Sowetan Black Edition 2019

Black DA pushes back against Zille

Her long time ally and Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela among provincial leaders who could tip the scales in Trollip’s favour page 5

Sowe t a

By Gaongalelwe Tiro

On that fateful day, Jimmy Kruger, the infamous apartheid minister of (in)justice, helda media conference toannounce new measures to clamp down onresistance tothe apartheid state.

Theday, dubbedBlack Wednesday, became synonymous withissues of media freedombecause Kruger banned church publication ProVeritate andblack newspapersThe World andWeekend World.

Thepolice alsodetained The World editor Percy Qobozafor fivemonths. For media freedom freaks, thiswas thehighlightof the moment; in reality, however, the media was collateral damage.

Crucially, Krugeralso banned 17Black Consciousness-leaning organisations.The decisiondid not come as much of a surprise asthe panicky regimewas becomingincreasingly erratic.

It had just martyred the leading lightof theBlack Consciousness movement, StevenBantu Biko,a monthearlier. Ofthe banned organisations,the irrepressible South African Students Organisation(Saso) wasundoubtedly the most significant.

Ithad blazedtheideological trailthat reignited the fire forfreedom amongoppressed black South Africans.

The period 1960-1968 wasa darkhourfor theoppressed, with leading liberation movements the African National Congress (ANC) andPan Africanist Congress(PAC) ofAzania exiled and moribund.

Both hadformed military wingsin theearly 1960s but the armed Strugglehad nottakenoff in anymeaningful way. Furthermore, thebanning oftheANC andPACand the incarcerationand exiling of their key leaders had diminished theircapacity for mass mobilisation.

Few daredto raisetheir heads above the parapet after theapartheid regime had demonstrated the lengths itwas preparedto gotoclamp downonresistance. It had butchered 69 protestors in Sharpeville

Editor: Thembela Khamango Project Manager: Lebogang Boshomane Designers: Abinaar Malao and Matshepo Mahlulo

Sub Editors: Tumo Mokone, Deborah Gordin and Elvis Nemukula

The day liberation Struggle changed

in1960 andjailed someof the more prominent leaders of the liberation Struggle, includingRobert Sobukwe andNelson Mandela.

The regime charged Sobukwe withinciting the protest while Mandela was first arrestedfor leaving the country without a passport but later charged with others for hightreason.

The regimelooked increasingly unassailable.

Then laterin 1968 entered Saso onto the scene, imbued with a new political ethos, Black Consciousness.

Black Consciousness, with slogans like“Black Is Beautiful”, promoted Afrocentricpride thatcenturies ofcolonial and settler-colonialconquest haddiminished. The conquest hadingrained subservience andselfdoubt that wentto the core of the humanityof black people.

Asa result,many straightened theirhair, bleached their skins and sought to mimicthe ways ofthe whitemanin any way possible. Increasingly, theytook for grantedthe supposed superiorityof the white race.

Saso coalesced around themagnetic personality of Biko, who became its first president and principaltheoretician. The formation and theideology itespoused grew from strength to strength untilit finally broke into the popular consciousness of South Africans withthe Tiro Affair in1972. Classof ’72 valedictorian at the then University of the North, Onkgopotse Abram Tiro,occasioned theseminal moment when he climbed into apartheid and its artefacts duringa graduation ceremony.

A whirlwindfallout followed,with unrest across tertiary institutions andscores ofstudents beingexpelled or leaving

studies ontheir ownaccordtofocus ontheStruggle.It wasalso duringthis period that the issue of the armed Strugglewas broached openlyfor the first timewithin Saso ranksand thefirstbatch from thelot escapedto exile, led by Keith Mokoape. The studentmovement established theBlack People’s Convention (BPC) inDecember 1972to organise elders in the black community and tomobilise them behind the liberation Struggle. The proliferation of Black Consciousness spawned several other formations across different sectors ofsociety. The apartheid regime became increasingly wary of theinfluence of the movement.In March 1973it banned eight SasoBPC activists:Drake Koka, Bokwe Mafuna, Steve Biko, Barney Pityana, HarryNengwekhulu, Jerry Modisane, StriniMoodley andSaths Cooper.

Threemonths later,in June 1973, apartheid securocrats recommended that otherSaso-BPC activists Tiro,Mosibudi Mangena, Chris Mokoditoa, Jeff Baqwa, Bennie Khoapa, Sipho Buthelezi, ElaRamgobin and Sam Moodley be banned. Instead,the regimearrested Mangena the same month beforecharging himunder theTerrorism Actand sentencinghimto a five-year prisonterm on Robben Island.

Tiro escaped to exile in September the same year before the apartheid agents,with thehelpof individuals in the Botswana security establishment, assassinated him with a parcel bomb onFebruary 1 1974.

The regimeescalated its harassment ofthe fledging movement.

Still,in 1974,itrounded up scores of Saso leaders afterthey had organised “Viva Frelimo”rallies to celebrate theimpending liberation fromcolonial rule of neigh-

bouring Mozambique. Cooper, Muntu Myeza, Moodley, Mosiuoa Lekota, Nchaupe Mokoape, Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, Nkwenkwe Nkomo and Kaborone Sedibe were charged, foundguilty and imprisoned onRobben Island.

OnAugust 51976,Saso leader MapetlaMohapi wasassassinated whilein detention on suspicion of recruitingyouth formilitary trainingoutside the country.

While Saso was initially in universitiesand other institutions ofhigher learning, it subsequently made severaldeliberate attempts to linkup its programmes with the broaderstruggles facingthe black community.

The mantra ofthe new generationof activistswas that theywere “black first and studentsafter”. Saso, therefore, rolled out community self-helpinitiatives andreached outto eldersand youthinand outside schools while spreading its philosophy.

The earlier morphing of the AfricanStudents Movementinto theSouth African StudentsMovement (SASM)when itfell under Saso’s sphere of influence was another significant development.The organisation thatorganised in highschools became anessential vehicle of political conscientisation and a breeding ground ofliberation Struggle leaderssuch as Tsietsi Mashinini,Khotso Seatlholo, Murphy Morobe, Khehla Mthembu and Seth Mazibuko.

SASM becamethe decisiveforce behindtheJune 1976 student rebellion that changedthe courseof South Africanhistory. The apartheidregime, typically, reacted with violence,killing scoresofstudents and driving thousands into exile.

However, thistoo did not extinguish thefire for liberation amongblack South Africans that the Black Consciousness movement had lit. The regimestepped upitsact andmartyred Bikoand banned the organisations that he and his generation of activists had establishedor inspired,finally drawing a curtainon the black radical tradition’s leadership of the antiapartheid Struggle.

■ Tiro is author of Parcel of Death: The Biography of Onkgopotse Abram Tiro

Thloloe’s lessons from behind bars

Jail was vet scribe’s second home

By Thabiso Thakali

Prison cells hold both good and bad memories for Joe Thloloe’s lifelong career in journalism. As a17-year-old pupil at Orlando High Schoolin Soweto, Thloloe was thrown into jail for takingpart inprotests against the pass laws on March 21 1960. He had already joined the PACas an activist a year before that.

Inprison, Thloloeshareda cell with Matthew Nkwane –a journalist from Drum magazine he hadknown before. Nkwane taughthim howto write newsstories ontoiletpaper using pencil stubs during

By Pali Lehohla

South Africa and the region today, itscharacter ofStruggle and its futures,are inseparable from the nascent history of collusion of race, maize and gold.

Inpursuit ofthisdevelopment path,a plethoraof race based laws wereenacted to ensure that farming and gold capital, despite sporadic flares of Anglo-Boer war battles, the long termunity ofmaize and gold would bemaintained –to sacrifice blacks at all costs.

TheAct ofUnion in1910 and the birthof the Republic in 1961 remain monumental representations of this unity.

The liberation Struggle would be wagedagainst this hegemonic alliance whose war headwas theformalisation andinstitutionalisation of racialpolicies uponthe Nationalist Party winning elections in 1948.

Usheringthe dawnof

their year-long incarceration.

When he was released, Thloloe completed his matric and gothis first jobat The World newspaper as a journo.

Theidea ofbecoming ajournalistwas plantedandborn out of Thloloe’s desire to tell the story of black South Africansduring theliberation Struggle.

Fast-forward to August 1976, Thloloe is lockedup again at theModderbee prisonin Benoni, onthe EastRand, for his political activities.

He was now a journalist workingfor Drum.Histhen editor, Jim Bailey, had warned himtostay awayfrompolitics. So incensed was Bailey that Thloloe hadnot listenedto himthat hesenta dismissal lettertobe deliveredtohimat police holding cells.

Thloloe wasthen thepresident of the Union of Black Journalists(UBJ) –a bunchof courageous journalistswho played a leadingrole in reportingtheevents oftheSoweto student uprisings.

Thloloe’scrime alongwith someof theunionmembers who weredetained underthe terrorismact,was topublisha Bulletin named “Asizuthula”.

TheBulletin hadprovocatively useda seriesof photographs taken by Sam Nzima documenting Hector Pieterson’s last momentsbefore his death on its front page.

That issue also gave the firstpersonaccount ofthe eventsof June 161976 youthuprisings, written byseveral blackjournalists whowere inSoweto and witnessed the mowing

down of black pupils by police.

“Itwasa verypowerfulcommentary on what happened on June 16th,”recalled Thloloe, leaning forward ona table in his studyroom athis homein Roodepoort. “On thedaywe wenttopress withthatpublication,itwas banned.Itwas anoffence tobe seencarrying a copy of that Bulletin.”

This wasn’t to be the last time Thloloe would run into trouble withthe apartheid

regime. In fact, arrests and detentions without trial shaped his career.In March1977, Thloloehad beenre-employed atTheWorld for only a month when hewas againdetained and lockedup for thenext 18 months in Pietermaritzburg.

He cameout ofdetention to find out that The World –a newspaper whose editor Percy Qoboza gave hima second chance when he was summarily firedby Bailey atDrum –was no more.

It had beenshut downby the governmentand more journalists hadbeen detained, including Qoboza,on October 19 1977, a day commemorated as thePress FreedomDay in remembrance of how the newspaper thathad become the voiceof blackStruggle was silenced.

