Soweto Speaks 0949937886, 9780949937889

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SOWETO SPEAKS

Crime, marxism, advertising, big business, shebeens, abandoned babies, blindness, teaching, politics, Black Consciousness, theatre, art, writing; all these are facets of life in Soweto, Johannesburg's black dormitory city, home of over one million people. In Soweto Speaks individual Sowetans speak frankly to Jill Johnson, giving vivid accounts of their day-to-day lives and the issues which affect them, from the political views of leaders such as Dr Motlana to the attitudes and activities of ordinary people from different walks of life: doctor, housewife, actor, domestic worker - even tsotsi. Jill Johnson links together these interviews, giving a brief review of the history of the

township, setting the scene and providing background information. Peter Magubane's magnificent photographs, often poignant, sometimes brutal, always sensitive, highlight the characters and situations described by the many voices brought together in this book. The total effect is to give non-Sowetans a unique glimpse of a vibrating, pulsating, complex world where violence, poverty, injustice, crime and despair co-exist with the laughter of children, companionship, compassion and a determination to get on with the business of living, and to work for a better future.

Johnson was born in Wales, Canada before moving with her

Germany, and then for some years in She has spent twenty-two years in Africa, attended a Rhodesian boarding school and completed her BA at the University of Cape Town. She returned to Canada to do a B. Ed. degree at the University of British Columbia. In Vancouver she began writing for magazines on a freelance basis. Her articles and short stories have been published both in South Africa and abroad. She has also worked as a television production assistant and scriptwriter. Her first book was Transvaal Epic, on which she worked as co-author, and she also did the research for Anatomy of a Rebel, a biography of Ian Smith by Peter Joyce. She is currently working on another biography and a novel. She is married with one son and lives in Johannesburg.

Jill

lived briefly in

family to Zambia.

Magubane was born in Johannesburg in 1932 and began his career as a photographer on Drum Magazine. His first assignment of real consequence was the Sharpville massacre of 1 960. Since 1 965 he has been a staff photographer at the Rand Dally Mail, who have kindly allowed him to work simultaneously on this book. His pictures frequently appear in Time magazine. In 1977 he won the Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery Award for his exhaustive coverage of the 1976 riots in Soweto. Magubane's dogged determination to be on the spot often at great personal risk has made him the high calibre photojournalist he is today. Peter

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SOWETO SPEAKS by

Jill

Johnson

photographs by Peter Magubane

AD.

DONKER/PUBLISHER

DONKER (PTY) LTD Hyde Park Corner, Jan Smuts Avenue Hyde Park 2196, Johannesburg

AD.

Johnson, 1979 © Text by © Photographs by Peter Magubane, Jill

1979

reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

All rights

or transmitted

in

any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,

without prior permission from the publisher.

First

published 1979

Reprinted

ISBN

paperback 1981

949937 88 6

Typeset Dieter

in

in

VIP Helvetica by

Zimmermann

(Pty) Ltd.,

Reproduction by Unifoto Printed

Johannesburg Cape Town.

(Pty) Ltd.,

and bound by Creda Press

(Pty) Ltd.,

Cape Town.

CONTENTS Foreword War baby Moles in the darkness

7

9

14

Tsotsi

19

His father

23 25 27 32 35 38

Friday night at Bara

Tickey

at the

gate

Odokotela

Where

is your pass? Lucky Non-blacks only

Impohlo, the

man

without a

woman

The homelands The poisonous spoon Martha Black Consciousness

The

40 43 46 49 54

56 61

riots

Mother Drop-out

From the ashes

65 67 68

New

71

A

Afrikaner thinking: an Afrikaner viewpoint

stake

in

75 79

the land

Zuko Toy telephone The leaders

81

Dr Ntatho Motlana and the Committee of Ten Chief Gatsha Buthelezi and Inkatha

Marxism

Ad man The beat of life Impumputhe, the blind man Tradition

Sangoma Bishop Tutu: the

Shebeens Cooksie Stokvel

living

dead

86 87 90 94 97 101

107 109 115 118 123 128 130

Danny, the good time guy Tso Modise: kicking the skin The women Mrs Nyembezi Sophie

132 135 140 145 147

Bottleneck

151

Diary of a black actor

155 157

Gibson Kente: the musical man Blowing Peck on a paper Sipho Sepamla: something on my own Bread and butter line Nothing coming my way Appendix

Map Epilogue

161

165 169 172 175 176 178 180

FOREWORD

When

went to Soweto for the first time in February 1978. went alone, not knowing what would find. went with a mind like blank paper on which hoped Sowetans would write what they felt, what they thought, what they I

I

I

I

wanted

I

for the future.

had passed the sign 'W.R.A., Private Road to Soweto', saw no other whites. was in black man's territory and the mask blacks wear on white man's territory fell away. felt safe in Soweto, captivated by the From that first visit onwards hospitality of Sowetans, their spontaneity, quick-wittedness and humour. There is poverty, greyness, sameness there, but beneath these is the spirit of the people - colour, life, warmth. It's been a year of my life won't forget. Sometimes came home exultant, sometimes came home and wept. wrote this book primarily to pass on to South Africa's whites what is happening on their doorstep. White ignorance of the black man beneath the mask is staggering and inexcusable in our current political climate. Yet the black man knows us well - our foibles, our fears, the way we live and think. Let us take a look at him now and see what he thinks, how he lives and the problems weighing on his mind. Many people helped me while was researching the book, giving me con-

Once

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

arranging meetings. For this help thank you Ian Gabriel; Peter 'Mof Mofokeng and Lucky Nkosi Mcezane for their time and good humour; Flor-

tacts,

ence Zikalala

for

her linguistic aid; and

all

the people of

Soweto who spoke

and aspirations. Baragwanath Hospital thank you Mr Faul and Dr Cristo van den Heever for generously allowing me to visit the hospital several times and for all the information you gave me. Most important, my thanks go to well-known and talented photographer, Peter Magubane, for his exciting pictures. out so frankly about their lives At

have seen throngs of people Disappear into little holes of resting And I've pondered what might be happening /

With the loneliness

beyond

Sipho Sepamla 'The Loneliness Beyond'

WAR BABY Soweto

is

post-war

one

of the world's greatest

slum clearance schemes of the

era.

Soweto, issued by Johannesburg City Council

Non-European

Affairs

Department, September 1969, last revised October 1973

Soweto. Ghetto home of two million people*, 220 square kilometres of coalsmoke-polluted urban sprawl. 102 000 houses, little boxes of two, three, four and five rooms, bulging with humanity - uncles, aunts, mothers, fathers, children, grandparents, country cousins; a few luxury houses of individual design, most of these in elite Dube Village; and barrack-like hostels crammed with migrant workers, sometimes sixteen to a room, piled threehigh in bunks. Soweto was born at the end of World War II. Existing slums, such as Prospect, Jeppe, Pimville, Alexandra and Sophiatown, were sardine cans of tribesmen who had flocked to the towns to the call of Egoli and all that went with

it,

good and bad.

