Vaal Hearings

Tell us something about yourself- your childhood and how you got involved in politics or political resistance.

I’m originally from Barberton; it’s a small town in Mpumalanga. We were like more in a small town not exposed to any political activity, not exposed to any of the difficulty in the South African sight at that point in time. We were leading a “normal life”. The Barberton school didn’t offer any science subjects. Many of us who wanted to pursue in the medical field or further our studies we had to come to another school where they offered maths or science. I chose to come to Lenasia and I completed my matric in Lense High, Lenasia Secondary High School and that’s when I got exposed to some of the political activities. In school we were involved in the normal school boycotts with regards to some of the activities at school but that’s just part of going with the masses, I didn’t really understand what I was doing I just followed the groups but as we got involved and started discussing things I got exposed to some of the political activities in Grams town. Our first year at university in 1980, I think it was the first year when Zimbabwe got independence that’s when we got much more involved in political activity and also addressing some of course because with them having independence we also thought now our activity had to increase and that’s when I got much more involved in political activity. I was part of the students body there not a active member but just a participant in some of that activities and that’s when I became more conscious of the issues in politics and got involved with some of the activities in the “townships” for providing some assistance towards the children in some schools, particularly math’s and science we gave tuition to the kids in the weekends and also they used to come to us for help during exam times. So that was basically up to where I started getting involved. And then when I returned to Johannesburg I got a job to work at Saloojee’s Pharmacy, I studied pharmacy. So when I got back to Lense I worked at Saloojees pharmacy done my internship then. I got involved with a group of people at Wits, that’s when I continued my political activity. When I was at Rhodes I met Farid Essak, Moulana Farid Essak, that’s when I saw the association between the political activity and my Islamic beliefs. That’s when there was no conflict for me between my Islamic beliefs and the political activities and he sort of, with his influence, I got much more attracted towards some of the inactivity’s during that period at varsity. When I came back here he was involved with some of the students at Wits and that’s how I got involved with some of the Wits students in some of the political activity there. That’s basically how I got involved in some of the politics.

What was the most significant event which you can recall during the time as an apartheid activist?

There’s so many but ill give you the things that were involved in the call of Islam. Farid Essak started the call of Islam. In Cape Town base grouping and they expanded there activities in that time the Transvaal Region. We as a small group, if I count in Lense we were about ten people, but we got involved in producing a number of pamphlets highlighting all the activities (I can’t remember all the activities but some of the things that were relevant at that time). So we created just by giving out some pamphlets, organizing mass meetings, that I’m talking about a grouping of ten people in Lense. Then we created another grouping in Benoni and another one in Pretoria (Laudium). We managed in that to distribute pamphlets in those areas. And I think some of the activities we used to do, he used to live behind somebody’s house there was a room and in that room all the activities started and a number of times I think we were exposed to some of the challenges from the cops that time. There were some rumors that somebody told the cops that that’s where all the activities take place and a number of times these guys came to try to arrest us or try to check up on what we were doing and fortunately each time we got away in time. And those were some of the interesting parts when you evaded the cops, the rush and adrenaline rushes those were the good times. When you look back you think it was nice but if you got caught it would have been a different story.

Did you have secret ways of communicating with people?

Not so much my self but my other friend, Yusuf Akalwaya, he was part of our grouping and we were unaware that he was involved in Imkonto in Lense, he tried to involve us indirectly sending us massages in bottles and we thought it’s a trap from the security to see if we were involved. So I ignored it couple of times only afterwards did we realize that those were his ways of trying to tell us do you want to get involved in Imkonto and by the time we got to know about in he died in a bomb blast. But his involvement, he had quite a few contacts in Botswana and I think in Labia.

Did you ever have a run in with the law at that time?

Yes, I think not that time but in the days of Tricamoral parliament in Lense there was the hype of activity in the Tricamoral elections and many people that were there. And that time we had quite a few run-ins with the cops and even with the people that were standing there. Even during that time on of the bombings here we didn’t know that time but later on we got to know it was Yusuf and Prekesh involved that time.

5. On reflection do you think that your sacrifice was worth the effort?

I regret I couldn’t do much more. When I look back I think I could have did much more, but because of the family’s concern about our activities we were cautious on what we done or what I done. So the route we took was more bordering on something that’s very risky and something a bit cautious. So when I look back I think I could have done much more, I would have done much more.

