honour their liberation heroes. With the disgraceful decay of facilities named after giants like Charlotte Maxeke, it offers a stark reminder that true recognition lies beyond mere words, inviting readers to contemplate the meaning of legacy in a nation still grappling with the complexities of political freedom.
South Africa has developed a habit of putting dead heroes' names on buildings the government has allowed to fall to pieces. Charlotte Maxeke was not a symbol. She was a woman who did things. Intellectual. Activist. Organiser. She did not sit around complaining. She entered history and changed its course.
Then came the fire in April 2021. The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital burned. Five years later, the repairs were not finished. The government was still explaining why. The Public Protector got involved. Government acknowledged the setbacks formally: systemic failures, maladministration, budget underspending. All the machinery of modern incompetence working exactly as designed.
Five years.
We put her name on the building and then apparently forgot what names are supposed to mean. This is what I call fake honour. It is the sort of thing you would expect from people who have never met a serious institution or produced one.