Bad were the

Prospect and Sophiatown, corrugated iron roofs brazier heating by mbawula which in ill-ventilated hovels wiped out whole families through carbon monoxide gassing. Crime was rife. In Alexandra powerful gangs ruled: the Msomi, led by Shadrack Matthews, his number-two Alec Dube, number-three Noah Fargo, and 'big guns' Ginger, Ntaka the Vulture, Boy Manchero; and then there were their arch-rivals, the Spoilers - men like Lefty Mthembu, 'Bam' and 'Bad' held

tin

down by

hovels

stones,

of

appalling sanitation,

Sibisi.

Similar

and

gangs

terrorised Sophiatown, carving the township into territories

extorting levies from the inhabitants.

A man who grew up in Pimville recalls: 'there were two groups, not really gangs, the Sotho, known as the Russians - and there were a lot of them - and the young urbanised blacks, the Tsotsis. The Russians wielded a mighty influence over the people and the Tsotsis rivalled them for supremacy.' In Sophiatown the makgotla began, a vigilante group no better than a *

Only one million

of

these are recorded on the Government census

.

lynch mob; thugs

who

took the law into their hands and a one-sided view of

justice, instituting public

floggings

of

men, women, even children,

for

minor

misdemeanours.

Good was the spirit of the common man in these slums: 'The life in Sophiatown was one powerful unit, a wellknit community. Everybody lived with everybody. Some whites, but mainly Chinese, Indians and blacks. wouldn't wasn't say there were many whites; there was Athol Fugard of course, but I

it

strange to see anybody there walking with a white. The community was one, everybody knew everybody, and everybody's interests too. That is why they were able to have informal clubs of writers,

musicians from all walks of life. That was Sophiatown. could ask 'If didn't have money to get into the bus it was no problem. from anybody. "Hey man, haven't got busfare. Will you please give me busfare." The guy would say without hesitation, "Okay man, here's four cents for journalists,

I

I

I

you."

The sanitation wasn't so good, was all cramped up, the water supply was communal, you know. At first they had a tap for a block, then they started it

in the yard for all the people in that yard. You'd have about three one stand, owned by one person and you'd have about seven families there, rooms hired out. We lived close, so if didn't have salt I'd say, "Hey man, how about some salt?" If had no milk, "Hey man, my cup of tea got no milk, howabout it?" Even, "Hey, got no petrol, let's drain from your car and put some in mine." That was the life. 'Soweto, no sirree. It's not like Sophiatown, it's a whole new set-up. More

having taps

houses

in

I

I

I

.

austere, a

little bit

tight,

a

little bit

heavy.

It's still

there, that spirit, but the div-

people into areas, like Dube Village for the haves and way out in Mapetla for the have-nots - it's different. You get the rough areas, the cool areas and people grade one another, not mix with them, snob them ision of

.'

.

.

Western Native Township (now for coloureds) was built in 1927, then Eastern Township, Orlando in 1938, closely followed by Pimville. In 1939 the war came and township development ceased. All effort was chanelled towards the conflagration in Europe and North Africa. But in 1945 and 1946 thousands of black veterans surged back from the battlefields and eleven squatter camps sprang up, scarring the south-western veld. 'Hovels pieced together with scraps of rusty corrugated iron, lengths of hessian, bran and coal bags, boxwood, cardboard and odds and ends for blocking up gaps in walls and roofs. Shin-deep in mud in the rainy months and in winter incessant screens of blinding dust. Bugs, disease, gangsters. *

.'* .

Peter Becker, Tribe to Township (Panther Books. 1974) p

125

10 Top: James 'Sofasonke' Mpanza Bottom: Gathered round the mbawula

...

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^^B ^HiBJH^s^. ^B ^f C^^^j

w\

?i? iiiiyp

^3? ^'1 *

*

X:*

fi

91

I

centre around alternative sources of power, or what

happen.' Home ownership and permanence lead to caring, to rootedness, to maintenance ot standards and the desire to protect what is yours from violation. It would help prevent rioting because the people themselves would not tolerate the willful destruction of what belonged to them. 'As long as we are temporary sojourners in Soweto our insecurity breeds apathy concerning property improvement. We do not have a sense of belonging.' Deputy Minister of Bantu Affairs, Willem Cruywagen, has said, 'Any human being who has proper accommodation for himself and his family is a conwill

will

He says that under the leasehouse as long as he chooses and can as any white. Only in the case of houses there a pre-emptive right of the Board in Soweto to

tented person and an asset to the community.'

scheme

hold

man owns same way

the black

then deal with it in the purchased from WRAB

is

become available within black home owner may sell his house

buy the property should from

his

this a

it

the

first five

or leave

it

years. Apart in

his will to

whoever he pleases. Leasehold versus freehold is one problem, housing itself is another South African Institute of Race Relations director, Fred van Wyk, says his first priority would be, 'Housing, housing, housing. Not just new houses, but improvements to existing houses. There are three-roomed houses in Soweto with twenty people living in them. My second priority would be services, like electricity, sewage, garbage disposal. My third priority would be recreational facilities.

I

am

talking only about physical things, not things like influx control.

Soweto alone has a backlog 32 000 families needing homes. The present 102 000 houses accommodate an average of ten people, some fourteen, some even twenty. There are probably as many as 175 000 people requiring

homes -

impossible for an accurate official estimate of this shortfall because the population fluctuates and illegals do not advertise their presence in the township. The standard Soweto house, for a family of five, now costs R6 000 to build, it

is

is too small for some families and too large for others. More variety in sizes is needed according to the Urban Foundation. Estimates of R195 million have been given to cover the cost of housing the homeless. The government does

money, neither has private enterprise. Selfhelp is the answer: has been suggested that the money must come from the blacks themselves. Government must make it easier for blacks to obtain funds for home ownership in the form of building society loans, secured by a mortgage over the property, even in the absence of freehold. A shebeen queen who is greatly extending her house to include an indoor bathroom, larger kitchen and another bedroom, says, 'leasehold, freehold not

have

this kind of

it

77 Coal workers

it's

all

the

same

to

me. Where

feet under. Ninety-nine years

78

we gonna be

in ninety-nine years, baby? Six a long time, a long time. .'

is

.

ZUKO you are out of this country for more than six months, as a black, you lose your citizenship So had to reapply and it took seven months.

If

I

/

came back

working

for a

to

Soweto from Swaziland where

couple of years.

davits to the effect that

had

I

had

had

I

not

to

left

I

had been going

re-apply for citizenship

to

school and

and sign

the country for military training.

affi-

Then

I

you don't have a pass you can't get a job, and if you don't have a job there is no money coming in so you really have probapply

to

for a

pass.

If

lems.

was not earning and was down and out. Now and again wrote home for money, to my parents who are still in Swaziland. But found it hard to do this because had had my own flat, furniture, stereo set in Swaziland and now here was in Soweto with nothing, not even a place to sold my furniture had no accommodation anyway, so why did stay. need furniture? was an embarrassment to my friends, some of whom would have liked to put me up but had no space. slept at friends' houses, but as soon as friend had a had enough sensed of me, or was fed-up because was beginning to hear his family problems, then I'd move on. used to give them my suits, my radio, cassettes had, so that compensated for my stay with them. avoided my relatives, knew their problems and that they could not have me to stay, but would feel obliged to, if turned up. Then would have to pay back once started work. Then got a pass, got a good job and was able to get accommodation easily. Money talks in Soweto. You auction for a room. If the price is R20 you say, 'I'll give you R25 or R30.' That's how you get it - bribery. Some people pay RAO because rooms are in short supply. About one hundred and fifty families are walking the streets on the waiting For seven months

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

houses, unable even to get rooms. While I was staying in Dube was paying R25,

list for

my neighbour was paying R25 and the guy in the garage was paying R30. The family were paying around R18 for the whole house, so we were actually supporting them. Then I

79

.

one day they wanted to evict me for no apparent reason. The neighbour, who said, 'The landlord liked me very much, wanted to know why was leaving. doesn't want me anymore.' He said, 'No, we'll talk to him - you're a nice I

I

fellow.'

