That some comrades are “eating’’ while others are starving cannot be justified, says Thembile Ndabeni.
Cape Town - Human beings have feelings, and have the desire to see their lives becoming better and not only watching others doing well. This is the reason why people sacrificed their lives for the freedom of this country. Some sacrificed their youth, while their age-mates enjoyed themselves.
When the struggle for liberation was fought on all fronts, there were no qualifications that were required. And it was never said that it was only a handful or a selected few and their families that would benefit, a bequest of certain people. The Struggle was for everybody to be free from the yoke of national oppression and class exploitation.
This is because people in South Africa were oppressed as a nation, and exploited as a class. Obviously, that Struggle was waged more by the down-trodden, the poorest of the poor. I am referring to the people who had nothing to lose but their bondage to both apartheid and capitalism.
After the Struggle was over, and all South Africans voted, expectations were high and based on the promises that were made during the Struggle, negotiations, voting and after the ruling party took over. It is understandable that some promises were flawed because they were based on inexperience, but others were based on rhetoric and propaganda. Wishful thinking is another factor as well.
Things happened after 1994, some justifiable, others not. That everything could not be done immediately after 1994 or after 20 years of democracy is justifiable. But that some are “eating’’ while others are starving cannot be justified even by the most brilliant person in this world over.
The whole insult to the “Poor Ordinary Political Activists (Popas)” started with the beginning of integration of armies in 1994, noting Standard 10 as a requirement, but when people left the country in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to join liberation armies, no such requirements were wanted. These are young and old who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of this country. Some, being breadwinners and future breadwinners, left their destitute families behind.
Even after coming back, there was no change in their families’ situation. Come to think of it, them coming with nothing and getting nothing for their sacrifice. Instead, they became burdens to their families. Yet, on the other hand, some who never made a contribution at all are living luxurious lives. These Popas suffer and die abandoned for many reasons. Besides the physical damage or harm they suffered, there is a psychological and mental one.
These people suffered from both the internally and externally caused trauma. Internally, they either saw their fellow “comrades-in-arms, fellow fighters” being maimed and tortured by the authorities in the camps. Therefore, they are psychologically or mentally bruised or damaged. Was there ever an attempt towards healing them from this? I don’t remember.
A cherry on top of the “bitter cake” was not looking after their well-being in general, job or financial support to those unemployed and the unemployable. The latter is the result of having no school, qualifications, and more because of their army track-record, generally still perceived as “terrorists”.
The same applies to the “inxiles”, of whom some never worked or could not be employed as a result of their political involvement. I am not referring to an exercise done to a few, elite, or affordability, but to those less equal than the others though, all are equal.
As a result, some are mentally disturbed. Others died being nothing and buried by their families. On the other hand, families of other “comrades” are benefiting, given “big funerals “more than the Popas. That is a shame, an insult to the Popas, and they are also a joke to the reactionaries who saw them as fools when they joined the Struggle.
In the end, these Popas become paupers because of their destitution.
* Thembile Ndabeni is a freelance writer. He has Master’s degree in South African politics and political economy from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
Cape Times