During his18-month incarceration,Thloloe said,hehad no way ofknowing what was going on in the outside world.

“I had no newspapers, I had no visitors, I had no contact with anyone exceptmy torturers. In 1978, one of my interrogatorssaidto methatI should cooperate because when I leave prison I was going to find a completely new world

Big strides made as promised to Lembede

Numbers tell the story

democracy in 1994, Oliver Tambo (1917-1993), Nelson Mandela (1918-2013),Walter Sisulu (1912-2003),Jordan Kush Ngubane(1917-1995), Ellen Kuzwayo (1914-2006), Albertina Sisulu(1918-2011), Ashley P Mda (1916-1993), Dan Tloome (1919-1992), and David Bopape (1915-2004) of the ANCYL delivered the promise they madeto Lembede(19141947) in 1944 –Freedom in Our Lifetime.

The Reconstructionand Development Programme(RDP) hadfive keydeliverables, namely meeting basic needs, developingour humanresources, building the economy, democratisingthe stateand society.These werethekey pillars ofFreedom inOur Life

Time that the stalwarts made to Lembede.

Howthen hasSAfared since the dawn of democracy in 1994? For this snapshot we shall use a statistical lens. Fouryears afterthe Actof

outside,not theoneI leftbehind. He said, ‘your Steve Biko is dead, yourUnion of Black Journalists doesn’t exist anymore, and TheWorld doesn’t exist anymore’,”he recalled.

“My immediate reaction wasthathe islying.Thenext day he came back and he had a copy of a proclamation of October 19th and threw it in front of me and said, ‘you said I was lying, look at that’.I lookedat thegovernment gazette and the organisations that were banned …that’s when the shock really hit me.”

It was only in March 1978 that Thloloegot togrips with what hadhappened toThe World newspaper.

Whenhe wasreleasedfrom detentionand driventohis home inPimville, Soweto,the reality sunkeven deeperthat he was nolonger employed by The World–anewspaper that had served as voice of the Struggle.

“Igotto understandthatday that in fact people like Aggrey Klaaste and Percy Qoboza had also beenlocked up.That was the power thegovernment had over us and the nation that at the strokeof a penthey could justshut downapublication, shutdown somanyorganisations,”Thloloe said.

“TheWorld newspaperhad been somewhatreplaced by PostTransvaal,but itwasstill inthe sameplace inIndustria, the samepersonnel andit was just a change of name.

“After my release from detention in 1978, I just slotted in and joined thenew publication, the Post Transvaal.”

At the Post,Thloloe said, journalists hadto continue telling the stories of black South Africans but they had to finda wayaround theDraconian apartheid laws.

In 1981,the Postceased to exist, much likeThe World, after it was threatened with a ban followinga prolonged strike by journalists.

And intheir placerose the Sowetan to fill the void.

above 90%.

the Unionand a yearafter the Land Act of1913, the Statistics Act of South Africa was enactedin 1914.This Actwent through severalamendments andthe lastamendmentwas the post-apartheid Act 6 of 1998andwe areapplyingthis lens of evidence.

Statistical evidence asserts that the demiseof the brutal veilof oppressionunleashed unprecedented access by the formerly oppressedto services that wouldget manyout ofdirt poverty and death.

Doors of learning opened and amongthose whoare 20 years andabove, 1.5-million more had schoolingin 2007 compared to 1996.

In fact, a 1.5-million more of those inthis agegroup of20 years andabove hadschooling then.By 2017,functionalliteracyacross allage groupswas

While in1985, onlyless than 10,000 blacksgraduated with a degree, by2017 that number exceeded a 100,000–more than a 20-fold increase.

Howeverquality ofeducation remains deplorable.

Despite a record that showed improvementsin livingconditions, thestateof health of SouthAfricans continued to deteriorateand mortality reachedpeak by2005 with communicablediseases such as TBand HIV-Aids playing aleading rolein causing death.

From2007 inagrowing population, the number of deaths occurringstarted todecline withaffordable accessto and availability of treatment of HIVand Aids.In thisregard, life expectancy in South Africahas improved,now averaging 64 years.

■ Dr Lehohla is the former Statistician-General of SA.

By Itumeleng Mafisa

Abird’s eyeview of Alexandra in northernJohannesburg from the topof AlexMall tells the story ofhow the 1913 Native LandAct changedthe landscape of the City of Gold.

Patrons ofthemall enjoy takingpictures ofthebreathtaking view but one is also able tosilentlyhear thestoryofinequality being told,with the tall buildings of Johannesburg, Sandton City andthe gigantic Mall ofAfrica inMidrand all towering over Alexandra.

Like a pirateship that has beenthrough manyadventures, Alexandra is able to tell a century-old tale of the struggle of rural Africanswho cameto Johannesburg tolook for greenerpastures. Thefirst40 familiesarrived inAlexandra in 1913, withtheir houses standing tall and proud.

Itis estimatedthat by1916 around30,000 peoplehaddescended on Alex.Today, the population of Alexandra is estimated to be around 700,000, whichis puttingpressureon the township’s resources.

Awalk inAlex meansgetting used toraw sewage accompanying youon yourjourney. The smellof steamy malamogodu also remindsyou of the manyhomelands the people ofAlex comefrom. Andthenarrow streetsfullof hooting smalltaxis maneuvering up and down can make any new driver developa thick skin, anecessary traitto survive in Joburg.

As youpenetrate thestreets of thisoverpopulated township, musicbangs fromcorner to corner. It canbe a bit difficult figuring outwhich house themusic iscoming frombecause mostof thehouses on theoldside ofthetownshipare veiledby shacksandother makeshift structures.

Alexandrawas bornoutof greed and inequality,with its founder,HB Papenfus, cashing in on the 1913 Land Act by selling propertyto blackpeople. Theold cry for landcan be heard eventoday, withpeople buildingshacks andother structures near the river bank.

Shack blazes area regular occurrence because ofthe

The storyof Waiting to exhale:

close proximity ofthe shacks toeachother. Thereislittle space forplaygrounds in schools becausetheyare also feeling the pressureof a massive population influx.

Localsin thearea stillcall the streets by their old colonial names, suchas Londonand JohnBrand roads.A bigcontradiction exists as these are classy European names. However, povertycan be foundwalking alloverthese streets, withmanyyoung people unemployedand winding their timeby drinkingshirtless on the side of the road.

On 2nd Avenue,a big ram walks all over a smallillegal dumping site. No one seems to care thatit’s there. Whether it’srams orrats, theresidents seem tobe usedto thesight of displeasing animalswalking all over the township.

The Cityof Johannesburg hadtriedsending inowlsto deal with amassive colony of rats in the area but that project failed whenresidents started attacking the owls.There was a spiritual concernwith the presence of owls.

Residents seemto havealso lost faithin thegovernment, especially withthe mysteryof how the Alexandra Renewal Project funds went missing.

An uprooted treethat was planted by former president JacobZumais asignofthe community’s frustration.

Thesame frustrationwaved its hand when Alexandra madenational newsafter a pictureof aforeign national being stabbed was published onthe cover of the Sunday Times in 2015. It was amoment of shame for the township.

Continuing thewalk, oneis immediately capturedby the

numerous languagesthat filter through theair –from Bemba (Zambian language), Zulu, Venda toSotho. Manyof the residents are ableto switch fromonelanguage toanother–a sign of a dynamic township.

Residents have learntto live harmoniously with each other despitetheir differentcultural backgrounds andlanguages. They all have acommon goal –toget apiece ofthe piein Joburg.

Vukuzenzele [get up and do it for yourself]is acommon phraseamong thetownship’s entrepreneurs.For thosewho can’tfindwork inthecity, starting a business is the next bestthing, themostcommon being food stands and taverns.

For those whodon’t mind gettingtheirhair doneinthe sun, there are braiders near Pan Africa shopping centre.

Walking in groups is encouraged becauseof crimein the area, especially atnight. Life was not always this way in Alexandra. Once upona time the jazzy music of

and relax inAlex, where they couldjamto Kofifimusicand Marabi while unburdening themselves of the dog-eat-dog nature of city life.

Manycultures werepresent, Indian, Chinese and whites who had returned from war.

African workers from the Diaspora also becamepart of the community,marrying local women and participating in localpolitics. Manyof them came as workers to the gold mines of Johannesburg.

Not only did the gold rush of 1886 bringworkers toJoburg but it alsobrought European missionaries whocame to preach the goodnews among natives.The clericswould eventually find theirway to Alexandra, wherethey started churches thatwould teach Africans howto readand write –butthey would also playan important role inthe fightagainst apartheid.

Some of these missionaries included a German groupof priestswhofounded the StHubert’s Catholic Church in 1919 on 1st Avenue.

Despite the National Party’s heavy hand onblack people, Africansliving inAlexandra bloomedlike wildflowers, with leadersof highcalibre suchas ANC’strio ofZanele Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Joe Nhlanhla emerging. There wasalso astring of musical talents such as Hugh Masekela, Caiphus Semenya and Ntemi Piliso. NelsonMandela andSamora Machel also called Alex homefor ashort periodof time.Creative writerswithan excellent command of the English languagesuch asWally Serote and Don Mattera also emerged out of Alex. Before townships like Soweto carriedthe Struggleagainst apartheid andcolonial laws, the residentsof Alexandrahad beencarryingthe fireofresistance.This startedwiththe 1940bus boycott.Thecity wanted to increase the fourpenny fare to five pennies (one penny isaround R1in today’s terms).

However, the township came out inprotest andfor six months residentsboldly

storyof Alex

‘‘ Everywhere you go you see young people all over the street

walked 15km andmore to their places of work. Their resilience paid off –at the end of sixmonths thepennyincrease wasdropped. Thecampaign was known as Azikhwelwa

Theresidence ofAlex didit again in1954 whenthe apartheid governmentpassed theBantu EducationAct, whichstated thatblacksnow had to submit to an inferior systemof education,preparingthemfor inferiorstatusin SA society.

Thousands ofschool

children boycottedtheir schools inApril 1954in Alexandra and around the country.

Sixteen teachersfrom Alex lost their jobs.

The hostels of Alexandra –a protruding thorn, apiece of history noone wantsto remember –stand strong,but an eerie atmosphere still surrounds these buildings.