He approached the landlord and found that all he wanted to do was increase the rent and did not know how to approach me. said, 'By all means. know that's the language in Soweto. How much do you want?' He put my rent up R5 a month. Not bad. Now I'm thinking of marrying, and of course as soon as we are married we I

I

apply for a house. My room is illegal - I'm a subtenant, which is not allowed, though WRAB know about it. But can't have my own house either, so it's another Catch 22. It will be a long wait for a house once we're married, so my wife will have to move into my room. We'll try for a five-roomed house, but we'll have to take what we're given. think it will be about We'll be grateful for a house, fullstop, any house. will

I

I

R12

a month for a two-roomer,

and R16

to

R18

for the five-roomer,

depending

which township. People prefer to live in the central area - Dube, Orlando, Dobsonville. People are quite well off in those areas and the crime rate is very low .

80

.

TOY TELEPHONE dumb and

The Urban Bantu Council was deaf,

blind so

we called

it

the Toy Telephone.

Tsot si

students said the Urban Bantu Council was a 'Useless Boys Club'. It did not attend to the real needs of the people, it had to go', claims Dr Ntatho Motlana, Chairman of the Committee of Ten.

The

know why the students forced the UBC out', says Mr Jacobs. feel Assistant Director of Community Councils at WRAB. 'Quite frankly can't answer for the students - there were so many things which upset them got the impression they were influenced. They that to me appeared unusual. turned against the UBC and do believe the councillors were intimidated to resign. Some of them resigned and we were forced to disband them in June 'I

don't really

I

I

I

I

1977.'

June Soweto's 'Mayor' David Thebehali, was virtually hijacked by a group of students and taken to a meeting with them. Until then Thebehali had defended the UBC with everything he had. But he emerged from that meeting and resigned from the UBC, taking the majority of the councillors with him, saying, think the time has come for the old guard to give way to the youth.' Students protested that they had not forced his resignation, but had merely made him see the light. The UBC had lost the support of the majority in Soweto long before it collapsed. Projected rent increases for Soweto were thought to have been a collaboration between the UBC and WRAB and this did nothing to inspire confidence. In 1968 when the UBC was founded forty-five percent of Sowetans voted in the election. At the last election this had dwindled to a mere eight At the beginning of

'I

percent.

What was

Urban Bantu Council? Mr Jacobs: 'Perhaps should go back to the time when the black people were represented by Advisory Boards. The name implies what they were. They represented their people in an advisory capacity. Soweto had its own Advisory Board, with a white Chairman. Then there was a Joint Board overseeing all the I

81

the Advisory Boards, on which a representative from each Advisory Board

This Joint Board met periodically with the heads of what was then the Non-European Affairs Department. This system prevailed from before the 1950s until 1968, when the Urban Bantu Councils came into being. 'In terms of legislation the Urban Bantu Council was an advisory body again. did not have the power the present Community Council has. The sat.

It

UBC was entirely black, but white officials did attend their meetings, in an advisory capacity, to guide them and assist them in their work. 'Although say the UBC had advisory powers only, looking at our annual estimates, it can be seen that approval was never given unless the UBC had I

stamped them with their assent. Blacks were appointed by election, at that time on an ethnic basis. (The new Community Councils are non-ethnic). There were forty-one elected members who served for three years. The UBC worked on a system of four committees responsible for Amenities, Education and Health, Transport and Trading, and General Purposes and Housing. 'The Community council concept was something the government had been thinking of some time ahead of the riots. The differences, to summarise the situation, are these. The UBC were an advisory body in effect. In future we visualise that the Soweto Council will become a fully-fledged municipality or town council, running Soweto entirely on its own. At this stage obviously the Council has the facilities offered by WRAB. The take-over is in progress, but will take some time to accomplish. Considerable powers have already been granted to the Soweto Council, but implementation is the problem. They require assistance in the mechanics of administration and maintenance. There is one area, for instance, the approval of building plans, in which there is not one man on the Soweto Council who knows anything about building plans. We therefore have to retain the white man who knows the job until there is someone capable of doing in Soweto. This applies to all fields. For some time now we have been looking at the it

possibility of appointing black staff at a higher level

we have done being groomed 'At

this

-

we have

Assistant Township

in

township

offices.

Managers who are

And

black,

for responsibility.

the last election for

Community Councils, a

free election, nominations

were received from interested parties. Every candidate had to have a number of people nominating him, and those who were qualified were accepted as candidates for election. On election day there were no restrictions whatsoever - those on the Voters Rolls were permitted to vote for their candidates. Though six percent was the average and this was seen as a rejection of the Community council concept by the people of Soweto, at some polls was fourteen percent and subsequently we had a by-election where it was again fourteen percent. The Community Council will eventually be a fully-fledged it

82 Mr David Thebehali, 'Mayor'

of

Soweto

municipality

managing

its

own

affairs.'

Soweto's majority does not consider 'eventually' to be soon enough.

Between the demise of the UBC in June 1977 and the Community Council in 1978 the people of Soweto sought to establish their own representative body - The Committee of Ten under chairmanship of Dr Ntatho Motlana, which drew up a blueprint for Soweto's future. The wishes of this committee ran contrary to what the administration had in mind for Soweto, namely its own Community Council programme, and the committee of Ten were deelection

tained for 1978.

84

some months,

the last

members being released

in

the latter half of

.

.

.

one day when your feather breaks the prowess of your speech vanishes snow flake falling on the earth

and

like

a

remember you

ride the

hour

like

death rides

life.

'For

Mongane Wally Serote those of us who make music'

THE LEADERS The Committee of Ten is working wholly and solely for the improvement of Soweto. Buthelezi is working wholly and solely through Inkatha for the improvement of the Zulustan, the Zulu nation; so they have two purposes, different, even though both he and Motlana can be called Black Consciousness leaders, Soweto resident (Sotho)

Since the Community Councils came into being there has been a power struggle in Soweto between David Thebehali, as Chairman of the Soweto Council, Dr Ntatho Motlana, Chairman of the Committee of Ten, which represents the youth and many of their parents, and kwaZulu leader, Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, whose Inkatha movement wields a mighty influence over the huge Zulu population in Soweto, particularly the hostel dwellers - predominantly migrant workers. Many urbanised Zulus support Motlana and do not care for the concept of kwaZulu, never having been there. Support for the Community Councils has been scant, but may increase with time if the powers promised by new Minister of Plural Relations and Development, Dr Piet Koornhof, are granted.

86

.

DR NTATHO MOTLANA AND THE COMMITTEE OF TEN Democracy and

barrel.

is

abused

He stands

in this

unalienable aspirations not a criminal paper.

country

I

support Motlana lock, stock

and true, and the beings. His blueprint for Soweto is

for the things that are right

It's

of

human

a plain civic plan.

