How a South African township is overcoming its trauma
(written for the Peace Boat website, January 11, 2013 >>)
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The Bhambayi settlement has come a long way after apartheid:
In 1992
violent riots broke out between supporters of different
political
parties - next door to Gandhi's first model settlement |
"I was five years old, when we had the civil war in Bhambayi. I don't
remember that time", Angel says.
Looking to the ground she continues
"There were too many who killed each other"
- Have you seen it?
- "Not
really... sometimes... many times"
- Was your family fine?
- "Yes,
but... my mother died at that time. They killed her. I saw it".
The
17-year-old is sitting under a lush, green tree, her hair wrapped up
with a pink ribbon, a collier of rainbow-coloured pearls around her
neck. Her words come slowly. She hardly ever speaks about her past.
Angel has come to meet Peace Boat participants at the Gandhi Development
Trust (GDT) in the Phoenix Settlement near Durban with her friends of a
local high school and the Kasturba Primary School. "We try to forgive"
she tells them. "Bhambayi is a good community now, with good people".
The place where she witnessed her mother's murder is only a few blocks
away.
 |
By promoting the principle of non-violence for the Gandhi
Development Trust, Ashish Ramgobin lives up to her heritage:
She is the
great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi.
|
It is almost a miracle. Since the riots of 1992, which shook the
community for several years and which are referred to as "civil war",
many traumatized children of Bhambayi turned to violence in search of
revenge. Others took their own lives. Angel and her friends have, in
contrast, become soft-spoken teenagers, still shy and vulnerable, but
optimistic about their future. Among the many who have contributed to
their development, two stand out - a man from India and a woman from
South Africa. First there is the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. The GDT
spreads Gandhi's message of non-violence to school children through
books, workshops and collaborations with teachers, who implement his
ideas in their morning speeches. Gandhi's own great-grandaughter Ashish
Ramgobin works with the organisation. She summarized his message for
settlements like Bhambayi "You may well fight for your rights - but
don't use violence".
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Bhambayi is located next to the famous Phoenix Settlement,
which Mahatma
Gandhi founded as a model for a peaceful,
non-segregated neighbourhood
|
It is here, in the Phoenix Settlement next to Bhambayi, that Mohandas K.
Gandhi turned from a shy undecided lawyer into a powerful political
leader. Shortly after his arrival in 1893, the young man was kicked out
of the first class compartment of a train, although he had a valid
ticket. His only error was that he wasn't white. Experiencing
discrimination himself made Gandhi question the rule of the British
Empire in South Africa as well as in his native India. When the
humiliating Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance came into law, forcing South
African Indians to register, Gandhi called on all South African Indians
to resist it, non-violently. His idea of "Satyagraha" (non-violent
resistance) was born, which has lived on in social movements ever since;
during India's independence struggle, the protests against the Vietnam
war, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine
among many others. To set a sign against apartheid, Gandhi founded the
Phoenix settlement as a model for a non-segregated neighbourhood, where
so-called Coloured, Blacks and White could live and farm together.
Phoenix became a symbolic place in the struggle against apartheid. In
September 1983, the First National executive Meeting of the United
Democratic Front was held here. Phoenix Settlement was a member of the
UDF which united organizations against apartheid. The first call to free
Nelson Mandela was made here and Mandela cast his first vote in 1994
not far from the Phoenix Settlement at Ohlange High School in Inanda in
KwaZulu-Natal.
 |
Many children lost their parents in the riots. As orphans
they are especially vulnerable to violence and poverty
|
Despite being a beacon of tolerance and non-violence through the
Mahatma's teachings, the Settlement has also suffered violence at the
end of the last century. In 1985, it was almost destroyed during the so
called 'Inanda Riots' and overtaken by about 8000 informal settlers. It
was then that it became known as Bambayi. The area was rebuilt again in
2000.
It is the violence of 1992 when the area of Bambayi was the site of
conflict between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inthaka
Freedom Party (IFP) each fighting for political leadership after
apartheid, that the children remember. "You could already get killed, if
your neighbour suspected you to vote for the wrong party" remembers
Alicia Mbuyisa, the traditional healer (isangoma) of the Bhambayi
community. She used her influence and political neutrality to protect
all those, who ran to her house in search for shelter. When Angel lost
her parents, she raised her and ten other orphans. "We call her
grandmother", Angel says, her voice full of affection. "She saved our
lives". But there were many more orphans, who, without parents, lived in
great poverty and were especially vulnerable. "When I first met these
children, most had an inner anger that you can't control" Mbuyisa
recalls. "They wanted to take revenge for their parents' death".
 |
Thanks to Gandhi's legacy and the influence of their teacher,
many orphans of Bhambayi have turned into optimistic
teenagers, who try to forgive.
|
Her house soon became too small to adopt all of them, but she started
teaching them. With Mbuyisa's dancing group Ubuhle Bezinkanyezi, Angel
performs a powerful Zulu dance for the Peace Boat participants. Their
chants represent the wild animals of the steppe and their feet raise
clouds of dust from the ground. Their jewellery is made of inexpensive
plastic pearls, but they have crafted it themselves using traditional
techniques and wear it with dignity. Today Mbuyisa teaches 90 children,
62 girls and 28 boys, in Zulu traditions and life skills such as
preventing HIV/ Aids. "I make them understand, that God and a good
education come first, before they can have any relationships" Mbuyisa
says. In Angel's case she seems to be successful. "I like school,
really" the 17-year-old says, "Maths especially. I want to become a
technical accountant or a national economist". Angel looks up for the
first time, smiling. "Yeah, I am a strong woman now!"
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