What was your attitude like towards police after those run-ins or bad experiences?

You know you had that youth; I was small and not a strong person but for some reason you just seem to have that energy that frame of mind that you can overpower them. I don’t know where it comes from but you just get that thing and you want to attack them and overpower them. Its something that doesn’t make sense when you look back now how would you have done it, they had machine guns, shamboks, they had dogs with them , all those things they had with them and yet we thought we could overpower them. It’s just that frame of mind that we were in that gave us the go-ahead to go approach them.

Do you still have contact with any of your fellow activists that may be I the government at the moment and do you keep in touch with them?

Not many of them in government, there’s one or two not that I don’t keep in touch with. But the group we were in Ebrahim Nathie I meet him not often but occasionally, my cousin behind me we in contact all the time. The other chaps from Benoni we hardly meet. Then Chame Saloojee and Ahmed Saloojee from Lense they were involved I meet them occasionally those are the people I keep in contact with. The other bits I meet occasionally not very often. When we meet we just reflect on the past that’s all.

8. Were you ever arrested or detained?
No, unfortunately not.

9. Were you an MK (Imkonto-we-sizwe)?
No not me. Yusuf and Prekesh were definitely part of it.

10. Did you feel the efforts of your struggle were in vain?

No not at all. I think the massage that you need to capture, when we fought then it was a just struggle, the things that may have went wrong over that, that’s immaterial. At that time what w fought for was just and if we had to do it again we’ll do it again.

11. How did you feel of those in power at that time i.e. what did you think of white supremacy at the time?

You know my dad used to tell “what you doing this for” and we always said we’ll overpower them we’ll get freedom and you know probably about 20years he used to say nothings happening you not going to overpower this and its not going to happen in our time. I always replied him by saying its going to happen in our life-time. Unfortunately he died in the year South Africa go Freedom, he fortunately had the opportunity to vote in the first elections. So he seen that and said at least what you fought for wasn’t in vain. So that time the whites were the enemy the government was our enemy no matter what they done I just didn’t like it. People who were on the tricamoral parliament those days, some Muslims I never used to approach them, there was just anger within me that how can you as a Muslim support the government and go stand on the Tricamoral parliament. So there was total anger and total disrespect for those people, which is probably not right because we should try and win them over but at that point in time when you in your youth in that state of mind you cant reason with them, you don’t want to hear hat they saying so there was just ignorance total disrespect for them and just anger.

12. Did your parents approve of you fighting?
They didn’t approve but they didn’t mention it to me directly they always tried to say don’t get involved, be careful so I wouldn’t say it was disapproved I’d say it was concerned of my own well being. My dad believed what we were doing was right but he was just concerned about us. My mom was always scared whenever she heard some activities in Barberton while we were in Lense she asked where are you and what are you doing; I think it was their concern rather than disapproval.

13. How did you react to many of the different laws e.g. the pass law, group areas ac ect?

We were sort of confined to Lense and all our activities were confined to the Indian areas. We never went in any of the white areas (our group). Our efforts were mostly focused towards Lenasia, Benoni and Laudium that was where we worked. So all our activities, our leaflets, our pamphlets and our newsletters were all focused to the Muslim community and Indian community in general mostly the Muslim community, even Roshnee. Once we were giving out pamphlets in Roshnee Mosque (myself and my cousin). We normally distributed pamphlets after Jum’aa and we didn’t cover Roshnee so we decided to go so we went and after Zuhr salaah we gave out pamphlets. I think it was the Monday night thereafter the cop’s raided us they arrested my cousin and I wasn’t in that jurisdiction, I was in Lenasia. Lenasia didn’t fall in Beckman’s jurisdiction so he didn’t come for me but went for Mohammed (my cousin) who was in Eikonhof (Eikonhof was part of Vereenigings juristriction) so they arrested him. We were in the Mosque giving out pamphlets so the only people who could have spied us out were people who knew us can you imagine the anger and betrayal you going for namaaz giving out pamphlets in a Muslim community and a Muslim person must have betrayed you. So you know that anger how could a person do that to us. My cousin sat in jail for I think about 6 weeks or longer im not sure so he sat in for a long time in Vereeniging jail and when he was released, at that time many people were arrested from other places I’m not to sure if it was a result of the pamphlets being handed out or if it was a general uprising. So there were a number of people arrested from different areas and the guys responsible from Lenasia area didn’t know who I was because I was boarding here.