In the early1990s, a fight brokeout betweenresidentsin the men’shostels andresidents southof thehostels, an areathat becameknownas “Beirut”. Sixtypeople were killed, while nearly600 were injured andaround 10,000displaced from their homes.

It was apainful procession towards the 1994 elections.

The black-on-blackviolence wasoneof themanychallenges Alexandra had to overcome.

Today, Alexandra still stands as a symbol of inequality and tenders gone wrong and residentsof this105-year-old township are wondering when their time to exhale will come.

The “Godfather”of Alexan-

dra, Linda Twala, shared someofhis thoughtsonthe issues surrounding the place of his birth.

Twala’sparents movedinto Alexandra in1903 andwere among the first families to settle in whatyoungsters today call “Gomora”.

His family isa true reflection of thebeginnings of Alex, with someof hisfamily members having Asian and European features.

“I do notthink that people from Alexandraare xenophobicbutIthink thatweareina crisis ofresources, weneed more land. Thereare too many of us living on a square mile,”Twala says.

The landissue inAlex is something close to Twala’s heart.

He says he was saddened by the slowyet painfulloss of Alexandra landto Sandton developments.

“Someof ouroldburial sites areclose to thatarea as yougo toMallof Africa... weusedto swiminLimbro Park,”says Twala.

He sayshe wasplaying

withtheidea oforganisinga land protest by the elderly community of Alex.

“If it is young people that do this protest, they will arrest them,”says Twala.

AlthoughAlexandra isstill close toeconomic opportunities, the township is not immune to SouthAfrica’s staggering 29% unemployment rate.Muntu Mbanjwa,41,is oneof thosewho aresceptical about the futureof Alex. His great-grandfather wasone of the first propertyowners in Alexandra.

“Everywhere you go you see young people allover the street,even duringthemorning. Where are the work opportunitiesfor youngpeople?” asks Mbanjwa.

Healso questionstheslow pace of development in the area. He is particularly concerned aboutthe growingdisparitiesbetween Alexandits classy neighbour, Sandton.

“You are able to see the highrise buildings ofSandton from here butthey cannotsee us,” he says.

“Wedonot havecleanairin Alex,youcan smellthedifference inthe air you smell here andtheair inotherpartsof Johannesburg.”

The mayorof Johannesburg,Herman Mashaba,has launcheda probeintothe Alexandra Renewal Project, which wasmeant togive the township a R1.6bn facelift.

Theproject wasaimedat changing thephysical, economic andsocial environment of Alexand wasbilled asajoint urban regeneration project involvingthe local, provincial

The Alexandra Heritage Centre at 7th Avenue is a calm oasis in the township.

and national government as well asthe privatesector and non-government and community-based organisations.

But since itslaunch in 2001, littleappears tohavebeen delivered.

In a statement, the city said it was proud of several developmentsin theAlexandra area but no comment was given concerningthe Alexandra Renewal Project.

“Asa city,we willcontinue todo allwecanto ensurethat changeis broughtto ourcommunities,”saidthe cityina statement. FatherRonald Cairns, a priestat St Hubert’s, says he has been working in the township for over three decades andhas beautiful memories of the township.

He tells aquirky story of howhewas rescuedbya group of drunkards after he washijacked inthe areatwo years ago.

“Theytook meoutof thecar and some people from the neighbourhood spotted them andtoldthem, ‘hands off our priest’. They rescued me and took meto atavern whereI found a lift tomy house,”says the elderly priest.

Despite thehuman bonds the people ofAlexandra have built,Alexandra liesbelowthe towering buildingsof Johannesburg, Sandton and Midrand, hoping to one day rise. Herchildren wonderif the Struggle will ever divorce Alexandra.

Thedestruction wreakedby the 1913 Land Act is not only felt in ruralKwaZulu-Natal or by the chiefs and kings of different tribes,the after-effects can still beseen in present-day Alexandra.

Electronics new fashion for label

By Isaac Mahlangu

Thestory ofWandiand Sechaba’s urbanstreet label, LoxionKulca, is oneabout blackidentityand expression.

Itwas anunprecedentedera with the biggest songs on SA’s black radio stations being local hits by Zola or TKZee.

This was asignificant shift asmusicby USartistssuchas R Kellyand JaRule was pushedto theback-seator down the charts.

Andthisalso cutacrossto fashion, with the coolest brand torock becomingLoxionKulca,a freshkasistreetwear label thatcemented one’s street cred.

Zola andTKZee - bigstars at thetime- alsoworeLoxion Kulca, so diddozens other relevant celebritiesand TV personalities.

This is the early 2000s which coincided with the powerful emergenceof radiosuperstars likeYfm’s DJ Khabzela, another big fan of Loxion Kulca.

Yfm had led the revolution by putting kwaito on high rotation,in theprocess itbecame the biggestradio stationin Gauteng.

The then president Thabo Mbekiwas preachingAfrican Renaissance and young black South Africanswere responding to hissermon by carving out their identity in music and fashion. Local was definitely lekker .

Wandi Nzimande and Sechaba Mogale, founders of Loxion Kulca, were the young trailblazers whoachieved what was then unthinkable.

Not manypeople knowthat the duo was influenced and impressed by stories of Nubian traders in ancientEgypt so much that they named their first company Nubia.

Theyhad learntthatNubia was home toone of Africa’s earliest andmost powerful kingdoms.

Theywere alsoimpressedby talesofNubian rulerswhohad conquered and ruled Egypt for years, buildingmonuments such as royalpyramids, which still existboth in Egyptand Sudan today.

Mogale, who grew up in exile, mainly in Lusaka, Zambia,had beenexposed tomany cultures. Nzimande was raised in variousparts of Soweto.He stillidentifiesvarioussections ofthetownship including Zola,Emndeni and Rockville as his home.

Even though theywere not livingin thetownshipwhen they startedtheir business,the kasie culture and identity dominated most oftheir conversations.

“That’sallwe usedtotalk about,I usedto tellChabi (Sechaba) a whole lot of stories, I was born at Baragwanath Hospital and Iknow Soweto likethe backofmyhand, soit was very easy for us to have

Loxion Kulca eyes new era

this trade off,”Wandi said.

He said hewas intrigued by hip-hop musicand culture which Mogalehad beenexposedtowhile growingupin exile.

“Sechaba kneweverything from BigDaddy Kane, IceT to PublicEnemy andRun D.M.C, which was pushing a lotof consciousnessandmy thinking wasalready wired like that, itwas about identity,” Wandi said.

Nzimande and Mogale were allabout coolclothes,conscious music, especially rap, and theneed to beproud of their identity.

“What formed our thinking is that we werebig on expression, Sechaba wasexposed to alot of international cultures. I was raised on bubblegum (music).”

The trade off between the two became amelting potwhich culminated in an idea to start their ownbrand. In1998, ayear beforethey launchedLoxion Kulca, withthe helpof theirrelatives, they madecrocheted hats for themselves.

“Wewere youngandbroke atthe time,we couldn’t afford the likesof Fubu,Moses Malone, KarlKani andthen we came witha stupididea of what if we made our own.”

Mogale was a big sneaker fanatic while Nzimande was crazyabouthats. Thehatsbeinga loteasierto startwith, launched Loxion Kulca.

In 1999, theyjoined forces with clothing franchiser Brian Abrahams, who initially loaned themmoney tokickstart LoxionKulca, which they had already registered.

“Brian’s firstquestion was, ‘what is it that you need?’And Chabi likesto saythat abusiness isjust aphone anda desk

and that’swhat weaskedfrom Brian –aphoneand adesk,” Nzimande said.

Abrahams somewhatbelieved in theirvision through watching thempush their brand. “And Brianwasn’t involved in thebusiness but he saw that lezintwana ziyaspana (these boys are working), and asked again: ‘whatelse do you need?’”

Theythen toldAbrahamsof their planof goingto theannualNational ArtsFestivalin Grahamstown (nowMakhanda) wherethey hadnever even set foot.

Nzimandeand Mogalehad feltthat iftheycould selltheir brand at thefestival, that would easilybe thefastest way to grow the brand across the country.Theiridea wastoget around 100 caps and maybe 50 T-shirts, however,Abrahams advised themto gobig and even put in R40,000 to help launch them.

Offthey wenttoGrahamstown with halfthe stock they hadacquired withAbrahams’ help. Thetrip would propel their clothing brand in a way

they never imagined.

With their girlfriendsin a carwith abootfull ofLoxion Kulca stock, mainly hats and caps and justlittle money on them,they hittheroad... armed with hopeand belief.

“Grahamstown was something Wandi identified. I’m noteven surewhere heknew the festival frombut he recognised it as a place where they’d be a lot ofartists and musicians,”Mogale recalled.

“There was confidencein at least knowinghow toput ourselves together in terms of how welooked, andwe wereusing thesetools thatwereforeign and Grahamstown seemed like a perfect placeto test our stock,and Wandihad theforesight toidentify thatfestival as a perfectplace toshow upand have a presence.”

Nzimande chippedin: “We didn’t even know how to get there, we just followed signs. We justhad enoughmoney to drive downwith aboot fullof stock.”He remembersthaton theirfirstnight atthefestival, theyhad aroundR150between them.

“Ithink webought afew sandwiches, the nextday we didn’t really have money left... we had to sell a few hats.”

Somefriends whohadtravelledto thefestivalhelped them sell theirhats. That’s how theLoxion Kulcabrand was born. Like a rose that grew between concrete slabs, it couldn’t be ignored.

Abrahams was very impressedbytheir hustleanddecided to get fully involved in the brand. Not only did he fund it, Abrahams showedso much faithinthe labelthatheeven re-bonded his houseto raise funds for Loxion Kulca stock to be mass-produced.

Inashort spaceoftime,LoxionKulca wasin SalesHouse andEdgars stores,andcould be snapped upin more than 900 storesnationwide, raking in an annualturnover of around R80m in its prime.

The three-manpartnership was asolid force, butthe shuttingdown ofseveral localfactoriesthat suppliedthem,proliferation of fakegoods and disagreements on thecompany’s direction,drove thethem into adifficult period,especially afterAbrahams’passing. To add salt to the label’s misery, Mogale left in 2007.

The label,however, weatheredthestorm asitremained alive and available in more than 400 stores nationwide.

