Pain of those sidelined

CONGRATULATIONS Jay Naidoo on the new book “Change”. Your extract “Time to act or ….or shut up” (SD, March 11) refers.

It is refreshing to read extracts from books by old comrades who know the South African scene as it has evolved.

Some of us were dying to embrace the order but were ignored by the new cadre. We had a vision of seeing a black-dominated government as a mirror of how black government would govern in spite of the worldwide cynicism that prevailed.

We were instead hounded out of government by those whose agendas we apparently frustrated.

As you can see the current government is imploding under a heavy load of corruption. I have resigned myself to the fact that the havoc unleashed by the new cadre in Naidoo’s wake is not good reading for him.

In the books I write (obtainable from the Steve Biko Centre in Ginsberg), I reveal the impact of the slogan “It is our time to eat” and how it was directed against the old horses in the civil service who were eager to welcome the new order with open arms.

My aim is to sensitise our children to how the democratic order which we waited for so long came to disappoint us.

On my own I had studied up to Honours degree level in preparation for the new order that rejected me on its arrival at the young age of 46.

Our sin as far as I can recall, was to expect the new order to be exemplary, perfect and to prioritise the plight of the poor.

As a result of constant harassment we saw the resignation of experienced civil servants in droves so that they could escape in one piece.

When we tried our hand at business afterwards the cadres found a way of hounding us out of that space to make sure their friends got government business.

The Section 9 institutions of the time had no time to entertain our grievances at all.

What was strange was that they would agree to investigate initially, but would renege after some time, as if they had been advised of who we were and what a nuisance we were becoming to the enjoyment by some of new-found freedom.

Were it not for the tenacity and staying power of blacks some of us would have hanged ourselves by now. I steadfastly refuse to do that as a family man.

But I am now at a loss in encouraging my children to follow education because they saw how my qualifications were treated by the new democratic order. As a result of this treatment I now occupy the lowest rung of the social order, earning a government pension.

Having said so I wish Mr Naidoo luck and speed in his endeavours. — Mxolisi Toyitoyi Dimbaza, King William’s Town

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