14. Did you ever hear or see a neck lacing i.e. those people who spied for the Apartheid state were burnt alive by a tyre place over them?
No, I didn’t see one.

15. What massage would you like to share wit the people of South Africa today?

My massage would rather be to the Muslim community than everybody typically the Indian Muslims have this notion that what we fought for, what we fought for happened because of the crime, violence and corruption and my belief is that we fought the just struggle then and they are certain issues that we now need to address and we must start encouraging our communities and youth to still engage and fight those battles. The struggle towards a free society was just struggle and we shouldn’t be looking back and saying why did we do this. In fact we should be proud of what we done as Muslims in this country. What we did in a small community and the contribution we did were significant. There are people in your research I’m sure you will find that done much more and their names are recorded. In fact Ebeahim Dasoo the cousin premier of the Cape Province, he was our Ameer of the Call of Islam and you can see where he is gone today. There’s a guy in Benoni, Naweed, his also involved in some of the government structures there, so people in our own group have really contributed to our country really made sacrifices and have seen some of that. Now thing may not be going towards plan we should say what we done is wrong its basically just to see how we can correct those things and make sure we still make a contribution to uplifting society make sure that we still fight the struggle for the poor, make sure we all just, my passion towards the Indian community our treatment towards our domestics are still very poor and I’m guilty as one because I have one here and my own treatment towards her is not correct and I think we need to address some of these simple things instead of trying to fight the big struggles only. The thing that I learnt over time is that when you young you want to change the world, you have the energy, the frame of mind and the passion to change the world. As you get older you realize you can’t change the world and so you say I’ll change my country then you realize when you a bit older it’s a bit big so you say let me change my community or society than that also becomes to big then you want to change your family. Eventually you get to realize I got to start with myself, make the changes myself. So lets start with changing what we can and the power that we have. I can change the way I treat my domestic, my family and my wife that’s my start, you can make a significant change there. If that change can happen than maybe they can change people that they are associated with and so hopefully we can change the world as we go along that way rather than starting and thinking we can change the whole world.

16. We don’t see i.e. in our community of Roshnee, Indians and Muslims in particular involved in politics and the civil service as they should be. Therefore, what are your feelings about this and is there any advice you would like to share regarding this.

Yes I think this is sad, I think we have become so comfortable with our state of living, the state we find ourselves in that we have forgotten some of the thing we have to do as Muslims and as human beings. This is basically more for discussion its that we need to start looking at what is Islam because our Islam is still going to the Mosque, giving your Zakaat, fasting during Ramadaan and if you do that you fine. The treatment of people that’s where Islam should start what is the condition of your neighbor, your community and your family that’s where we need to start. So I believe we should start with the small things. We should make a point of visiting or meeting family. So that’s what we need to do, if we can take some of those and in our community extend some of those things as well. Within Roshnee I’m sure they have some good activities so saying they don’t have anything is not true. So just to get more youth involved particularly Muslim youth, is to get them involved In some activities if we don’t include them in some activities we going to lose them to some attractions on T.V. and other western activities that’s taking place all along so we need to make sure we get them involved particularly to get ourselves involved in exposing ourselves to some of the less fortunate areas. We should all get involved in going to Sharpville, Soweto and getting involved with some of the youth there and trying to expose our children there. When the youth get involved we automatically get involved because as Muslim families we still want to hold on to what your child are doing, not just letting them free and allow them to do anything. So by the youth getting involved some of the family gets involved and you see it will spread that way.

17. Finally- are you hopeful of South Africa today?

I have nowhere else to go, South Africa is my country and I have to be optimistic and I think it’s important that we make our contribution in whatever way we can. I know there will always be opportunities in the future for especially the young. Just say maybe chose another career anywhere in the world. I think need to advice our children that we can make it in South Africa first and I’m not saying we should ignore the opportunities elsewhere but if we can we should try to make sure we can be a bigger contribution to South Africa. We got everything to live for here I think there is so much of opportunity here and I’m really optimistic. There are lots of issues that we going to have to deal with and currently we experiencing that we thought will just in our first ten years of democracy those things didn’t arise but they are arising now which we need to address. I hope we have people who are level headed who can debate these issues and address these issues and I think w have some great intellectuals in this country who will make sure that we don’t lose the “dream” that we all had. There will be problems without doubt but I pray that Allah protects us from going the route that some of the other countries went.

