17 - Foot soldiers in South Africa’s new struggles
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2021
Summary
As you came together to fight discrimination, you must come together to fight poverty; you have made peace politically; now make peace economically.
Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Durban, May 1994On one side, dozens of armed and triumphant Inkatha supporters, chanting and marching around the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi, Durban, which they had occupied the night before, 12 March 1994. On the other side, infuriated ANC supporters, who had booked the stadium for an election rally, assembling on the embankments and the pathway opposite the stadium gates. In between, police and soldiers, keeping Inkatha in and the ANC out, and in between them and the opposing parties, peace monitors. At one moment it looked like war; the next, the ANC leaders’ motorcade arrived and the prudent decision was taken to hold the rally outside the stadium – averting a clash and subjecting the IFP supporters to the sound of ANC speeches since the security forces would not let them leave the stadium. When the leaders had spoken, the motorcade whizzed off and the crowd began to disperse. Mbonambi ‘Goodman’ Khuzwayo stood on the embankment with his team of ‘Ecumenical Peacemakers’, NIM (Network of Independent Monitors) and Peace Committee monitors, surveying the anxious young soldiers and the restive IFP supporters now demanding to leave the stadium. Just as it looked as though everyone on the ANC side was making their way out, a shot cracked the air. A moment later, teargas wafted between the banks and in the blinding haze, more gunfire sounded. Mbonambi, clearly impervious to the fumes and confident of his ability to repel bullets, was still staring stubbornly into the smoke, analysing the situation and advising everyone not to panic. At that point the rest of the monitors decided to run for it. Following the sounds of shouting and choking, they headed along the pathway and caught up with several fleeing youth. They helped each other along half-blinded until they reached a line of cars – where Mbonambi materialised in the mist, waiting to dispense wet cloths, which he had soaked in the radiator of one of the vehicles.
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- Information
- The Secret ThreadPersonal Journeys Beyond Apartheid, pp. 276 - 302Publisher: University of South AfricaPrint publication year: 2018