Soweto businessman

Urban Bantu Councils were forced to resign by the students in the 1976 riots. the ensuing vacuum the people of Soweto came together themselves to structure a body that could represent them and through which they could exIn

press their views to the authorities. A meeting was called on June 27, 1976, a very representative meeting, I must say. members of the Black People's Convention, the Black Parents Association, the YWCA, YMCA, South African Students Organisation. Union of Black Journalists, South African Black Social Workers Union, and representatives from the Soweto Students organisations. As I say, a very representative meeting. From this meeting a Committee of Ten was elected to draw up a blueprint, a scheme for the control of Soweto. I was elected chairman, and immediately set to work. In three weeks we produced a tentative scheme which we hoped to present to the people of Soweto. The main point was that Soweto was to be granted full autonomy. To have a city council and city status. Right away, not after ten steps or twenty steps. Right away. Secondly, in order to improve the quality of life in Soweto, to improve the area at all, there should be unfettered freehold land tenure. Soweto is a monstrosity

.

.

Now, we said that in order to improve Soweto it must be by a plan based on those fundamentals - freehold land tenure, autonomy in the form of a city council, and that whites must, because Soweto was put where it is to pander to white prejudice, be made to pay and pay until it hurts. When the government first stated its policy it said that the black townships should not be subsidised, but self-supporting. They can't be. These are the most disadvantaged, the poorest areas of our land, where the poorest people live. You can't expect those poor people to fend for themselves and pay their way yet. Anyway, the government itself was worried by the hiatus created by the 87

UBCs

over the country, so they came up with the Community Councils Act which was rushed through parliament at the tailend of the session. We believe that this act was not well-researched, not properly motivated and really just a rush measure which should be redrafted, reconresignation of the

all

sidered. This has been illustrated by its almost total rejection by the people of Soweto. They say it was a six percent poll, but it was raised to that six percent by migrant workers whom we think should not have voted. They should not have the vote, they are migrants, they are not the people of Soweto, they don't qualify. The highest number of votes were cast for a fellow from one of the hostels, himself a migrant worker, fellow called Jiyana. He got 896 votes, the highest number cast. We think that if the vote of the Soweto people themselves were counted it would not be more than three percent and that reflects a true opposition to the Community Councils Act. Our objections to the act are many. Mainly, it was not intended to set up autonomous local authorities for black urban areas. It was not. It was intended primarily to set up another group of advisory boards, just like the Urban Bantu Councils, who might, with the passage of time, be given certain powers to control some aspects of their own lives. We also object because the scheme is designed to liaise as a communication link between the homeland governments and urban blacks. The act itself says that there would be representatives for the homeland governments in the urban councils. The final objection was that the scheme was to be ethnically based (which .

it

is not,

.

.

now).

The debates which led to the passage of the Community Councils Act, which read in Hansard, show that the intention was not to create what we wanted. We went to them and said, 'This is not what we want. We want an autonomous local authority, a City Council, not this nonsense you are talking about.' When Thebehali sings the praises of the system shake my head. I

I

88 Dr Ntatho Motlana. Chairman of Soweto's Committee of Ten

.

CHIEF GATSHA BUTHELEZI

AND

INKATHA Mr Vorster and

I

are the two individuals most intimately involved in

the country's political struggle.

Buthelezi,

Prime

in

1978 before

Vorster's resignation as Minister of South Africa

Jabulani Stadium, 14 March 1978. Thirty-five thousand people assembled, the largest

crowd

in

Soweto's

Many

history.

them came by bus from other

of

black areas. Buthelezi approaches the microphone, clenched

fist aloft,

and bellows

into

the crowd:

'Amandla!' The answer

comes

like

the rumble of an earthquake:

'Awethu!'

Again he bellows and again the crowd. Then 'Matla!'

And

in

Sotho:

the roared response:

'Aruna!'*

'My dear sons and daughters Africa, in the

name

of

freedom

.

of Africa.

I

greet you

in

the

name

of

Mother

.

'Black nationalism will yet be recognised as a determining power

in

the

South Africa. It is a reality which cannot be argued away. The building bricks of black nationalism are abundant and varied. There are ethnic groups, there are tribes, there are trade unions, drama societies, black church groups, student organisations, cultural groups and many others. In all these groups a new spirit is awakening ... a new sense of national consciousness in the heart and soul of South Africa's blacks. 'My message to you is that history has overtaken apartheid. There is hope for the future. Justice will triumph and you will be given the chance to participate in the building of a better South Africa. 'In all the corners of the land blacks are discovering that they are shaking off the dependence mentality and this philosophy has found expression in the formation of Inkatha yeNkululeko ye Sizwe. 'In Inkatha people come together. It is a movement of ordinary men and women from ordinary walks of life, as you see here today. As this movement gains momentum we will produce a groundswell which will effect change in politics of

*

Amandla

is

'power'

in

Zulu,

Awethu

or

Ngawethu means

'is

ours';

Matla

is

power'

in

Sotho, Aruna

means

is

ours'

90 Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, President of Inkatha

.

South Africa. Of this am absolutely certain.' Two hours later he reached his powerful crescendo: 'Afrika Mahle. God bless Africa. Goo bless her children. Strength in the struggle. Hope for the future. Power is ours. Amandla!' 'Ngawethu! howled the Zulus. I

'Mafia!'

'Aruna!' roared the Sothos. In the Sowetan context Buthelezi and his Inkatha yeNkululeko yeSizwe, of which he is President, rivals Dr Ntatho Motlana for leadership of the urban blacks. Inkatha is at the moment masquerading as a cultural movement, but could change to a political force rivalling the Nationalist party. In Soweto Inkatha is supported by the older people, and the hostel Zulus. The Zulus are the largest ethnic group, not only in Soweto, but in the whole of South Africa, and Inkatha has at least 150 000 card-carrying members. A German survey conducted by the Arnold-Bergstrasser Instituut before and after the 1976 Soweto riots concluded that 'Inkatha occupies a key role in the future orientation of the urban black population... The outstanding phenomenon in black urban politics is without a doubt Gatsha Buthelezi not only is he alone of all homeland leaders a national political figure, but over and above this he is THE political figure of black South Africa.' 40,3% of his supporters among urban blacks are not Zulus. On 25 May 1978 Buthelezi commented in the Rand Daily Mail on thirty .

years of Nationalist

.

rule:

'When the Nationalists were elected in 1948, it was in those days quite fashionable to talk about die swart gevaar, and about 'Keeping the kaffir in his place'. Die wit man moet altyd die baas wees and so on. 'Apartheid was therefore formulated to do just that, no more and no less. A lot of diplomatic fripperies, such as "separate development" and "separate .

.

.

nationhoods" and "separate freedom" have not changed the original intent. Today, faced by an avalanche of attacks on the policy, the Afrikaner is arming himself to the teeth, believing that this is the only way he can maintain his domination But the unrest of 1976 and 1977 has indicated how inAfrikaner security can only be secure the Afrikaner is in spite of his guns guaranteed if the security of eighty percent of the population is guaranteed. Afrikaner freedom will remain a phantom as long as the majority of the popu.

.

.

.

.

