A stalwart of exceptional integrity
In a POST exclusive, one of the most distinguished Indian antiapartheid political activists, Vejaynand Ramlakan, talks about his political journey, from the frontlines of student politics, to the heart of the military world of the South African National D
IN HIS long and arduous journey to achieve his political nirvana, doctor-turned-military commander, Vejaynand Ramlakan originally from Chatsworth, learnt that his family was the first and last line of defence during his 30 years in the frontline of the bitter struggle against apartheid.
The 60-year-old former surgeon-general, one of eight children of struggling working class parents, cut his political teeth during the epic Soweto Uprising in June 1976, when he led 600 protesting students to Currie’s Fountain, once the hub of the idealistic campaigns for non-racialism in politics, sports and society.
Speaking last week, just days after he launched his book, Mandela’s Last Years, The True Story of Nelson Mandela’s Final Journey, Ramlakan, who led Mandela’s medical team in his last months, spoke glowingly about his family’s role in his commitment to changing South Africa.
Soon after the interview on Friday, dark clouds started gathering in a new political storm triggered by Mandela’s widow, Graça Machel, who accused Ramlakan of breaching stringent doctorpatient protocol by publishing confidential information surrounding South Africa’s ailing founding president and world-famous ANC leader.
On Monday, publishers Penguin Random House announced the withdrawal of all copies from bookshops.
Said Ramlakan: “I had chronicled Mandela’s medical journey because there is no private persona of Madiba. What he was in public, he was in private. He was not a split personality. Up until his passing, his was the face of stoicism, intense dignity and humility. My narrative also brings out a charming and courteous global icon, who respected everyone he came into contact with, even up to his final years and hours.”
In the 1970s, a young Ramlakan’s life was turned upside down after he got involved in student militancy and politics.
“The incident, by a gang of security branch policemen to grab me violently and whisk me away from the marching crowd, was the turning point that propelled me head-on into the liberation Struggle.”
He said his family, extended family and fellow studentactivist wife, Sandy Afrika, of Sydenham in Durban, had stood by him through thick and thin during his firebrand days of political activism, detention without trial, solitary confinement, interrogation and brutal treatment at the hands of Security Branch policemen, fearfully referred to as SBs.
They also stood by his side when he doubled-up as a doctor during the day and a guerrilla at night, working underground in intelligence and information gathering against the apartheid regime.
Had his fighting spirit been broken, Ramlakan feared this could have resulted in his disappearance or even death.
Such was the modus operandi and impunity of the SBs, who believed they were above the law.
Ramlakan was only 18 years old at the time.
Ramlakan, who matriculated at Naidoo Memorial High in Umkomaas in 1974, recalled how the Natal Medical School SRC resolved to march to Currie’s Fountain in support of the brave de facto 1976 students and pupils that took on the machinery and the might of the state police.
“A car (full) of security men tried to grab me and force me into a car and this ensued into a heavy confrontation.
“As young as I was, I wrestled with these heavy set guys and escaped.
“The police convoys dispersed us and arrested 100 students. They were beaten up by the white, Indian, coloured and black SBs. They were pretty non-racial those days in protecting apartheid.”
He continued: “Looking back and reflecting on my political journey, I am grateful to all family members, who stood firmly behind my conviction towards making our collective contribution, from apartheid to a democratic state and society. Family is the first line of defence and the last line of defence.”
Ramlakan proudly paid homage to his humble mother, Rajmony, who, together with his dad, Indurjith, were shunted to Chatsworth under the 1950s Group Areas Act, where they raised their two daughters and six sons.
His mother, he said, stood resolutely against the visits and intimidation of the SBs, who had kept their home in Camper Drive, Havenside, Chatsworth, under constant surveillance.
“Between 1980 and 1985 when my covert political activities had me on the run from state agents and police, my mother refused to be cowed by threats and intimidation about my activities.
“My mum had an unconquerable spirit and fierce determination.
“She never gave up no matter what the situation she was in and was assertive no matter what apartheid tactics were thrown at her.
“She was always for her eight children. This was a rare quality in our community, that was largely conservative and frowned upon or feared any opposition to apartheid.
“She told the SBs assertively, when she interacted with them, that they were persecuting her son and she had the right not to give up waiting for him.”
He described his mum, who was born in Redhill, as a matriarch and the glue of the entire clan.
She died in 2001 at a time when her second last son was becoming a distinguished military man.
The family was dealt a further blow in 2014 when Ramlakan’s youngest brother, Shanilnand, who had followed in the military footsteps of his elder brother, was murdered near his home in Phoenix in 2014.
Shanilnand, 46, was a warrant officer training soldiers in Pretoria before he was transferred to the SANDF base in Merebank.
“Tragedy struck our family and Shanil became a victim of violence. The information I received from the police is that my brother was a victim of organised crime,” said Ramlakan.
“The police failed to solve a case of murder.”
Ramlakan added that his dad, Indurjith, a tailor, who had come from Mayville, died in 1995.
This was when Ramlakan was key to the integration of the ANC military wing into the South African National Defence Force.
It was also a year after the miraculous all-race election of which Mandela became the first statesman of colour.
Ramlakan told POST that throughout this journey for freedom and human dignity, he had always been surrounded by strong people.
“I could truly say my life and politics were defined by three remarkably resilient women; my mother, wife and my daughter, Rosa.”
Recalling the past, he said that during the arrest and the detention of him and his wife, on a raid at their rented home in Narbada Road, Merebank, two days before Christmas in 1985, Rosa, who was 4 and half months old, was also held in detention for 48 hours.
It was his mother and Sandy’s mom, Margaret Afrika, who carried the crying baby to her mother for breastfeeding at CR Swart Square police headquarters.
“My daughter, who is now a talented 31-year-old drama graduate and actress with a role in SABC’s Generations, made political history as one of the many babies, who was breastfed behind bars by her activist mother.”
The raid occurred during the apartheid government’s clampdown of internal security when state agents finally caught up with the Operation Butterfly kingpin.
Ramlakan was part of the MK’s covert intelligence, gathering activity between Swaziland and South Africa aimed at spreading the clear message of the high-powered ANC leadership in exile in Lusaka, Zambia, during the command of ANC president Oliver Tambo.
This operation was a forerunner to Operation Vula, in which heavyweight underground stalwarts, Mac Maharaj and Pravin Gordhan, were key operatives placing the ANC in a state of preparedness ahead of the political negotiations, in the event that President FW De Klerk’s government reneged on the peace pow-wow, with returning ANC leaders under Mandela.
“Butterfly was aimed at bringing Lusaka to Durban to improve the clear communication coming out from the exiled leadership, who were speaking directly to us about the direction of the final push against white minority rule.”
Following the raid, Ramlakan was convicted and imprisoned on Robben Island from 1987 to 1991.
After his release, he served as medical commander at the 1991 ANC National Conference.
Ramlakan, a founding member of the United Democratic Front (UDF), played the same role at Codesa and later the President Mandela Guard.
After serving the MK military health service, leading this unit for integration into the National Peacekeeping Force and then the SANDF, Ramlakan was appointed general and then surgeongeneral from 2005 until 2013. In 2011 he was chief of corporate staff at the SANDF. He retired in 2015.
His wife, Professor Sandy Afrika, is assistant director and head of a sub-Saharan division of DCAF, an agency focusing on security, development and rule of law in Geneva, while Rosa is pursuing an acting career after graduating with a honours degree in drama, at the University of Pretoria.