Loxion Kulcais nowin its 20th year and there’s renewed energy, as Nzimandeand Mogale are talking business again.

The future involves electronics, whichNzimande refers toas the“new fashion”. Perhapsthe storyofLoxion Kulca is enteringa different chapter ina totallydifferent era.

Young, feminist and black

Black men do not back our struggle

By Malaika wa Azania

“Our focusright nowshould be onthe question ofrace; we willdealwith thegenderquestion later.”

It was in 2016 when this statement wasmade bya young man, oneof the most notable faces of the #FeesMustFall movement that changed the face of higher education in SA.

Wewere inameeting atthe ParktonianHotel inBraamfontein, Johannesburg, with studentleaders fromacross the country, tryingto synchronise our activities in order to strengthen the impactof the movement.

When ayoung womansuggested thatthe successesof the movement depended on its ability to employan intersectional approach to the struggle, this was the response.

This incident is not isolated, it is reflective of a broader attitude within the student movement and indeed,the broadersociety, towards the question of gender.

In the newSA, a country that isin manyways notso new, the racequestion has been given great priority through policy interventions and general discourse.

Undoubtedly,the natureof ourresistance andliberation historynecessitates theprioritisationofrace,for itwasonthe

basis of race that apartheid was facilitated. Butour oppression waslayered. Itwas marredin complexitiesthat weredeeper than the de-civilisationand dehumanisation that emanated from racial segregation.

Throughout history,black women have beenhurled to the margins of existence, thrust at the very edge of the peripherywhere ouroppressionwasnot onlyracialand classist, but also sexist.

While both black men and women suffered thegross violations oftheir humanrights that characterisedapartheid, black womensuffered far more andfor manyyears, were completely marginalised even from thevery organisations that wouldlater become architects of a democratic SA.

Black womenwho suffered theterrorism ofthecolonial state and endured imperial devastation were not accepted as members ofthe ANC when it was formed in 1912. It would take morethan threedecades for this to change.

This historical invisibilisation ofblack womenhas set parametersfor thesubordination ofthe genderstruggle even in post-1994 SA.

The deeplyproblematic views that found expression onthatafternoon attheParktonian Hotel reflectednot only this historybut aSA that is

All blackness is not equal, we differ

How do we address the divides Biko tried to bridge?

By Jamil F. Khan

It’sbeen42 yearssinceSteve Biko wasassassinated. Black Consciousnessis notwhatit used to beand the hallowed ground itwas foundedon has beensullied withcontestation many times.

Itserved itspurposewhen what seemed tobe a single-issue struggleneeded tobe won, but we have grown beyond one dimensional politics.

In SA, blacknessbecamea callto actionforall thoseoppressed underthe racist,fascist supremacy ofthe apartheid state. Many heeded the call.

Today, we havemuch more to consider ina system where although notofficially criminalised, being blackstill bears muchcontempt inawhite supremacist world order.

Blackness, framedas a world view, leavesmuch to be desired in a place as material as visceral as SA.

still resistant to change. It reflecteda SAin which black womencontinue tobe regardedas ornaments,completely incapable even of articulating theirown struggle without theaid ofthe allknowing man who insist that gender is tooinsignificant a struggle to be given a priority.

To be a young, black feminist in thenew SAisto constantly negotiate yourexistence not only in this racist society, but in the black community. It hasoften confoundedme how black men tendto be so comfortable existing in a society in whichoppression occurs. It is not toouncommon to hear

black menargue thatfeminismisnothing morethanan attemptat obliteratingthe blackfamily, oratworst, anassimilation into “white feminism”which werejectwith the contempt it deserves. ■ Wa Azania is a masters candidate in the department of geography at Rhodes University

As timehas passed,questioning blackness has become an imperative for many of us.

The value of Biko’s framing stillresonates todayandunity in thequest forself-determination and agency in identity is stillneeded. Powerfulas the ideology is, we can’t remain blind to the fact that all blackness is not equal.

As it intersectswith gender (identity),ethnicity, skintone, class andsexuality thematerialexperiences ofthoseconsidered black byany ideological standard differ.

When weconsider blackas an experience under white supremacy, howdo wereconcile the differences among us?

How do we address the divides Bikotried tobridge, without losingsight ofthe fact that weare alloppressed, however unequally?

Personally, I have grappled withoccupying theideological positionof blackness,knowing

very wellthat Iam positioned differently to someone who embodies blackin theeugenicssense ofthe word.The consequences formy lifeare notthe sameas theperson

who looks black.

Somehave arguedthat black issimply alook andnot an ideological positioning, whichmay tendtowardsthe veryeugenics sooftendecried in modern day race talk.

ProfPumla Gqolastatesthat for manyof usthe somatic (bodily) is thekey to meaning in terms ofrace, and when considering the way in which race and itsmeaning changes, depending on the observer, this ringstrue. Amongourselves,this contestationisimportantfor theway wemake meaningof ourselvesareour humanity,but inthe eyesof white supremacy weare relied on for our ideological divisions.

A blackperson, considered blackby anystandard, canbe moreuseful towhitesupremacy for their alignment to its principles,than awhitepassing colouredperson whose mind will not be swayed.

Wecannot ignorethereality that the way we look influences much of howwe experience the world and the opportunities we areafforded ina systemset up to rankour humanity along various lines of difference.

Atthesame time,wecannot discount thevalue ofliberatory ideologyespoused bythose withmore proximitytowhiteness,when theyare trulyinvestedin usingthat powerto

dismantle the system.

WhenI saythis, Idon’t mean inthe academicsense and Iam notoblivious tothe fact thatpoor blackSouth Africans ofall ethnicitieshave little capacityto beunpacking ideologies of liberation when their materialconditions constrain them so severely.

Maybe then,it is ourjob, as the privileged,to spendideological blackness on dismantling the systems that bear downsuch abrutalstrangle-

Blackness was a call to action for oppressed

hold on material blackness. Thecontestation andremakingof blacknesswillremaina difficultconversation underthe suffocatinggazeof white supremacy’s ever-present threat of violence.

Who sayswhat mattersand some of us should be labouring morethan others.How we knowwhere theboundaries sit is a process of discovery and unlearning all the same.

■ Jamil F. Khan is a PhD critical diversity studies candidate

The music maestro

Maloka made FM a cultural weapon

By Thembalethu Zulu

In June of 2007, a 35year-old GregMaloka walkedinto hisfirst meeting withthe executive committee of KayaFM andposedwhat many would have deemed a worryingquestion fromthe station’s new managing director.

“Whatbusiness arewein?” Malokaissaid tohaveaskeda perplexedroom ofexecutives, who duly informed him Kaya FM was a radio business.

“I said, okay, well, that’s good.But fromtoday we’re not in the radio business.”

Fastforward 12yearsand Kaya has becomemore than just a radiostation, having dropped theFM fromits brand name.The contenthub now boastsa numberof ventures that include KayaTV, KayaTravel andShopKaya, an onlinestore thatsupports local businessesby offering their wares on the portal. Butrewind to when Maloka

was just13 yearsold andyou willfind thestartof astory and, subsequently, a career thathas cementedMalokaas one of radio’s most innovative and inspirational leaders.

Not only is he one of the medium’sbiggest icons,he is also responsible forthe development ofsome ofits greatest talents, includingthe likesof DJ Fresh, the late DJ Monde Mabaso, UnathiMsengana and Gagasi FM’sVukile Zondi. Maloka isalso widely lauded for thepromotion of different localmusic genreslike kwaito, house and Afro-pop.

“You know, Icreated radio as a child on tapes, so I used to record myown station,”he says sitting acrossme in his roomy office in Rosebank.

He’s in his signature getup of casual/cargo pants, shirt and artysneakers ashe talks abouthow asa teenagerhe was already“recording”his own radio stationon cassettes at home with the rudimentary tools of mic and earphones. Maloka’s speechis mea-

sured, each answer well thoughtout. Hisofficereflects his interests.On thewalls is art fromthe Africandiaspora, abox ofprizedvinyls onthe floor(some autographed),a stocked winefridge, acoffee machine –he drinksabout six cups aday–and booksthat include an anthology of poems aboutsomeone whoinspires him, Oliver Tambo.

“OR Tambo isone of my greatestinfluences, just,you know, in the way he saw the world. He wasa mentor. He

‘‘ There’s no medium that competes with [just] listening

mentored a lotof young people,”he says. “I was quite young myself, when I got the opportunitiesthatI gotat22 when I started at YFM. ”

Legend has it that Maloka, standing in aqueue of about 600 aspirantDJsauditioning for the newly licensed station, passed the timeby handwritingastrategic planforthestation which he then managed to land in the hands of the then music manager,Arabi Mocheke. The“inspired moment”ashe callsit,landed him a job at the station.

“Since then,I tryand talkto young peopleabout beingable to spot your inspired moment and being able to use it.”

Malokaused hismomentto developacareer atthestation that saw himoccupyits most pivotal roles, including music and stationmanager, eventually becoming theyouth station’s CEO. At the time the stationwas arguablyone ofthe leadinginfluencers ofyouth culture in the country.

His achievements didn’t go unnoticed. SoonKaya FM, then a largely niche regional stationcatering foramature audience in its40s, headhunt-

ed him to take over as MD.

“I was35 whenI wasasked to come to Kaya. So, I have this passionfor youngtalentbecause howdare I notlook at otheryoung peoplewhenI was given opportunities at a very young age?”

A lot has been written about Maloka –how he grew up in Diepkloof, howat somepoint hewantedto beapriest,his thoughts on whoand what the Afropolitanis andso on. But how would he describe Greg?

He’s never been asked this question he says. Like many who are deemed exceptionally intelligent, Malokasays he can’tarticulate himselfasfast as his mind works.

“I’m the person that’s forever seeking clarity….”he says.

“I’ve notfound iteasy toarticulate someof thethings I think.And becauseofthat youfind thatmanyamazing momentspass becauseyou weren’t able to be clear.

“The pace that I do things and therate atwhich Ithink about stuffand howI want thingsto happenis totallydifferent... I guessI always feel wecan bea hellofa lotbetter.”