.

lation of this country is not free. 'In the final analysis it is not the gun in the Afrikaner's hand which can guarantee freedom and security for him. It is security and freedom which can only be achieved around the conference table, which can guarantee security and freedom for all.

92

This cannot be guaranteed through a policy based on the balkanisation of South Africa. After thirty years only two so-called independent states exist, which no one in the international community recognises. The model state of the apartheid policy, Transkei, has today no diplomatic relations with South Africa, who mothered the Transkei from her womb of apartheid. 'So the trick to be rid of so many millions of blacks does not work. It can never work. The violence which already erupted can only be defused by black participation in real decision making and by giving blacks their fair share

of the

wealth of the country.

have not taken place, the Afrikaner will never years at the helm of our afneither secure nor truly free.'

'As long as these two things

have true security or be fairs,

the Afrikaner

is

truly free. In spite of thirty

93

MARXISM / dismiss as absolute nonsense the claim that the Soweto riots were marxist-inspired. You will find people in Soweto who are marxists, as

most communities - the eggheads who speak about the 'isms'. A university students go through communist stages, idealism which evaporates in the outside world. They become more catholic when they join the mainstream of material life - gone is their

in

lot of

idealism.

Zwelakhe

Rand

Sisulu, Political reporter on the

Daily Mail

and Soweto resident

many thousands of youngsters have left, many have come back voluntarily, and some who have been trained by communists have come back and are now cooperating with the police. They have been disillusioned. Bitterly so. There are, however, many thoroughly indoctrinated marxists who have come back with revolutionary ideas and they form the

'Since the riots

young

common

most countries today. Like the Palestinian Gang and others of that ilk. Anarchists. They are not only anti-white, but anti-establishment, whatever that establishment might be. They hope that by creating complete disorder they will give birth to a new order. Fortunately they are a small percentage of Sowetans. Whether or not their numbers will grow, don't know. This will depend on what is done to build bridges between black and white and between black parents and their children.' According to the Arnold-Bergstrasser Instituut report on black attitudes in South Africa a majority of urban blacks showed that they supported a liberal democracy. The non-democrats came mainly from the lower income and education groups and from people with strong homeland or ethnic ties. The higher the professional position, the better the job, the more urbanised, the looser the tribal ties, the more numerous were the democrats. The report lunatic fringe,

in

Liberation Movement, the Bader-Meinhof

I

stated:

who feel more peaceable from fear and impotthe more democratic a black South African is, the more he demands rights and the more ready he is to struggle for them by non-peaceful

The non-democrats

are the poorer, the less educated, those

strongly politically powerless,

ence

.

.

.

political

in

short those

means.'

A Soweto businessman

says, 'People in Soweto as a general rule do not isms of politics. The intellectuals do perhaps. All the others want is freedom from oppression, to take part in the set-up, with land tenure, free enterprise for all men, to own land where and as they can afford to. They interpret the

94

if they had those things. under communism, capitalism or whatever ism, is to develop land we can own, educate our children to gear them up to the highest levels where opportunity is not based on colour but on ability, a meritocracy with opportunity to acquire meritable qualities.' 'We seek the essence of what democracy should be without apartheid. The blacks have tasted plutocracy, autocracy and democracy under the feudal tribal system where there was a certain part of the land that had to be tilled by every man for the king, but at the same time every man was in the council and had his say. The black man has had all the ideologies in one package tribal society', says Fats Dibeco, musician. Actor David Phetoe agrees with him: 'Marxism as Karl Marx envisaged is like unfortunately democracy, but not practicable; we the Nats turned the applecart. We want to own our own land, our houses, ourselves. We want legitimate rights and freedom of choice - we don't care about the isms. We are, when we can afford it, prepared to pay for the right to choose schools for

would 'All

fight for the

we

want, be

country it

it

our children. 'The aspirations of the poor man are no different from mine and am not a poor man. The poor man's opportunities are simply more limited than mine your ambitions can only expand to encompass the environment in which you live. That's why we have 9' x 10' rooms in Soweto - so we don't get ambitious to want a swimming pool!' 'Soweto has become terribly stagnant. People are bored and they don't even know what to do with their time. Apathy arises from a sense of overwhelming futility. These people have no roots, no certainty of tomorrow. The kids, our kids we educate now, they can't always get jobs when they leave school and university, but we gotta just keep on keeping on and hoping. Education is the key. A cabbage can't think and change things. But tell you I

.

.

.

I

Soweto - a great big cabbage patch. People are giving up, vegetating. We are just a mass of people moving from nowhere to nowhere, very busy doing nothing. And is in this

there

is

a

cabbage

mentality springing up

in

it

situation that

new

ideologies, like marxism, might get a grip.'

Dr Cornelius 'Kees' van der Pol, group managing director of the Huletts Corporation, and a member of the Prime Minister's Scientific Advisory Council, wrote in 1978 that 'nowhere has a political ideology survived which is in conflict with the basic principles of a strong

terprise cannot survive unless

we

economy. Our system

of free

en-

abolish racial discrimination'.

'Marxism for a guy like myself in South Africa,' comments a Sowetan who has climbed to the top in the white business word, 'a guy my age, of my social and business position, is out. And would also say that the majority of people in South Africa, no matter who they are, are capitalists. But marxism I

95

can appear particularly attractive as a shotgun solution - the man who has We have only to dissect the system as nothing, has nothing to lose by stands here to see its inequity. There's nothing to be said for democracy as practised here, except that it is undemocratic. There are lists and lists of discriminatory Bantu - plural if you like - legislation. So marxism becomes attractive. We will level everything out and become equal, the marxists say. In it.

practice, of course, this

96

is

not really so.

it

.' .

AD MAN have not met Andrew Young "personally but was invited to the businessmen's dinner held in Soweto for him while he was here. What he had to say to me was pretty logical. He was saying that the free enterprise system is South Africa's solution agree I

I

I

Lucky breaks are very important. Every black man should struggle and does if you don't have the breaks you've had it. It just happened for me, had the breaks. think that is why am where am today. My family were relatively middle class so to say. My father was a school teacher who became an inspector towards the end of his days. Yes, am probably very middle class. grew up in Sophiatown in very warm family surroundings with three sisters and three brothers. My father died when was thirteen so didn't get to know the man as well as should have, didn't enjoy him as much as could have On the other hand think there would have been differences of opinion between us, strong ones, him being in educastruggle, but

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

.

.

I

.

tion.

feel very strongly about the structure of education in Soweto. had what should be considered normal educational opportunities, but it is still difficult for a black man to have the kind of university education had - that university education has made all the difference for me. went to the University of Cape Town, graduated in 1960 and then went back for another year in 1961 At that time they had this ridiculous act, the Extension of University Education Act, which allowed me and the likes of me to study at Wits, Cape Town and Natal. actually took a Social Science degree and then went to work for a large international company which was at that time very heavy on developing black management. They came to the university to spot what they thought was talent and was 'it'. After a couple of years moved into advertising and that's where I've been ever since. used to be an account executive, but now I'm a black market consultant. In my opinion have the most fun in the agency because deal with all accounts - one moment I'm thinking toilet soap, the next motor cars and working out the strategies, finding ways to get into my end of the market. used to have my own car, but then the company saw fit to give me a car. insisted on an Alfetta, I've always had an Alfetta. I

I

I

I

.

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

97

.

