What makes them red

This is an extract from an article by Enoch Duma, a former reporter at the Rand Daily Mail who had been detained for nine months without trial, during the late 70’s dark days of apartheid. I’d like to share it with readers:

“When I look deep into myself, I see nothing but a man disfigured by the ugly scars of apartheid. The scars that entitle me to be embittered by a mass of repressive laws that are designed to dehumanise and destroy the souls of 20-million blacks in this country. After spending nine months in different prisons, I am not surprised by people who ask me ‘Has your detention left you bitter a man?’

“No I am not in the least because like the late Martin Luther King JR, I have a dream of that wonderful day when all peaceloving people in this country will join hands and say thank God almighty we are free at last.

“What nearly killed me at first was self-pity. I asked myself why should this happen to me but as the months dragged by I said to myself why should it not happen to me? That is how I passed the greatest test of my life.

“I don’t blame those who do not pass this test. Try to face the challenges of life with AK47’s and Toka Revs. Yes, the baas must change and accept the ‘boy’ as his social equal. This is for the baas’s own good. His survival depends on it. Whom are we kidding with the homeland freedom? The 13% of land allocated for the 8%of the country is what makes them red”. – Mkuseli Mtshawulana, via e-mail