Witha CVthat includesinductioninto theLiberty Awards Hall of Fameas well as a proven track record as one of the mostsuccessful leaders, whyhashe stayedinradio, whichis notnecessarilythe most lucrative of industries?

“Ihavenot seenoneindustry that would have afforded me the opportunityof shifting thecultural needle.None,”he says resolutely.

“I mean, radio isa very versatilemedium inthatwhen you thinkabout othertraditional forms ofmedia, they’ve been underenormous pressure, butradio isa complementary medium, so it finds itsway tosurvive. There hasn’t been a medium that competes with[just] listening.”

After25 yearsinmedia, what is his proudest moment?

“I think myproudest moment has beenbeing able to watch the manifestation of the Afropolitan over the period.

“When I started with YFM, itwas acertain mindset,the same sortof presentationof a

people. BeingAfrican wasnot fashionable.If anything,we allwanted tobe anything,but, you know?”[He says “you know”a lot].

“Being ableto contributeto the consciousness conversation inthe way thatwe did whether it waspushing local music, localfirms onair –being ableto repackageofferings for Afropolitans.

“I’ve been blessedwith having worked withthe two most important marketsin SA, [youth and adult]. I don’t know any other radio manager who’s had an opportunity to work withthe samepeople over two different,very important life stages. Andthat I suppose is amoment of pride. Though it’snot somethingI created, gettingthe opportunity to do that was incredible.”

His reach hasgone beyond radioand music.Hisinvolvement has extended into other areas including art and film.

“FM is justone frequency… it’s justone channelthrough which you disperse this content. Culture asa whole is broad. So, we’re focused on building alongsidepeople that arecreative, peoplecreating products that showcase just how amazing Africans are.”

Building forthe futureis something Maloka is passionate about. “Thewhole thing about not thinkingabout [just] today is verydifficult because we are hungrytoday, we want freedom today.Everything has got to happenin our lifetime… and sometimes we make a lot of mistakes because we want to eatthe fruitof thetree whose seed we should have planted. But if we understand the lengthit takes for atree to grow andbear goodfruits, that’sgenerally neverinyour lifetime.”

And what of his personal legacy? “I don’twant to focus onbuildinga legacy,becausea legacyis whatsocietydecides when youdie. Dealingwith challenges and opportunities as they presentthemselves toyou iswhat weshouldbe doing…I leave that decisionto people becausewe makedifferentimpressions ondifferent people fordifferent things…when you’re among othercows, best you be the purple cow.”

By Thabiso Thakali

Sizwe Nxasanais a manon amissionto break apartthe traditional notion of how teaching and learning in schoolsshould be conducted.

Though Nxasana is a qualified charted accountant who earned his stripes in the corporate world over many years and co-founded the first black audit firm,SizweNtsalubaGobodo,his firstlove hasalways been education.

Nxasana together with his wife, Dr JudyDlamini, founded Future Nation Schools –the first independentblackownedprivate schoolchainin Johannesburg.

Throughouthis lifelongcareer,Nxasanavowed nottoretirejust aschartedaccountant. When heleft thecorporate world several yearsago, his appetitetocontribute totheimprovement of the quality of education was whetted.

“I sortof planned mylife in 10-year cycles.Before Iturned 40 wewere successfulas accountants and we had an audit firm thatwas thefirst ofits kind in the country,”he said.

“For me,I couldnever see myself retiringin thatindustry. I left before I knew where I was going. I ended up at Telkom.I hadto learnabout telecoms from scratch. After that Iwent tobanking, againit was aboutforcing myselfout of comfortzone. I wasin banking for 10 years.”

The formerchairperson of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme established Sifiso Learning Group, which is headquarteredin Illovo, Sandton, at NxasanaHouse, to bethe vanguardofa freshapproach to education.

As a youngstergrowing up in Newcastlein KwaZuluNatal, Nxasana saidhis father, who was ateacher, taught him that hecould beanything he wanted in life.

But it was notuntil he arrived at Fort Hare University that Nxasana knewhe would become anaccountant. He

By Thabiso Mahlape

Thefirstthing Ieverread, where reading is the following of astory and/ora narrative, was a newspaper.

I was aboutseven years old or so, in in the early ’90s. Later, as ateenager, Iwould find comfort in Reader’sDigest anthologies and romance novels. Ineverreally gotthesense that therewas something wrongwith thetrajectoryof my reading until I traded the farmyard of Motse Maria High Schoolforthe bigcitylights surrounding Wits University. Until Icould nolonger ignore what was clear, other children hada curatedreading experience. No one had curated mine.

Which begsthe question, whatwere blackchildren reading backin the’90s? Luckily, children from the ’90s

Creating schools for the African future

Nxasana breaks myths about learning

was drawn to the profession whenheard thatprofessor WisemanNkuhlu hadqualified as the first black chartered accountant at the time.

Nxasana also joinedthe elite group of the first 10 black chartered accountants in SAwhen he qualified.

His journey ofsuccess didn’t end there.

“When I qualifiedas a chartered accountant[CA] it was quite clear to me that we neededtodomore toopenupopportunities [in education] for

We need to do more to open opportunities

those of us who are black.

“That’show wefoundedthe association of black accountantsbecauseI becameoneof the first 10 black CAs in the

country.Forus itwasitwas important that we opened opportunities forothers because we stumbled upon the profession,there wasno careerguidance thateven remotelysuggestedyoucould studyandbecome a CA.”

Nxasana,who ischairpersonof NationalEducationCollaboration Trust, saidthe idea of establishingFuture Nation Schools wasborn outof the recognition thatindependent private schoolswere onlyfor the privileged few.

“Sowe hadtostrike abalancebetween makingFuture NationSchools affordablebut atthe sametime offergreat quality and relevant education to communities,”he said.

“So that’swhy whenit came to deciding where we locate our schools, we’ve got Fleurhof outside Meadowlands in Soweto, which isan affordable housing area. Sowe pitched ourfeesto alevelwherethose parentsthatlive inthataffordable housing development can afford to send their children to school. The same applies to our Lyndhurst campus, which is just outside Alexandra.”

There arenearly 1,000 pupils in Future Nation’s three campuses,which wereopened three years ago.

The formerFirstRandCEO has also been working with the government to promote readingfor meaningthrough theReading Coalition.His company has apublishing division that is encouraging indigenous language writers to publishtheir bookstopromoting reading. Nxasana said he realised that there were no books inmarginalised indigenous languages.

“So ifI wantto readstories to achild andI wantto find books in Xitsonga,in Tshivenda, in Sepedi,you hardly find any content out there. Yes, thereare biggerlanguages, whichare isiZuluandisiXhosa and maybeSetswanato a lesserdegree, whereyou’re going to find some content which is age-appropriate for children to read or even adults for that matter,”he said.

“Thinkingabout ourlanguages aslanguages ofteachingand learningbut alsoas commercial languages is quite an important issue that we’ve got to address.”

Through Future Nation Schools, Nxasana also started a technologycompany thatdevelops technologiesthat have been integrated into learning.

“Technology is upon us. As Africans we cannot just continue to be consumers of technology, we have to be creators of technology.”

Our stories must be told in our own voices and languages

Children must see and hear themselves in books

aremy age-matesandfrom conversations it hasbeen clear that the majoritywere not reading,andthe fewwhowere like mehad noaccess toageappropriate reading material, andwhere theydid itwas nothing that looked and sounded like them.One such conversation waswith Nangamso Ka Nomahlubi, the author of ajust published children’s book, uQwenga Iaskedher aboutthefirst bookshe read. Three Little Pigs, a gift fromher grade 1 teacher, she tells me. “It was in English and in grade 1 I didn’t understand English much. I still have thisvivid picture of

hersittingwith meattheback ofour rentedtwo-bedroom house,with hertranslatingfor me every word.

“Igrew upreadinga lotbecause everyonewas areader at home. I read everything from my sister’s Millsand Boonsto Mama’s The Voice by Gabriel Okara. Thepublication Iread themostthough isTheDaily Dispatch, ourprovincial daily newspaper.”

My nieces need material that affirms them

Reading, forchildren, isa fundamental toolin shaping their worldview, whatis important and who has authority.

Nomahlubi saysshe wrote uQwenga because shewanted to contribute tothe movement of telling our stories our way.

“I have young nieces who needreading materialthataffirms them.This storyis about a dogwho grewup intown and istrying toadjust toa villagelife.So manypeoplehave gonethrough that.I wantedto engage theyoung readerson that difficult transition and the importance of family values.”

Shewrote thebook inXhosa tofurther cementthatshe wanteditsreaders toseeand hear themselves in the book.

“Representation iseverything.It removessomuch

doubt. It’simportant we tell stories in our own languages... many [children’s stories] are written by non-speakers of those indigenouslanguages. The indigenousspeakers merely serveas translators.This meansstill,we arenotowning thatspace.I wantedmynieces to read anisiXhosa book written by an isiXhosa speaker.” Where are weas a country with publishing for children? Notwhere weshould be.The success story isthat black children weren’t being catered for atall 20yearsago; theyare now, but with difficulty. We area countryrich instorytelling;wejust needtowork together soourchildren grow up knowing andunderstandingtheir experiencesto bereal and valid.

Maponya plans academy

Business icon keen to train entrepreneurs

By Mpho Sibanyoni

Richard Maponya, the greatgrandfather of black business, isnot readyto reston hislaurels despite beingtwo years short of a century.

Maponyais soconcerned about thelow employment rate in the countrythat he is planning toopen anacademy to train the youthon how to be entrepreneurs.

“RightnowI amtryingto come withan institutionthat must train all our youngsters so that whenthey graduate theyget trainedto usetheir own hands and beable to get employed orget intobusiness in their own right,”he said.

He said he was currently searching for financial and non-financial support to make his dream a reality.

The youthunemployment rate gives him melancholy feelingswhile hegetseuphoric whenhe thinksaboutthe strides the countryhas made since apartheid.

Maponyais ecstaticthat black people areno longer treatedaspariahs intheland of their birth and they are free toparticipate inthedemocratic andeconomic activities of their choice.

“We areproud thatwe are South Africansnow because duringapartheid wewerenot

South Africans,we wereforeigners[inour ownland],”he said.

Maponya is, however, not chuffed about the direction the economy is headingto, pointing out thatliving conditions were deteriorating daily for the majorityof localswhilethe richfew delightedinopulence on a grand scale.