Our home is a pretty normal home. We came up to Soweto from Durban in 1974 and naturally had lots of problems. Accommodation is always a problem for the black man, movement becomes very difficult. Special permission is required under the Bantu Urban Act which states, quite simply, that if you comply with any of three conditions you can live in Soweto in a house. The first condition is that you have been born and lived in Soweto uninterruptedly all your life. The interruption can be only three months and pow go your chances of a house. The second condition is that you have worked, for one employer for ten years. The third is that you have worked for any number of employers but for fifteen years. Much as was born here and bred here, lost my chance by moving to Durban and then coming back. So had to have what we call a 'Ten One B' which states that cannot have a house. got round that, no problem. If you try hard enough you can get round it. My home is in Dube Village had to buy that place. don't own the land, no black man can own land in an urban area, but own the house It is difficult to talk about the black man's situation without talking politics. And the politics is basically cock-eyed. think, without wanting to sound like a radical, that the black man's problem is a simple one. He is prejudiced against by virtue of legislation. Right? And the funny thing about prejudice is that it is natural, in many ways it is absolutely natural. People have the right to be prejudiced. It's an us-and-them situation, natural. But what makes it totally unacceptable is the legislation. The legislation institutionalises prejudice. That's what's wrong in it. It's all very well for me in my situation as an individual, in my job situation. There's no reason why anyone can be prejudiced against me. Too bad if they I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

.

.

I

But the point

when

walk out there, into the street, some other mug out there, some bum, he couldn't care who the hell I am and he pushes me around. And there's a law that supports that. If you're black you're not a whole man. The problems that are hitting the Nats right now, which stem from the Sowetos of the country, are self-created, the government brought them upon itself. And the moves that are being made to abolish petty apartheid are rather tiny and a bit too late. There has been movement, yes, but it's miniscule in proportion to the problems which are large, large, large. The number of blacks who have the skills and qualifications to really do a meaningful piece of work are few. They have been tried, but they just don't are, too bad.

I

couldn't care a

stuff.

is

I

skills because the system is such that they have not been exposed business environment. Much as I want an assistant right now, it's a battle. Sure, there are plenty of guys who think they can handle it, but I know goddam well they can't. So I am going to have to train this man before he be-

have the to the

98

comes

productive.

productive. This

man has

not

is

It's

going

to

take

been exposed

to

maybe two

years before he

becomes

The black the business world because you whites have

a situation that

will

recur a million times

.

.

.

set up screens.

married with three kids - my sons are away at College so we just have with us. We tend to entertain at home, not dinner parties - that sounds too formal - but casual entertaining, chatting, listening to music, and We have a few friends in, a bit of music going if we feel like it we dance. around, a few laughs and that's about it. It's not all that regular. Really for fun we get out of the township, just to have a breather. We shop away from the township, groceries and things. It's cheaper. I'm all for the black traders, I'd like to see them get ahead, but there's no way I'm gonna play Jesus. This is an unfortunate dilemma. So our shopping, which we do once a month, we do in the white suburbs, like Southdale, and avoid the congestion in Joburg itself. Some white is getting all the bread, which I would like to see going into the townships. But it's a basic marketing problem - the black shopowner has all his goods piled up on the shelves behind him, in a tiny shop, and it take me far longer to get my groceries from him. His stocks are limited to space available which brings me to the thorny issue of the proposed new shopping complex outside Soweto. As a consumer I argue that these guys are willing to spend R20 million so They're just deit's going to be, like, a very large, very modern complex. velopers, they're not interested in running the thing, just in collecting rents, so it would be a nice place for us to shop. From the black traders' point of view it ought to be good, with, say two hundred shops filled by black traders. I'm

our

little girl

.

Consumers

.

.

will flock there.

am

sympathetic to as well, the black intelligentsia viewpoint, if you like. There's nothing wrong with the scheme itself, but the fact that it is white capital stinks. It would be easy for the black community to get together and raise that kind of money themselves. I'm sympathetic to the idea of blacks doing things for themselves so they are not beholden. We have to show we can do things for ourselves to establish parity, psychological parity. But there's another viewpoint

I

99

On and around

the station

business was brisk: peanut vendors thugs frisking fellow-travellers

women and a

roasting mielie

cobs

herbalist brooding over a dry root.

Sipho Sepamla 'Pimville Station'

THE BEAT OF Life's

pace has changed

hurried

for the

black

man

in

Soweto.

LIFE

He never

in the tribal past.

mangy horse sways lazily down Bab-bab-bub-bub. Sowetans know the sound and out come the buyers. R2 buys a sack of coal to keep stoves going another week. Children of all ages play soccer in the street, roll old tyres, pull homemade wire carts, bicycles, prams, scattered by occasional beat-up cars bringing in sheebeeners' supply for the evening ahead. A wheelbarrow laden with beer crates leaves one house and disappears into another across the road. A mother with a baby strapped to her back and a tot in tow gathers her washing in a basket from a makeshift line and walks with on her head into Friday mid-afternoon a coal cart drawn by a

the dirt track road.

it

her house.

In

a well-tended front yard a blind

man

stands,

tall,

strong-faced,

head following sound, this way, that way: the coal cart, a child's laughter, his wife coming through the gate and an end to his lonely waiting. Smells. Meat and onions, dust, sulphur dioxide, pungent, choking, thickening, darkening the late afternoon air as more coal fires are lit for the evening meal.

On

game

marabaraba: 'You play with holes in the ground. There are three rows, one for you, one for the other guy and one in the middle which is the firing range. In each hole there are twelve, maybe fifteen stones. The object is to count the stones so fast that when you pick them all out of a hole you drop them one in each hole and your last hole must be in the firing range. If is, you fire against the pawns in your opponent's hole. That is how you win, by shooting down all the pawns.' At the dining room table in a Sotho house another game is played. This one is like draughts. 'You have twelve stones and you set them out like on a draught board and make moves, taking your opponent's stones and so on.' At dusk workers return home. The walking are wary. Tsotsis wait in the shadows knifing and robbing their victims. Trains rumble into stations, stuffed with humanity, freeloaders on the running boards and staffriders on the roofs. The staffriders don't always make it - some are electrocuted on overhead high-tension wires. a corner further along a

of

it

101

move from coach

Inside the trains pickpockets

to coach. 'You can't get so crowded. You're a standing duck, a standing duck. have been robbed twice. Once got off at Naledi station thinking "Now will buy my sister's children something for a present because am their auntie

away from them,

it's

I

I

I

I

and is

it

I

haven't seen them a long time."

gone.

All

my money

it

is

Now

gone and

I

I

look

in

my bag

for

my

wallet

and

never see one person trying to take

it.'

Outside Baragwanath Hospital the sound

homecoming

of

drums and

a

crowd gathers,

going on. An enormous yellow bus is in the centre of all, four go-go girls in bras and out on the bongos. All about fourteen years tutus on top and a chap beating old, advertising something. The time is 5.45 pm and no one is in a hurry to obstructing

traffic.

Drivers get out to see what

is

it

it

move

moment

on. For the

this bit of fun

absorbs them.

Darkness, blanketing darkness because there are no street lights. By nine most of the 102 000 houses are dark inside too. Few candles flicker in the windows, not many walk the streets, cars come and go from shebeens and later return from an evening in the city at the multiracial New York City Club, a theatre, or just window-shopping.