Letter To The Editor

The Citizen
13 Firdoze Street
Dadeville Gardens
Roshnee
1936
016 556 1449
September 21, 2007
letters@citizen.co.za
Dear Sir or Madam:
We, the citizens of South Africa are living a miracle but we face many challenges, like crime, and if it’s not addressed it might challenge our miracles. I am a young citizen and I love my country but more than that I am really concerned about the crime rate. Not a day goes by that we don’t here about robberies, hijacking, kidnapping, murders and rape. These are just a few crimes which are killing the hope for us and our country.

In three days there have been 8 murders, 2 rapes, 1 guy beaten and bruised badly, 1 robbery and 5 other corruptions which have taken place. These crimes are only reported crimes in the newspaper. From the figures above you cannot only see that the crime rate is very high but also reached the limits and are gone out of hand. Since the police are even part of this corruption it is safe to say that our country might go down the drains. We have reason to expect that our country will worsen in ten years or even three years. What will happen in 2010 when the world cup will be held in our country?

The crimes have now turned violent in S.A; criminals beat you, stab or rape you first. It will instill fear in criminals and make them think twice before committing any crimes. I’m sure this will prove to be a deterrent against violent crimes. I feel that the death penalty should be re-introduced for murder and rape because these crimes have reached epidemic proportions. The problems won’t be solved unless we address it properly. You and I can make a difference!
Sincerely,
Tasneem Pochee

Reflective Essay

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS

I believe leadership begins with courage. These are qualities that bring out your inner spirit and show your true personality. Leadership would take you far in life, but you would have to be positive in your thinking and brave in standing for what you believe in.

For me leadership is to be a leader, a person who ha a principle part in something and a person who’s example is followed. On the other side courage in my opinion is bravery and the ability to control fear during difficult times. Not every person is a leader but we could all have the courage to become one, it might be in school, in our community or for our country. I have an eye opening story that might explain to you what a rue leader is and courage in ones heart.

It started in 1983 when I witnessed a number of people being beaten by the police at the elections in Lenasia. This was when I gained the courage to fight for our rights. We protested a number of protests/marches. One of our marches took place in Lenasia, there were -+ 25 people marching (nobody else wanted to join), I was leading the march. When the police came everybody ran away and hid. I tried to hide with a friend in a car but the police found us. That day I had to do the golden chair in front of ten policemen and they laughed at me when I started to shake. It was a very humiliating experience. It nearly killed my pride but luckily I had the courage to go on.

Courage and leadership go hand in hand. If you have the courage, the bravery and ability to fight for what you believe in, you then have the ability to become a leader. Like me, when I gained the courage to fight for my rights and not to be afraid, I started marching and even became part of the Transvaal Indian Congress and Lenasia youth League. Later on I even became Ameer of the M.S.A.

The lessons I learnt and would like to teach you are things that you should ponder on and hopefully change your views. You should never be afraid to fight for what you believe. You must never be shy or afraid to speak up and become a leader. Like the prophet S.A.W (P.B.A.H) said “Two kinds of people will never learn a shy person and an arrogant person”.

The morals I learnt from the Apartheid regime are that you should always treat people fairly and the way you would want to be treated. Don’t be afraid to be a leader, you will learn and teach others many things. Leadership some have and some don’t, make an effort to be one of those that are!