“In termsof theeconomy and how peopleare living, it looks like peopleare getting poorer and poorerand poorer, andthisis asadthingthat after25years inournewdispensation we arestill having the majority ofour people very poor,”he said.

“At the sametime we’re havinga veryserious problemof our youth,60% ofthem arenot employed. Tome thisis a bombshell.Ifwe arenotcarefulour youngsterswill oneday have a leaderlike Julius Malemawhowill sayenoughis enough, we’ve beenhungry for somanyyears andwearein trouble. Wecan’t getemployment and thereis nobody takingcare ofus, let’sgofor it,”he warned.

“Believe youme, ifthe youngsters can dothat [revolt] we’ve notgot anyarmy tostop them. Thisone wouldbe worse than 1976youth uprisings, when wewere fighting apartheid.”

Maponyalaments theunfortunatefactthat a black government isnot takingcare ofits own people.

“The delivery isvery, very poorandthatis asadstory.We just see guys enriching themselves,they aregettinginto

politicsto enrichthemselves,” he said.

Maponya, whospoke to Sowetanthis week,wasforced

‘‘ It looks like people are getting poorer and poorer and poorer

Private sector stalls on transformation

BMF urges government to play strong leadership role

By Mpho Sibanyoni

Thelastfew yearshavebeen tough for black professionals as gains made in the transformation of the private sector, especially when it comes to the promotion of African and coloured people to senior managerial positions, were eroded. The situation was made even worse by government not having alabour ministerwho would holdthe privatesector

accountable by coming up with toughpunitive measures to deal withcompanies that didnotadhere tothecountry’s transformation laws, like the employment equityact and broad-based blackeconomic empowerment.

This is thereason that Black Management Forumpresident AndileNomlala believes that government should play moreofa leadershiprolewhen it comes to transformation.

“In the first 10 to 15 years of our democraticdispensation we’d a marginally much stronger governmentand the

to be aneconomic activist when theapartheid government declinedto awardhim a licencetorun afactorythat would manufacture clothes.

Whenhe qualifiedasa teacher,Maponya tookacareer detour andwent to work as astock takerfor aclothing factory in Johannesburg.

It was during hisstint at the factorythat hegothold ofoffcuts and soiledrobes, which he took and sold in Soweto.

When theapartheid authorities gotwind ofhis booming business they shut it down and did not wantto entertain the idea ofhim buildinghis own

progress that was made during thoseyears isbeingregressed,”Nomlalatold Sowetan.

“If governmentis weakin regulation and legislation… strategicdirection andeconomic planning, then you are not going to have a country…

“Thelast10 yearswereunfortunatelya verybigmissed opportunity because if we had just progressed and built on that [transformation]trajectory since 1994 to2009…by now we would probably be sitting at 20% unemployment rate.”

He said thelarge-scale corruptionthat besiegedthe country in thelast 10 years made the road to transformationeven moretougher, asthe private sectorused thecorruptionargument asanexcuse not tofocus on buildinga soci-

clothingfactorydue tohimbeing black.

Theoppression was,however, not enoughto see him giving up on his business idea.

Whenhewas 24,heandhis wife Marina decidedto start a business thatemployed 100 people who drovearound with bicycles to sell milk in Soweto.

In 1964,the strugglesthat werefaced byblackbusiness saw him teamingup with other formidable black entrepreneurs –Dr SamMotsuenyane, Bigvai Masekela and SZ Conco –to form the National African Federated Chamber of Commerceand Industry(Nafcoc)in Sowetotowage a fightfor blacktraders against apartheid machinery.

Atthetime Nafcoc,ofwhich Maponyawas foundingpresident,was alignedtothe African National Congress. Maponya was also the founding chairpersonof the Johannesburg African Chamber of Commerce.

Born 98 years ago in Tlhabini, avillage outside Lenyenye in Limpopo, he married Marina, aqualified social workerandthe cousinofformer president Nelson Mandela, in the 1950s.

After theyjoined forces, they became apower couple thatpropelled thefamilybusiness into ageneral dealer, eatery,butchery, liquorstores and supermarket,car dealership and filling station.

For his efforts,he has scooped several awards.

In April 2015,the Durban University ofTechnology awardedhim withanhonorary doctorate.

Hehas scoopedvarious awards includingthe Small Business Excellence Award (2007), World Enterprise Award (2008), was a recipient of the Top100 Companies Award: Business Times (2008), Lifetime Achievement Award and aBEE Entrepreneur Award.

Last year, hebecame the second person to win the LifetimeAchiever Award,which is thehighest accoladein the 30-year-old Entrepreneurof the Year competition.

ety that was racially inclusive “within their own corridors”.

“Theysaid governmentcan’t askthem abouttransformation when government was corrupt,”Nomlala said.

He commended Bidvestand Naspers SA for appointing Mpumi Madisaand Phuthi Mahanyele as chief executives, respectively.

He said the appointment of Sim Tshabalalaas Standard Bank’s first blackCEO in 2013 has resulted in an increased numberof thebank’s executive rolesbeing dominatedby black people.

But helashed outat companies that failed to appoint black CEOs.

“These cosmetic appointmentsof blackpeople aschief financial officers and chief operations officers, or anything

that is short of the CEO, is not good enough.We havetop notch blackprofessionals that can be appointed as CEOs.”

Nomlala addedthat companies thatwere hellbenton going against the country’s transformation agenda were ill-treating black professionals tothe extentthatthey fellinto depression.

“They eatdepression pills and they liveunder terrible conditions asmany ofthem are beingoverlooked forpromotion,”he said.

“They have to train and develop their white counterparts who get propelled into corporate ladders andsenior leadershippositions.The sadthingis thatthese blackprofessionals are more often than not more qualified thantheir white counterparts.”

Journos buoyed career

Don Laka hails scribes who exposed his music

By Sam Mathe

Don Lakadoesn’t remember thenumber ofrecords hehas releasedsince launchinghis music career in the early ’70s. Hisvast discographyincludes variousstyles andgenres spanning four decades. Some ofthe musicwas recorded for other artistsin his capacity assongwriter, composer, arranger,producer and record label owner.

It’s an achievementthat indeed defies memory.

However, Laka remembers journalistswho havesupported his musicaljourney since those halcyon daysof African jazz and township soul.

It was the timeof The World withthe irrepressiblePercy Qoboza at thehelm. Elliot Makhaya was oneof the legendary newspaper’s best knownarts journalistsalongsideVusi Khumalo,Derrick Thema and Morakile Shuenyane –some of black journalism’s eminent scribes of the time who have since become iconicnames ofthe profession.

Laka remembers Makhaya asa crusadingwordsmithwho combined hispassion forthe arts with remarkable penmanship andan authoritative style that earned him a cult readership.

“He wasa propercritic ofthe black arts whosearticles were instrumentalin buildingcareers ofmany musiciansincluding mine,”Laka says.

“Bra Elliot realisedmy potential andtold meso.Hedeveloped aspecial relationship withmusicians becausehe wasgenuinely interestedin

their calling. Ours started whenhe reviewedone ofmy earliest albums.He hadinterviewed me and the result was a comprehensiveand insightful write-up.”

He sayswhen TheWorld andother blackpublications werebanned onOctober19 1977 –Black Wednesday–he felt the loss acutely.

“The Worldwas amirror of the black world.It reflected our dreams,hopes andaspirations.It celebratedour achievements and contextualised our challenges. It was our mouthpiece.”

He befriendedDerrick Thema, another gifted scribe with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the arts.

His father wasRichard Selope Thema, a Congressman who becamethe firsteditor of The World in 1952.

“He introduced me to a number of joints in Soweto. One of

themwas Irene’sPlace inOrlandoEast.It wasapopular shebeenthat wasfrequented by artists, writers, activists and everyone who was interested in challenging apartheid.”

For artists likeLaka, the appointment ofMakhaya as showbiz editor and arts critic was welcome news indeed.

His humorous column, Monday Blues, provided the much needed comicrelief forfolks

‘‘ The World was a mirror. It reflected our dreams and hopes

‘Actors must have union’

Industry needs to be regulated –Sebogodi

By Karabo Ledwaba

Venerable actorSeputla Sebogodi hascome a longway from being jailed forhis political plays to being one of the most revered actors of our time.

Ina candidinterviewwith Sowetan,Sebogodi saidnot much has changed in the entertainment for black actors.

Despite newopportunities and theinclusion ofblack people in dramaschools, many battles being fought today such as financial hardshipshave existed since histimes at classic productions such as Bophelo ke Semphekgo

“I want the industry to be regulatedand Iwould lovefor a union that cantake care of

the actors. And I hope development is something that our government can do.

“This is anindustry that can create alot ofjobs andis anindustrythat helpedbreakthe wallsof apartheid.People knew aboutapartheid because of plays,”said Sebogodi when asked about hisdreams for the entertainment industry.

The Atteridgeville-born actor wasa part ofthe Generations16 whowere firedfor standingup againstpoor wages. Sebogodisaid despite thehardships, thisis anindustry of passion.

“In the olden days, there was no schoolsfor blackpeople to learn howto act.But therewas acourseat Unisathattaught

whose tapestry oflife was often stained by tragedy.

In 1980 Lakabecame a foundermember andkeyboardist of Sakhile, a formidable Afro-fusionensemble frontedby bassist Sipho Gumedeand reedman KhayaMahlangu. Oneoftheir memorable recordings, Isikhalo (TheCry) isa jazzyelegy for the children whowere killed in the 1976 student uprisings.

As aprecocious 12-year-old whowas curiousabouteverythingunder thesun, Lakawas already familiarwith the phrasebythe elders, ke dilo tsa makgowa –literally meaning “white people’s things”in the Sotho languages.

Everyinvention heknew was credited topeople of European ancestry but he was sceptical. So did that mean Africans contributed nothing tohuman civilisation?He wondered as hebegan a lifelong quest for the facts.

The resultis awell researched history text titled Know Thyself:Re-Introduction to African History (Lesedi House, 2017).It provesthat Africa isthe birthplaceof humanity and world civilisations and contendsthat mostof the everydayitems frommirrors to makeup andwriting were invented by Africans.

