I am the last person who will ever say I benefitted nothing from this government. Sure, I was raised in a shack under difficult circumstances; started in an incompetent primary school in the township; experienced the pain of being turned away by a private hospital (Tshepo Themba) which was the closest near my home, after accidentally stepping on rusted nails in zone 9, and now live with the permanent consequence of skew legs and tortured movement and so on and so forth. But I think over all, I am a good story to tell. There are few Black children who have had the kinds of opportunities I have been afforded. 20 years ago, people only left the country when fleeing to exile. Today, I have been to more than 20 countries in 4 different continents, by choice. 20 years ago, people were being killed for political associations. I openly helped establish and mobilise for an EFF that seeks to contest state power with a popular governing party. In spite of this, I can still have the Deputy President of our country, an ANC leader, the same party I want contested by EFF, reviewing my book and treating me with respect. 20 years ago my people had to subordinate themselves to be able to bear the exclusivitism of White dominated universities. Today, I am able to look a White HOD in the face and demand that my paper be remarked because my lecturer marked with emotions. 20 years ago books by cheeky kaffirs were being banned. 20 years later, this cheeky Darkie has written one and it is published by one of the biggest publishers in the country. So I cannot, in all honesty, claim that I benefitted nothing. My argument therefore is not that 1994 changed fokol, it is that this must be every Black childs story, not just Malaikas. I am saying opportunities must not be afforded to a few of us as if we are these exceptional people, because we are actually not. I am saying the measure of a good story is not in how nicely it is told, but in how many people tell it. I am saying no Black person is truly successful until the Black nation itself is succesful. I am saying Black millionaires are not a good story to tell when millions of Blacks perish in poverty, unemployment and destitution. And I am saying Afrikas cause can only triumph when Blacks have their dignity back; their land and their economy. It is only when we live in dignity that we can truly claim to have a good story to tell. Until then, this story remains incomplete and so we must write more chapters of it, edit it where necessary, change parts of it where needed and polish it properly...until our good story is a book and not just a few chapters and paragraphs...
Posted on: Wed, 07 May 2014 18:44:18 +0000