No more barracks, still on your own

THIS year marks the 25th Anniversary of the demolition of the Alan Taylor residence in Tara Road, Wentworth.

It was an old disused “barracks” built right next door to the oil refinery. The air was choking with pollution.

It was home to out-of-city black students who got admission to the then predominantly white University of Natal.

The residence corridors and rooms were drafty, cold, impersonal, and choking with fumes which bellowed out of giant chimneys of the refinery.

The rooms were sparsely furnished and had stretchers which were doubled up as beds. The cafeteria served “scoff” which was tasteless as well as having very little or no nourishment. It was certainly not an “in place” for anyone during the three decades from the Fifties.

But those seeking a tertiary education at the then “home of liberal opinions” had no choice; that was their lives.

This week memories of the shabby complex came alive when I ran across Doctor Goolam Abram who practises medicine in an enclave called Actonville – situated between Benoni’s dusty industrial area and the sprawling township of Wattville – home of Oliver Tambo.

“Gees”, as he was known then, was studying for his doctorate in medicine. I remembered him as a sharp mind, a thick set frame, dishevelled long black hair, a bushy unkempt beard, and cigarette dangling from his mouth.

He was a tenacious debater, hard hitting in his comments, and immovable in his hatred for apartheid.

He was part of a powerful movement way back from 1969 which included Steve Biko, Charles Sibisi, Abner Mtimkulu, Vuyelwa Mashalaba, Aubrey Mokoape, Sabelo Ntwasa, Mamphela Ramphele, Ben Ngubane.

There were visitors like Lewis Skweyiya, Katie Abrahams, Barney Pityane, Saths Cooper, Strini Moodley and Reuben Phillips.

All of the luminaries, who changed the course of history in South Africa chose the path of Black Consciousness.

They and others broke away from the National Union of South African Students and formed the South African Students Organisation.

They changed the lives of all those who went to university then and gave Indians, coloureds and Africans their self-respect. I had just one question for Gees. Have you realised your dreams? “No, but what I want to say is that black man, you are still alone.”

This echoed the famous slogan coined by Steve Biko for the South African Students' Organisation:

"Black man, you are on your own."