As ayoungster growingup inMamelodi, Pretoria,he came under the spell of Matlherane Mphakathi. Popularly knownas BraGeoff,he wasa cultural guru, jazzophile, politicalactivist, philosopher,artist, publisher and much more.

Hewasmanager oftheMalombo Jazzmenwhen they tookfirst prizeattheCastle Lager JazzFestival atOrlando Stadium. Recently atthe Joy of Jazz Festival,Laka paid homage tothis unsunghero of the arts with a piece titled Blues for Geoff Mphakathi

In 1976Laka wasarrested for his involvement in the June 16 student uprisings.In 1983 he worked underground with Rapitse Montsho,photographerand filmmakerwholater served asNelson Mandela’s cameraman.

It’s interestinghata decade later Lakawould beinvolved ina differentrevolution;one which involvesushering ina new pop style that would change the face of contemporary South African music. When heco-founded Kalawa in1992 withDJ Christos [Katsaitis] and DJ Oskido (Oscar Mdlongwa)the initiative would anticipatethe advent of kwaito music.

Sincethenthe labelhasgeneratedan impressivecatalogue of house, kwaito and Afro-pop recordings. Afterover aquarter ofa century,Kalawa Jazmee is thebiggest and longest-running black-owned record label in the country.

Ithas beenhome toartists such asSharon D,Thebe, Mafikizolo, Alaska, Bongo Maffin, DJ Maphorisa, Black Coffee, Big Nuz,Heavy K, Professor, Busiswa, Black Motion, InfiniteBoys, DrMalinga, Uhuru andCandy TsaMandebele.

According to Laka, the secret to the label’s success is the single-mindednessof itsdirectors, who are also artists.

“Wehavea solidteamofexecutiveswho areindustrious andsingle-minded abouttheir roles and responsibilities,”he explains.

“In thenext 25years weintendto continuebeing aschool ofexcellence forupcoming artists andto serve asa springboardfornew talent.We have a flexibleapproach whenit comesto artists’contracts. They arefree toleave thecompany whenthey wantto spreadtheir wingswhether they want to sign with other labels or establish their own.”

Sam Matheis the2018/2019 winner ofthe LiteraryJournalismAward attheSouth African Literary Awards.

you howto teach drama.I did thatcoursefor twoyearsand afterthatI leftbecauseitwas just books.Nothing practical that I could learn,”he said.

Sebogodisaid blackplays did notget muchattention from mainstream media, but entertainment journalists and critics such as the legendary The World and Sowetan journalistElliot Makhayagavethe likes of Sebogodi something to look forwardto becauseof his in-depth critiquesof theirtheatre shows.

“When you did a play, you just knewhe [Makhaya] was going to come and critique yourplayand he’s going to give an overview andhow is your acting. So that was a big thing.

“When we weredoing theatre, it wasonly Sowetan that

was coming to critique.

“We werecompeting with people whohad opportunities to go to drama schools and you couldn’t even say ‘I’m black, I’m disadvantaged’.You hadto fight your own battles.”

He said theatrehas slowly died out in the new SA.

“I’m actually very worried about theatre. In my lifetime I’ve done67 plays, butmost of them were donebefore 1994. We always saythat these kids are smoking nyaope... but it’s becausethese kidshaveacting talents anddon’t haveaccess to usetheir skillseven intheatres in the townships.”

Last year,Sebogodi costarred withhis actorson Thapeloina playcalled Flak My Son. Sebogodisaid he did not knowhis sonwas talented, but was aware that he had good comedy timingafter seeinghimina playwhenhewas still in school.

How black women keep it real today

By Thango Ntwasa

For many black people theprocess of acquiringthe perfect sleek hair comes inmany burdensome forms. From scalp-burning relaxers,headsmacking braids or even worrisome weaves, the journey still seems sodeeply steeped in acquiring thekind of hair thatpasses thepencil testlong after its extinction.

From Zulaika Patel at Pretoria Girls High to the young students at MalibuHigh School intheWestern Cape,oflate young women have started rising upagainst thediscriminatory regulations surrounding the politics of hair.

This particular¬journey resonateswith authorand businesswoman Rosie Motene, who hasdetailed her journey through her autobiography Reclaiming the Soil

In the book, Motene even got toreclaim herhair, especially as ayoung woman who hadspent decades conforming towhite culture.

“Hair hasdefinitely defined us froman early

Celebrating her blackness through her hair is how Rosie Motene found her roots again

age. Atschool wewere allowed to plait ourhair but we weren’t allowed tohave funky hairstyles or Afros,”Motene recalls,noting theemotional weightthe PretoriaGirls High protest had on her.

“I remember reading the article andI calledmy friend and I couldn’t stopcryingbecause these were the things we werestruggling withthen but we didn’thave the voice to step up.”

As partof her journey in reclaiming her blackness, removing herweave was Motene’s first step to stripping away theimage brought on by beauty standards that were damaging toher self-love.

“I still relaxed it,” she saysof her foray into remov-

ing weaves fromher beauty regiment.

The bold bald-doshe still wearstoday cameasa form of supportfor afriend who had beendiagnosed with cancer.However, afterwalkingoutof thesalonwitha friend,Motene realisedthis was a huge step in redefining society’s controlin how beauty is defined.

“Imade apoint ofwalking out withmy baldhead tosay ‘this iswho Iam’. Mybeauty or mystrength isnot defined by whatis ontop ofmy head. That process,without me even realising, elevated into me discovering thisthing of identifying myself as a black person.”

Motene wasbrought upbya whitefamilyfor whom her mother was adomestic worker. Inan environment thatwas not accommodating of her difference, this spun her adolescence into an identity crisis.

Motene spentmany nights praying she wouldwake upas awhite girlbut sincethismiracle was never goingto happen, her hairwas oneof thekey elementsto upholdingthe beauty standards.

“I mightbe toodark tofit into the whitenarrative but I can look as close to them as possible,”Motene recalls.

While the likes of Patel have becomethe facesof movements that promote a

positive viewon Afro-textured hair, Motenenotes that thereis stilla lackof progress for children.

While shopping with her sister anda youngcousin, Motenewas mockedafter she discouragedher young cousin frompurchasing a white doll.

“This little girl is going to grow upto thinkwhite girls are the standardyou need to look up to,”says Motene.

“Forstarters, wehavegot tolookat thecurriculum–whatbooks areonour shelves,and especiallyin whiteareas. Whitepeople have got tostart reading black narratives and seeing the positivity behind it and not read a black narrative becausethere iscontroversy around it.”

Blackhair trendsthrough the years have been:

City slickers

In an increasingly urbanised world, blackwomen ofthe 1950sand 1960skepttheir hair sleek and straightened,

far fromthe kinksand frills of natural hair.It’s no wonder Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba, madeit herbusinessto wearanarray ofnatural hairstyles in rebellion againstthe un-Africancoifs of the time.

Disco diva

There is perhaps no greater image of South African beauty thanCynthia Shange in the 1970s.From beauty pageants tothe bioscope, Shange became oneof many faces thatrocked theiconic head-turning Afro.

Black like who?

All that glitters might not be goldbut nothingglistened quitelike theperms ofthe 1980s. Lookno furtherthan our streets andhomes for the BlackLike MeandInecto hair colour cartonsfor the crazy colourchoices of the most bizarre decade of fashion and beauty.

Relax, take it easy

Sure,every youngwomanin the 1990swanted boxbraids likeBrandyor theladiesof BoomShaka, butevenVMash’s zanyhairstyles were easily remixed into glam shoulder- length,relaxed do’s indicativeof iconslike Basetsana Kumalo andConnie Ferguson.And whocan forgetthe smellofSta-SofFro, Step 1 or Black Like Me hairunder theheatof acurling iron?

It’s unbeweaveable

Lookno furtherthanBonang Matheba’s girly curls or Khanyi Mbau’stresses for indicative styleof the2000s. Even Somizi’s MadameGigi had heads turning with blonde bombshell bobs and bangs.

Keeping it real

Women’s hair hastaken a longjourney toreachthe frizzy and freeforay into natural beauty.Whether you rock afree Afrolike Pearl Thusi, keepit edgyand daring likeNandi Madidaor short and chic like Lira. It’s all about keeping it real.

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Outages a plot against Cyril President Ramaphosa is faced with cunning enemies planted everywhere to sabotage him. Last year, there was load-shedding when he was out of the country and it’s happening again. –Lesetja

Sowetan Says

A black day of pride, inspiration

Tomorrow marks 42 years since the apartheid government banned The World newspaper, Weekend World and 17 Black Consciousness-aligned organisations.

The banning of the two newspapers and the arrest of The World’s courageous editor, Percy Qoboza, left a huge vacuum in the coverage of black news at the time. That vacuum was only closed with the establishment of Sowetan some four years later.

Therefore, October 19 1977, now commonly known as Black Wednesday, is very close to our hearts here at Sowetan.

But while we appreciate why the day is generally used to shine a spotlight on media freedom and the state of journalism, we believe that the actions of the apartheid state on that day went far beyond attacking media freedom and that they were meant to break the back of a resurgent black resistance movement at the time.

Many of the organisations that were banned on the day were involved in overt political mobilisation, yes, but many more sought to uplift and to improve the black condition of the time by promoting a sense of pride and the ethic of self-reliance among the oppressed.

It is with that in mind that, as Sowetan, we have elected to remember the day by exploring the state of black people in the South Africa of today.

Today we bring to you, dear reader, a special edition of the newspaper focused on celebrating our successes as a people, examining our problems and exploring the way forward.

It may seem odd to some that in a country that is majority black, a newspaper would have a “Black Edition”. But the truth is that even though black people constitute a political majority in the country, they still remain a marginalised economic and cultural minority in the “mainstream”of our media. Stories of our successes in business, the arts, education and the sciences are not documented enough to inspire, especially the youth, to dream big and achieve great things. With this edition, we hope that we can inspire that sense of pride and self-reliance that kept the resistance struggle burning even during the darkest of hours. It is that spirit we need now as we rebuild our country and its economy into the giant that it is supposed to be.

