Soweto keeps the faith

FROM GYM WHERE MADIBA BOXED, PEOPLE SAY THEIR SAY

Ablack-and-white photo of Nelson Mandela in boxing attire greets visitors to the gym where the liberation hero trained in the ’50s before delivering the knock-out blow to apartheid decades later.

“He used to train here, I feel strong,” said gym-goer Kgotso Phali, 18.

The red-and-white walls of the gym in Soweto smell of fresh paint. The Donaldson Orlando Community Centre (DOCC) has been restored to its former glory to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mandela’s birth.

Madiba, SA’s first black president, died in 2013.

Mandela would visit the gym several times a week to train.

“The walls of the DOCC are drenched with sweet memories that will delight me for years,” Mandela wrote to his daughter Zindzi from his cell on Robben Island where he was imprisoned for 18 years.

A copy of the letter, dated December 9, 1979, is displayed on a wall in the gym.

Nearby, young musicians seek to catch the attention of passing tourists. “He makes us united. Blacks can perform in theatres like the Joburg Theatre now,” said guitarist Vincent Ncabashe, 49.

Others recognise the achievement but are disappointed in the post-apartheid reality.

“Madiba is so inspiring for me,” said hip-hop singer Thobane Mkhize. “But we are not living his dream,” said the 24-yearold. “Parliament is like a sitcom; politicians are busy with corruption. Instead of being united, we are busy looking at the colours of the skin.”

“There was need for a figure to reconcile blacks and whites,” said Genevieve Assamoi, a 45-year-old from Ivory Coast. “He was crucial in ensuring that blacks did not take revenge on whites.”

At a nearby petrol station in Soweto, two white men in khaki outfits buy a car from two young black men.

“The white people also got a chance [to stay in South Africa],” said Kaelen Viljoen as he struggled to hide the handgun clipped to his belt.

“I always have a weapon with me,” said the 22-year-old, visiting Soweto for the first time in his life. “After we met the guys we bought the car from, we actually love it, they are very friendly.”

Maxwell Huis, 44, a homeless father-of-two, said the reality delivered by Mandela was starkly different to that which he had promised.

“He sold the black people to the whites. There should have been a civil war – it would have changed things,” said Huis.

“He did his best,” said Mtate Phakela, 19. “The people who came after could have done better to free us economically.” – AFP