Saturday is shebeen day, shopping day, soccer day. Soweto is really humming because everyone is home and the children are out of school. Jabulani stadium is packed with thirty thousand soccer fans, chess clubs are active, jam sessions and sometimes pop festivals. Some relax at home listening to Radio Bantu, others throng the streets, chatting, laughing, fighting, playing with the children.

Over a garden fence an extraordinary drama is enacted; a tug-of-war between two women over a chicken ends with the chicken dead Seeing the chicken dead, one woman bites off the other woman's finger Amidst the shrieking police arrive and there will be a court case later Sunday is still shebeen day for some, church day for others. Nine hundred sectarian and historic churches hold their services at various points all over Soweto, pockets of bold colour: white, blue, green; green and white; red, black and white, stand out in the veld and the sound of singing fills the air. Monday brings the workaday world again - the white man's workaday world. 'South African whites generally expect the black to behave in a prepackaged way. Every time he steps out of the package he is packed back, received with embarrassment or ignored.' Yet Soweto

carbon copy

is

of

the birthplace of a

new

globally unique society,

no mere

western culture, but pure Sowetan, drawing on institutions

and rituals from tribal and western cultures and mutating them which is neither, but retains strong elements of both.

into a culture

103 Staffrider electrocuted

by overhead wires on

his last free ride

.

Sowetans are

They occupy a new space

South African South Africa who is successful in white business is in a new space, so he must be a little uncertain sometimes of who he is. how to behave, where he stands in relation to his own blacks and the whites he works with. It's a difficult role. He is a "sell-out" if he seems to adopt white man's ways, yet he knows he is primarily black and so do other black men. We do not desert our own easily. The Sowetan urban black is urban through and through and can relax in his role compared to the Rhodesian black who is definitely different. He is more conservative, more upright, stiffer in an English sense, especially if he find his behaviour more white English than black. His manners is educated. for instance, too refined, not loose. Always in jacket and tie. always straight. He wears his urban personality like a neat but ill-fitting coat. The older generation of blacks in this country, who learned from the very colonial English are like that too. Colonial. Malawians are like that, even the young, parting their hair which we don't do. Life's pace has changed for the black man in Soweto. He never hurried in the tribal past. But demands of modern living mean constant haste. Tension. Stress. So he is falling prey to the white man's stress diseases: suicide, heart transcultural.

society. 'The urban black

man

in

in

-

I

ailments, ulcers.

'When

was an

1966 says Dr Cristo van den Heever at Baragwablack suicide. Now we see one or two attempted suicides. In the past three months there have been at least three. Youngsters of sixteen, seventeen, young girls after fights with boyfriends. And when was a student we hardly saw coronary artery disease. In 1966 we saw one at Bara. Since then there has been a steady increase in the number. We see about one a month, twelve a year. An analysis of the type of black who has a coronary shows a close correlation to the white who has a coronary. Overweight, heavy-smoking, high saturated fat intake, stressful job. The upper middle class executive is the man who has coronaries Until the 1930s there were no reported cases of ulcers among blacks at all. In the early '40s one or two appeared. In 1966 we saw three or four a year. Now we see one a week. The type of black that gets an ulcer is an overseer, foreman, a man in charge. Young men. eighteen to thirty, in tough jobs, develop duodenal ulcers, just like in England ninety years ago when the factory foremen of the Industrial Revolution got ulcers and the labourers never I

nath Hospital,

intern in

we never saw

I

did.

'Hypertension

is

stressful situation in

also present

which a man

among lives

blacks in Soweto due both to the and works and to too much salt in the

diet sometimes.'

Old and new co-exist 104

in

Soweto. Old are traditional practices

of ritual cir-

cumcision, lobolo, the makgotla and sangomas. The Church is both tribal and western. New are shebeens and stokvels, the urban way of life, the changing role of women, the artistic output of the people in theatre, music, writing, painting

and sculpture.

105

m A

f

•

rrr^ :!

vWa

r^

1

iiiUJiiu&f

*&isw-

i^>

P

%

.

MAN

IMPUMPUTHE, THE BLIND these eyes

damned and wading

in

a

glimmer

miraging a red heart trapped

in

despair

Mongane Wally Serote No Baby Must Weep

to find work again now am blind? When was workmade R38 a week as a clerk, that was R152 a month, and my wife, teaching, made R140. We had enough money then, not enough to save, but we had money for clothing and food and a few other things too. At Baragwanath Hospital they told me must come every day to the school there to learn braille. did go there in July school holidays and my wife could take me and know my braille now. They said then that should learn typing

How am

I

every going

ing in town

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

and

other things. Thereafter they will see what they can do for me, to get

me

a job.

have no one to take me there when my wife is cannot go. need someone only to take me there. The hospital will bring me back, but will not fetch me. learned braille in two weeks only, but can't read it fast, though am getting used to it. would be very far now, you know, if could have gone to the hospital every day. You see, if someone takes me there, that someone must But the difficulty

is that

I

teaching, during the school term, so

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

also take trouble to lead

me

all

the

way through

the hospital corridors to the

department where the classes are held. People don't have time. But is it true that should not get any compensation from the government because my wife earns more than R100 a month? can't see to read the documents to find out if this is true. It is what the social worker has told me, but am worried she was looking at an old government gazette and not the newest one At the hospital they could not tell me why am blind. didn't go blind at work, so don't get workman's compensation or anything like that. It is a very I

I

I

.

.

I

I

I

strange thing that I am blind. At St. John's Eye Hospital they saw nothing wrong with my eyes - they say everything is normal. Then they sent me to a neurologist who found everything quite normal. had a brain scan and it was normal. Yet I am blind, am blind. They gave me a course of ten injections. Still could not see and they I

I

I

107

.

said, 'No,

My

we

We don't know what is wrong.' good before - was a kardex clerk for seven

can't help you.

eyesight was

years,

I

could see

oh yes,

and a

could see very well February first signs, June clear signs. 1976 nothing in my eyes, March After June used some glasses. But my sight was getting lost very fast. was totally, totally blind. No disease, but felt some After twelve months movement in my head around that time. Not pain, no headache, just a movement of the blood vessels or something, some tension of some sort. Of course this money, my wife's R140, is not enough for us to live on, with four children at home and two to pay for schooling in Natal. If could get the old man pension, R40 every two months, that would help a lot. feel am an old man now. can find my way around the house, can go off to the toilet; it is not so difficult, can go round my yard. But not to a shebeen to drink. drink ocam blind, so am defenceless. Against casionally, here at my own table. mean. I would not see them coming if went out to a shebeen and I tsotsis, was leaving in the dark But I'm not wishing to sit here all day. want to go and learn at Baragwaam not happy, it is not pleasant. nath. It is not natural, this sitting all day, filing clerk for six.

I

well,

I

.

.

.

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

.

.

I

I

have during the day is to practise braille and try to read my braille books. But when it is holidays my son or my wife will take me again to the hospital and I will learn again.

Just lonely, lonely. All

108

I

TRADITION We in Soweto are not always in agreement with one another about retaining tribal institutions in our society. So it is a matter of each to his own.