Schools are now killing fields

Schools have turned into killing fields as corporal punishment has been done away with without consulting parents. How are we expected to deal with disobedient children? –Norman Matsebula

Lawless, prayerless schools School kids smoke dagga openly. Parents are not allowed to spank kids. Alcohol is consumed by all in public. Prayers are banned at schools. And we ask ourselves why the ill discipline? –James Mathye

ANC doesn’t consult people ANC’s claim to be government of the people is hollow because it doesn’t consult the people about its major decisions. Changes to the constitution also do not reflect the desire of the people. –Anon

More revelations, no action

More implications against Ace Magashule are being revealed at the Zondo commission but we still don’t see AFU, NPA or SAPS taking any aggressive steps against him and others. –Oriah Choshane

Letters to the editor

Letter s

Only successful races get respect

During the good old days of apartheid, according to some, everything worked perfectly in SA.

The crime rate was at its lowest and women were not scared of being raped. There was no loadshedding and service delivery was first-class.

Lastly, things were in order because... yes, you guessed right, whites were in charge! And today our own black people are in charge and the opposite is happening.

I have noticed that the West has great respect for China and the Japanese. The Chinese are clever because they can make cellphones, laptops and many other things.

The Japanese make good cars and now can play rugby too! It is true that service delivery is poor under the black

government. Butthis government provides services to everyone without legalised discrimination.

Black people must know that white people will only respect them if they outsmart them like the Chinese and Japanese.

If black politicians are lazy, incompetent and corrupt it impacts on all of us; we are painted with the same brush. Black students must outsmart other races at school, college and university to uphold the dignity of the black nation.

Sadly, most black politicians and students do not strive for diligence and competence. Instead, we constantly hear about endless parties, drugs, fornication and failure.

Dancing, singing, rapping and making the most potent sexual concoctions will not getblacks to be respected by the intelligent races of the world.

Khotso KD Moleko, Mangaung

Adhere to safety rules when driving

This is an open letter to all my brothers and sisters out there. Most of usgrew up in households where cars were a luxury we could not afford. These days it is common for a black family to own up to three luxury cars and this means we have more drivers on the roads. My appeal is directed at those driving around with the dreaded red L for learner, who sit so close to the steering wheel you wonder how they have total control of the vehicle. My appeal is to use your mirrors.

They are for you to check and make sure it is safe to change lanes etc. The indicators as they are aptly named areto give an indication of your intentions to either go left or right and not to say I am going right now. A motor vehicle is also equipped with safety belts for you and your passengers, especially your precious bundles of joy,notto wear when you see a traffic official. Children do as we do and not as we say, remember that.

Zakes Nakedi, Ennerdale

Sowetan, PO Box 6663, Johannesburg, 2000 E-mail letters@sowetan.co.za Fax 011-340-9637

Exams offer a chance for matric pupils to put year’s horrors behind them

Grade 12 pupilshave started sitting for their this year’s matric examinations on Wednesday after a largely stressful year because of the violence in schools. This year, more children were kidnapped, sexually and physically assaulted, while others stabbed each other to death on a regular basis. This has created an environment of horror that might have led to some losing focus on the main objective of going to school.

The final exams, however, provide the opportunity for the matrics to get themselves out of the life of violence and substance abuse and make a positive life for themselves going forward. That journey begins with them doing very well in their exams.

As SA gears itself up for the fourth industrial revolution, it will need young people who are innovative, who will seize the moment to confront the future. It needs young people who understand that they are part of the solutions for the country’s economic woes that are resulting in high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment. This cannot be done by pupils who carry knives and guns to the classrooms, pupils who see schools as war zones.

To all the matrics, good luck to you and remember the future is in your hands and it begins with you doing very well in your final exams. You have the whole nation behind you and you dare not fail.

Tom Mhlanga, Braamfontein

Boxing their way to uhuru

Fistic clubs were havens of politics

By Bongani Magasela

October19 1977is knownas Black Wednesday.On thishistoric day a vast range of politicaland culturalorganisations were shutdown andtheir entire operations broughtto a screeching halt.

During thisinterregnum the popularity of thesport of boxing paradoxically grew by leaps andbounds. Whatinspired this phenomenal growth and how hasthe sport developed since then?

Long before theoutbreak of the1976 nationalholocaust boxers werepart andparcel of the countrywidestudent movement. In the Eastern Cape manyschool boxing clubs existed sideby sidewith local boxing clubs.

In Soweto, Theo Mthembu’s DubeBoys Clubwas ahome andhaven ofstudentactivists, notably Ben “TNT”Lekalake.

Manyactivist teachersoperated within theboxing clubs to create politicalawareness among students.

Boxing also catered for youth outside theschools. It was the cement that unified the vast youthmovement inside and outside classrooms.

The muzzling ofpolitical organisations rekindled activism of the critical mass –reminiscent of the 1950s.

Boxing SA board member

Khulile Radu says departed andcelebrated nationalbantamweight kingpinMzukisi Skweyiya was aleader and commander of this stream of activism.

“He became acolossal figure in the tempestuous politics of thetime. Afterhisexpulsion from theUniversity ofFort Harein 1976,Skweyiya,together with other activists of the time, spearheaded campaigns which highlighted the centralityand universality of the sport,”Radu says.

“Inmanyways heservedas acourierand conveyerbeltbetween thestudent movement and other community-based structures. In this milieu many anti-establishment meetingswere disguisedas boxingmeetings. Manylocal fighters became firebrand ac-

‘I’m living my best life as footballer’

tivistsand respectedcommunity leaders.”

Lekalakewas oneofthese firebrands before he left SAfor military training.

“In PortElizabeth [1976],he vilifiedboth hisnemesis Nkosana Mgxaji and Norman Sekgapane for their participation ina boxingtournament –slam-bang inthe middleof the

‘‘ Many fighters became activists and community leaders

1976student uprisings–actuallyhe calledita selloutdeal. Thatspeech aloneformspart ofboxing folklorein thiscountry. That speechspeaks volumes of the role boxing and boxershave playedintransforming oursociety,”adds Radu.

Downthe yearsamateur boxing clubscontinued to flourish. They were mostly affiliated tothe nonracialsports body, theSouth AfricanCouncil on Sport . Internecine battles werefought withhomeland tinpotswho wantedto forcethese clubsto affiliateto them to no avail.

“June 1976 characterised the intensification ofthe struggle against apartheid in all its forms,”says Radu.

“The masspoliticisation of the peoplemorphed intothe

people’s war of the 1990s. Boxing was thus an integral part of the popularresistance movement.”

Notably, Arthur“The Fighting Pantsula”Mayisela was the heroand rolemodel tothe youth of theday, especially in Soweto. He was the very epitome ofthe brashnessand selfconfidence ofthe youth. Through boxingthey developed into manhood, full of religious and political convictions.

Radu adds:“The muzzling of political formations was meant to further suppress the masses ofour people.Paradoxically, theconstant harassment and suppression strengthened theresolve ofthe masses to pushfor changes in thestatusquo. Loandbehold, boxers were atthe forefront of these struggles.

“Likeable ThozaGuga was incarceratedfor hisparticipation incommunity-based struggles. The People’s Choice –Duncan Village stalwart Zandisile “Dudani”Thole –diedatthe handsofpolice,to mention a few,”says Radu.

“Inthe unitytalksaround sport, boxing held sway and wasconsequently oneofthe sportswhich wereallowedinternational participation even though thesports boycottwas still in place.”

Recently,the sporthasattracted women participants. Thisisa worldwidetrend. The popularity of boxing and the surge for survival and sustenance inthe sportcan surely be traced back to those years of subjugation and isolation.

their friends.Koko Kgatlana has since changed her mind.

Kgatlana paves her own

future

By Linda Kea Moreotsene

Thembi Kgatlanaburst into the broaderSouth African football landscapethree years ago, andas a striker,she had the precision and nonchalance of a seasoned sniper.

Since then, the pint-sized player has continuedto relentlessly pile on the plaudits.

Itwasmostly thankstothe goals the 23-yearold scored thatBanyana Banyanaqualifiedto turnup ata FifaWomen’s World Cupfor the first time, andonce theyarrived in France earlierthis year,it was through her boot that they registeredtheirfirst goalatthe tournament.

Thetournament wasabaptism of firefor Banyana, but Kgatlana,who hadbeenplying her tradein the United

States forthe HoustonDash untilthen, soonpackedher bags andheaded forChina, whereshenow playsforBeijing BG Phoenix.

When observersexpressed surpriseat herdecision toopt for theFar East,instead ofany ofthe moreestablishedbastionsofthe women’s game like Franceor Sweden,herfearlessness and willingness operate outside hercomfort zone whenshesaid shewantedto be part of the growth that is taking place there.

“The leaguethey havethere isgrowing.There areacouple ofAfricans thatarealready there. It’s a market that’s growing andthey’re attracting alot ofAfricans.Most ofthe times inthe leagues weare not easily accepted. Youfirst have to havea lotof achievements before someone gives you an opportunity. I’m livingmy best lifenow interms ofexploring my footballand ifa team wantsto givemeajob Igo

wherever I need to go.”

Meanwhile, offthe field,her boldapproach isbeingrewardedas well,with hernominationbythe MinistryofSports as one of the best athletes in the country prove of that. The honour followsclosely behind the prestigious gSport award she won in August.

Thereigning AfricanWomen’s Player has defied expectations, andrefused to fitinto the moldall herlife, hermother Koko has said.

Despite themother’s besteffortstodissuade her,herlittle girlinsisted shebelongedin the street kicking a ball around withher brothersand

“I am beyond proud of her. I did not want herto play footballwhen shestarted atprimaryschool.She wasalsoin theathleticsteam, andIpreferredathletics,since Iwasalso an athlete. Unfortunately forme atthattime, shechose the sport her father played, which is football,”she said.

Above all,Kgatlana isalreadya catalystof change.A year ago, South Africans flooded social media, demanding from theauthorities thatthey start paying the women according to their worth.

Prior tothat avalancheof support, opinions had always been divided on whether women footballersdeserved to be paid on parwith their male counterparts.

“Thembi hasalways been humble, respectful.She does hertalking withher boots.I amglad thegirls aregetting thesupport theydeserve,” Kgatlana’s mother says.

“As afamily, weactually startedto backher whenshe went to high school. That was when we saw that she had inherited her father Matlhomola’s talent.”