LAST Monday, while the world celebrated Nelson Mandela International Day, two men were brutally beaten to death in Kayamandi, a township in Stellenbosch.
The vigilante attacks were led by a group of taxi drivers and a few residents as part of their door-to-door "Operation Gqogqa" (cleaning out) search for alleged criminals. The "cleansing" continued over the next few days until the police arrived to patrol the area.
Four severely injured residents were hospitalised. Dreading further indiscriminate attacks, young men fled the area. A foreboding fear permeates this distressed community located in the heart of a town famous for its wines. These incidents were largely unreported in the media.
Last month, two boys were tied up and brutally beaten at the local taxi rank. Shocked commuters watched helplessly, terrified to object or come to the boys’ rescue. Others were indifferent or thought the actions justified the alleged misdemeanour. A short distance away, unconcerned with the alarming scene unfolding, a political party exuberantly campaigned for the local government elections.
As Mandela Day symbolises human rights, social justice, freedom and dignity, the day serves as our collective conscience and consciousness of the challenges that historically marginalised communities such as Kayamandi continue to bear.
Kayamandi (derived from the Xhosa words "khaya”, home and "mnandi", nice, pleasant, sweet) or “sweet home” was established as a black location in 1941. It is the second oldest township after Langa in the Western Cape.
Kayamandi, like many other townships, has high levels of unemployment, crime, housing shortages, social ills such as alcohol, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy, and the lack of basic services such as sanitation.
In the midst of the despair, a Kayamandi resident has taken to heart Mandela’s call: "It is in your hands to make of our world a better one for all."
Shirley Molefi, a mother of three teenagers, had a life-changing dream in 2013:
“In my dream a voice directs me to one of my colleagues carrying a vase of water, and the other a tray of seeds. I plant the seeds along the road from the airport and I am led to a stadium packed with people, singing.
"I turn to look behind me and the seeds have become people, they are singing, calling out at me to do something. I feel helpless. I ask the voice: ‘What do I do?’. The voice answered: ‘There will be people to help you’. I realised I had to do something, people need me out there. This is not an environment I want to raise my kids in.”
Shirley decided to focus on the youth. Her first initiative was to form a soccer team. In August 2013, she set up trials at the NY 49 sportsfield in Gugulethu. Radio Zibonele assisted her with announcing the event. Aspirant players from Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha and Kayamandi participated in the trials.
Her vision of Molefi Sports Academy was born. Over the past few years, she has formed an Under 17 team based in Philippi and a seniors team in Kayamandi.
Until recently, Shirley was a parking operations manager at the Cape Town International Airport. She is highly resourceful. Guided by her vision of creating opportunities for youth in sports, she boldly approached Members of Parliament (MPs) and even the minister of sport at the airport for support. She has arranged soccer matches between her team and the MPs in Acacia Park in Goodwood. The MPs donated sport equipment to the team. She has applied for NPO registration with the Department of Social Development.
“My dream is to build an academy that will serve as a sports centre at which a number of indoor and outdoor sporting activities are provided to children in Kayamandi. I want to create an alternative environment for the children to grow their potential rather than drugs, alcohol and crime that are killing their future. We don’t have facilities. The soccer teams in Kayamandi play on a ground that is terrible with no stands for fans, while the municipality’s soccer stadium remains unused. I would love my team to progress to the Vodacom league.
“As mothers, we are the ones who feel the pain when our children are hurt. We are the ones who ask God to give us these children. God gave us these beautiful children, and we have never dreamed that they will one day be called ‘skollies’. They are our princes and princesses and our presidents, but now if they are killed like flies, it kills us as we don’t have power to fight back. It is very painful. That’s why I can’t sit back and watch. I have to do something. We are drowned with crime. We need help.”
To celebrate Women's Day on August 9, together with the Santos Football Club, Shirley is planning a seven-a-side soccer tournament with 12 teams.
In a grim landscape of despondency, Shirley actively inspires hope among the youth: “The youth in my community don’t care any more. I have to stand up. I try to change their mindsets. If you come from a rural background or if you are born in a shack, you must dream like you stay in a mansion, then you go far. The players feel proud to belong to a team and it lifts their spirits when people donate T-shirts and equipment. They are passionate. They are determined; they don’t give up, even though they know I have no money.
"We still need proper soccer kits and volunteer coaches. Parents of players are very grateful that I have formed the soccer teams. Sports can unify us.”
She laments the death of the team’s goalkeeper, stabbed in Kayamandi last December, for objecting to his killer carrying a knife. Grief-stricken by the events of the past week, she reflects: “It is not a solution to kill, you cannot correct a wrong with another wrong.
"As a community, we need to understand where the problem lies with the high crime rate and unemployment and their causes. We should involve the police and not take the law into our hands. There are institutions like the courts and Correctional Services. We as parents need to stand together and say enough is enough.
"My children and I live with my sister in the section with shacks. We have to share taps and toilets with other families. It is very unhygienic, it is not clean at all, not healthy, diseases breed. We need help. There has been no change since 1994. I mean it is 22 years, still no changes. The political parties are campaigning now, but after the elections you won’t see anyone here.
"We are in a crisis. We need solutions. My appeal to government is to provide more facilities and activities for the people. I also appeal to people to care, they don’t care any more.”
Since the early 1900s, the destiny of Kayamandi and its people has been deeply rooted in the political economy of Stellenbosch and the Western Cape. Generations suffered and struggled against the dominant public policy of racial separation and the reversal of black urbanisation, through the quota system, forced removals and influx control.
The single most dominant issue in Kayamandi’s history over the past century has always been housing, according to researcher David Rock. The pride and dignity of belonging and having a home to call their "sweet home" still eludes the people of Kayamandi.
As Mandela reminds us: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no freedom.”
For a comprehensive the history of Kayamandi, see David Rock’s Master's thesis. http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/17830