Chracter Analysis

James Jarvis

His PRIVATE LIFE
· He accepts how his son felt about equal living
· The death of his son hits him hard but he does not fight back.
· Distributes milk because its right & for the benefit of his family eg. Grandson goes for lessons to Rev. Kumalo
· Gives hope to Kumalo
· He gives up feeling hatred & fear, acts in compassion
His PUBLIC LIFE
· He became very genorous. Eg.distributes milk to children & starts a club
· Promotes Social justice.
PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS
· He is a very wealthy white man.
· He became generous




Absolem Kumalo
His PRIVATE LIFE
· From a respected family .eg. father is a priest
· Finds no success except for mining.
· He turns to crime. Eg. Robs & kills Arthur Jarvis
· accepts blame for the crime and repents
· Abandons the women he got pregnant
· comes to terms with execution
His PUBLIC LIFE
· steals from people
· friends abandon him
PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS
· he is seen as a criminal
· not charged and seen as a victim
· he shamed his father

Theophilus Msimangu

HIS PRIVATE LIFE
· he is compassionate
· he has a wider understanding of the changes in S.A.
· he gives up all his worldly good for a simple life. Eg. Gives Kumalo life savings
· he is humble, generous and wise. Eg . how he looks after Rev Kumalo and helps others

· not so good, admits god gave him a gift

HIS PUBLIC LIFE
· he offers help to Rev. Kumalo
· explains to Rev.Kumalo everything of the city. Eg. Politics of the bus boycotts
· He sometimes believes peoples motives are bad and shows it by sneering at them. Eg. He sneers at John

PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS
· seen as a respected priest


John Kumalo


HIS PRIVATE LIFE
· left his wife
· believes only in politics & corrupt so he can gain power
· has a gift of public speech
· he frees his son from jail while his nephew is executed
· orsaken the church
· living an immoral life
· loves money& power
· against the men of the cloth



HIS PUBLIC LIFE
· gains respect and power in community
· he is the voice of the politic man who are opposing the government
· speaks out for justice for the poor black people.
· works to educate people

PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS
· he is respected and seen as a man with power
· he is seen as the voice of all the poor people








Reverend Kumalo


HIS PRIVATE LIFE
· he goes to Jo’burg to find his sister and son
· he loves and cares about his family.
· encounters doubt but then overcomes it with hope
· he cannot connect his morality with the moral repugnance he finds his sister in
· realizes joburg is a place of problems
· finds comfort in desolation later with problems
· realizes the nation is lost & lost their morals
· he doest make himself rejected even if people rejected him
· changes throughout because of so many experiences
· wants to gain peace in the world & create resolution in his family

HIS PUBLIC LIFE
· wants to understand the world
· people look up to him & go to him for help
· becomes an activist for social justice


PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS
· seen as a respected man in his community
· he is a kind gentle man who is challenged by the cruelty of the world around him



Gertrude Kumalo


HIS PRIVATE LIFE
· left home and became a prostitute
· she becomes ill
· on some level she wants to be good but doesn’t know how to do this
· reverend Khumalo saves her
· in the end the call of the city is to strong
· she ran away leaving her son behind


HIS PUBLIC LIFE
· she beame a prostitute
· she started selling liquor


PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS
· seen as a sister of a priest but lost all her morals


Mrs. Lithebe

HIS PRIVATE LIFE
· Kind and sympathetic to Stephen
· creates a home and heart for those needing to be natured
· refuses to believe she’s doing good
· patient and upright




HIS PUBLIC LIFE
· she takes in borders
· helps people who ned to be natured


PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS
· a lady who takes in borders even though she has money
· a kind hearted ans caring person

Evaluation

As a student I wasn’t particularly fond of English and it was always a drag for me. This year when I started English I found it really difficult to keep up with the work load and thought the standard was very high. When I entered Mr. Sujee’s classroom I was forced to think and eventually got used to the lessons and therefore found it much easier to cope. I feel my English has improved and look forward to it improving much more. The way we are taught in English is very different to any other lesson. We are taught differently using internet, microphones and other forms of technology, this made it easier for us to understand and learn the work. Fun, amazing, unique, lively none of these words will suffice for the lessons we go to.



When we first received the assignments to do I was first hesitant and thought how would I manage to complete such a task. I always procrastinated doing my work because I thought I wasn’t capable of doing assignments like this. Eventually I decided to go forth and do it and what a relief, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I found the audio assignment interesting to work with technology and really funny to listen to myself. The Vaal hearing; I found it difficult to interview a person I didn’t know. I later came to find out it wasn’t so bad and it was an experience of a life time. These assignments made me come out of my shell and I became more confident. Because of this I feel I am able to hold a conversation with people and I feel I am now much more aware of current events. Thank You Mr. Sujee!