Sales

manager

is traditionally practised by some ethnic groups and not and there are too in Soweto those who traditionally did have to attend {he abaKhwetha, the circumcision school (the Dark School, Donker Skool, the Afrikaners call it), but have chosen in the urban setting to abandon the practice. Traditionally the Southern Sothos and Xhosas, and Shangaans go to circumcision school; Tswanas do not and the Zulus abandoned the practice in Shaka's time, though they are still circumcised, but not at the school.' A Xhosa mother, whose child traditionally would attend the abaKhwetha think is nonsays, 'My child was circumcised when he was six months. sense to wait and send him to the abaKhwetha. Those are the old ways, not

Ritual circumcision

others,

I

for

it

now, not here.'

Baragwanath Hospital 'we have many requests for circumcision. Ngunis must be circumcised to be acceptable in society. If a young man has not been circumcised and decides to marry and start his family he will come to the hospital to have it done because his woman will not accept him otherwise. He is not a man. We do the op here and afterwards he goes away to At

celebrate with his friends.

'We do get cases here of sepsis from the Donker Skools - whenever an op done under septic as opposed to antiseptic or aseptic conditions there is risk. Most of the young men are fit and healthy and can withstand the sepsis. But now and again we have a serious case, but the people who do the ritual circumcisions are extremely skilled. think is one of the traditions which will remain in urban society.' A Southern Sotho father explains, 'Immediately a boy or girl is circumcised, traditionally, he or she is initiated into the tribe, achieving manhood or womanhood. It is something very respected by our people. The school lasts from six to nine months, life there is very hard, and pupils are taught everyis

I

it

thing pertaining to the tribe; their lineage, praise words, the

lot.

109

The

tribal

elders instruct them

the tribal past, tales of old glories,

in

droughts, wars. There are no circumcision schools here children are sent from here to the session, which

is

not every year.

in

Soweto, but our

homelands to the schools when they are in Some nowadays are circumcised at Barag-

wanath.'

Lobolo or bride price is still paid in Soweto, but has undergone change from traditional practice. 'People have come to think a man must pop out everything for his bride in lobolo cattle and money. But it is not really an

economic lobolo

for

transaction.

my

wife

I

It

was

is

a traditional, cultural transaction.

When

I

paid

becoming part of my family and of on a good footing. Thank you, her parents

saying, "You are

The relationship must start up my wife." the traditional exchange there has

yours.

I

for bringing In

to

be blood, there has

to

be slaugh-

If lobolo is not paid a girl might feel insecure, like an obligation not fulfilled. And another thing, a mothernot someone to joke about, something funny, like she is in white

tering, a goat, whatever. living out of marriage,

in-law

is

society.

suggested by the bride's parents that you don't have to lobola then do so. But the suggestion must come from them.' Occasional legal malpractice occurs in lobolo exchange too. This man, the father of my wife he is too bad, very bad. Now pay R120 for my wife, we agreed long time, and he wants more. say no, give back the wife and he must give me my money back. Then find out he has six daughters and he marries them all off for lobolo, then makes trouble so they can divorce and he can marry them off again. can do nothing. This man is dangerous. He can kill me. He has killed others already who argue with him.' 'If

it's

it

is

alright not to

I

I

I

I

I

The seat

makgotla, the self-styled semi-tribal courts, is Naledi. in Soweto. Manthata is the leader, and in a branch in Meadowlands, the leader is Madipere. Some consider the makgotla outmoded, barbaric, practising a one-sided justice. 'If a wife complains her husband is drunk again the makgotla will go out and flog him from his house to their headquarters, sjambok him in public without even hearing his side of the story.' Sophie Tema, Post journalist says, 'They are using tribal methods. We have commissioner's offices which do deal with domestic problems here in Soweto, problems between the urban housewife and her husband is unnecessary to take your problems to the makgotla. Floggings in public, brutal. People pay fines to them. What do they do with that money? don't care for them. They deal with domestic problems - "My husband kicked me again", "He locked me out of the house", "I had a fight with my neighbour" or "Somebody's child came into my yard and stole", and so on. Even children are flogged publicly. of the

It

I

111

'They are a bunch of thugs.

Numbers

people have been injured and killed justice. The police say they cannot accept their methods of

by them. They call it and there is a plan for Community Guards to run in conjunction with the Community Council. As soon as these are brought in the makgotla should fall away. During the riots some of them were the victims of arson attacks.' Some people find the makgotla useful: 'My niece died two months ago. Now before could bury her had to send the body to the homelands and arranged this through the makgotla. They informed the chief for me and he called the whole village together and the grave diggers went out to dig her grave after the body had arrived and remained in a house for the night vigil. The makgotla are good for that kind of thing.' I

Sangomas

I

I

are on the increase

them with

Soweto. There are more than

in

thriving practices. 'As the pressure of

modern

five

hundred

increases they play an ever more important role as psychologists, treating psychological as opposed to psychiatric ailments. Many are schizophrenics. There are of

living

which have produced sangomas for generations and then families which have not, until one member has a cataclysmic, schizophrenic experience and announces that he or she has been called. For long periods these latter are very normal and intelligent. Often they are are used as mediums between the ancestral spirits and the people. When in a trance they speak in tongues.' This is the opinion of a white doctor at Baragwanath Hospital. 'From an intellectual point of view, as an educated black man, though go can accept that a herbalist has a role to to a medical doctor when I'm ill, play as an unorganised pharmacist who obtains drugs from their natural sources. From roots, leaves, berries. Similarly a sangoma can act as a psychologist to a person whose whole upbringing, whose whole universe, hinges on the unknown and the unknowable and therefore has a valuable two types

of calling, the families

I

I

role to play.

was brought up in another world where the have not been there. norm was the western way, where there never was a role for the sangoma, never for the herbalist. But I'm the last guy to condemn them though of some are quacks.' course Credo Mutwa, witchdoctor and author of Indaba My Children says. 'A witchdoctor is really a priest beyond all material differences between peoples. We have the good ones, the iziNyanga, the sangomas, who are also diviners. In Soweto we even have people who call themselves prophets who use the methods of old Africa in the Christian context. Where a sangoma 'But

I

I

.

divines with bones, they divine with the Bible. 'The bad, the Baloyi, Abathakati, the sorcerers

112

who commit

.

.

ritual

murder,

things, are the people we have been fighting for centuThere are those who serve the forces of good and those who serve the

who do unspeakable ries.

forces of

evil.

'Bones of divination are overstressed. An iNyanga can use over a hundred forms of divination - clouds, birds wheeling in the air, sound, divining by striking bits of metal and analysing the sound. Even the intestines of an animal can be used. 'Although in Soweto we wear suits, skins no longer, our spirits still have that clinging to the old things. Our minds are different from the white man's. He cannot really learn this witchcraft from us. White psychologists cannot penetrate the African mind as easily as a witchdoctor can. So can no African really penetrate the mind of a white man.' According to a Sowetan mother, 'the sangoma in the next five to ten years think, because urbanised people lack will not be very popular. That is what faith in sangomas. Even the ordinary person, not only the intelligentsia, is beginning to lose faith. It was proved a few months ago when those children were missing from their homes and it was discovered they were victims of ritual murders. Organs from their bodies were used in medicines by sorcerers. Until now the sangomas have failed to solve the murders. If they were as good as they profess to be, why have they not done so? Already we lose I

faith.'

113

ft rt ' S J

4^