In celebration of Ma Sobukwe
Black women sacrificed for freedom but not acknowledged
YESTERDAY, marked the 90th birthday of Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe, the forgotten, ignored and erased “Mother of Azania” who has endured unspeakable suffering, struggle and pain.
She celebrated her birthday, as usual, in private, at her humble home, with family and close friends. No glamour, no journalists, and no live broadcasts. And frankly, the saddest part of all is that most people are not even aware she’s still alive.
Born Zondeni Veronica Mathe on July 27, 1927, in Hlobane, Natal, she married Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe on June 6, 1954. In line with African tradition and matrimonial rites of passage, she received the customary nuptial name of Nosango. She bore four children, Miliswa, Dinilesizwe, Dalindyebo and Dedanizizwe.
Although women are the bedrock of society, and in fact, the primary nurturers of socio-economic and political revolutions, when history is told, their stories, contributions and experiences tend to be downplayed or erased. If, and when, the stories of women are told, it is only those of the popular, already well-known and overly researched about women that tend to be retold slightly differently.
The trouble with this is highlighted by the Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi in her intriguing novel, Half of a Yellow Sun. Speaking of the “danger of a single story”, she points out that the potential of a single narrative is to create stereotypes and perpetuate certain erasures.
The dismissal and neglect of Mama Sobukwe must be read and understood through this lens, exposing the broader systematic project that sought to erase, neglect and silence ordinary black women and their experiences.
The life story of this indomitable woman is one marked by constant neglect, pain and erasure. She embodies the totality of the “serve, suffer; sacrifice” dictum coined by her late husband, Mangaliso Sobukwe and his colleagues in the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania.
She endured the rejection of the racist apartheid regime which she challenged through her numerous letters to the likes of then prime minister BJ Vorster, demanding the release of her husband; as well as the current ANC government that undermines the contributions the Sobukwes made to the Struggle.
As a health practitioner and an activist in her own right, she single-handedly advocated for the release of her husband from Robben Island, bringing his deteriorating health to the fore. She wrote several letters to the white supremacist government demanding his release.
And when all her efforts failed, she appealed to Vorster to allow Sobukwe to leave South Africa permanently on an exit permit together with his family.
Vorster refused, and Mama Sobukwe asked that she be allowed to stay on Robben Island with Sobukwe, to oversee his health herself. Of course, the racist Vorster refused.
She has also endured the neglect and dismissal of the ANC government in its disdain for the course of history. Mama Sobukwe’s isolation is, therefore, no accident. She suffers the consequences of an ignoramus oligarchy.
A Google search on Mama Sobukwe’s name tells the story of enduring invisibility in the public sphere. Googling “Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe” there are only three or four weblinks that speak of her.
The most prominent relates to her 1997 testimony at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) about the apartheid authorities poisoning Sobukwe by feeding him food with glass while incarcerated, and then denying him medical help when he got sick until his untimely death.
This Google reference is followed by a link to a 2014 Daily Dispatch article titled “Sobukwe’s grave cleaned, declared heritage site”, which appeared after the government renovated Sobukwe’s vandalised gravesite in Graaff-Reinet.
What is common in all these web-links is that, while they mention Mama Sobukwe’s name and are related to her in some way, the actual focus of the articles is her husband, Mangaliso. She is presented merely as wife, widow or mother.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with these roles, but the question, a telling one, remains as to why her own life story remains untold.
Apart from a poem by Es’ kia Mphahlele, she just does not feature and the leaders and members of the PAC and black intellectuals have taken no interest in delving into her story.
In an effort to give voice to Mama Sobukwe, the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust, in partnership with the Blackhouse Kollective, will host a tribute lecture in her honour during Women’s Month at the Mofolo Arts Centre in Soweto on Saturday, August 12 .