A tsunami for rights
AGDALENE Moonsamy is a force of nature.
When I meet her over coffee and green tea over the weekend, she immediately takes charge.
Smartly dressed in a black pants suit and her hair neatly tied back, she sorts the menu out, arranges for her company to be seated and taken care of and for a few seconds she stares into my eyes intensely.
The former EFF MP, who recently won the Women in Politics accolade at the South African Politicians Awards, became interested in politics at the age of, wait for it, 12. I am incredulous. She smiles her wry smile, and explains.
“When I was younger, I remember going into town with my mother. She was heavily pregnant with my brother and we were going school shopping near 320 West Street. It was a hot day and my mom was tired.
“There was an empty bench, right there, but we couldn’t sit on it because of the colour of our skin. That was something that had a profound effect on me. What do you mean, not allowed to sit there?”
Born in Kenville, Durban, in apartheid South Africa, Moonsamy has activist blood in her DNA.
“My grandmother, Mary, was an incredible humanitarian. I share a name with her,” said Moonsamy, referring to Mary Magdalene, a figure in Christianity.
She said her grandmother was a domestic worker and faced many challenges raising a family at a time when there were no resources.
“Her door was always open, all day, all night. She would always be cooking something in a huge pot and everyone and anyone would be welcome. It didn’t matter what your race was.
“I don’t even know what she cooked or where she managed to get the ingredients from, but she never let that stop her. She didn’t wait for change, she took action.”
As the years progressed, Moonsamy began taking steps to further her education in politics.
She joined the Students’ Representative Council on entering high school and recalls the effect a teacher had on her.
“Mr Inderan Govender, who is now the principal of Effingham Secondary, threw out all the textbooks and gave us a real understanding of our history and our politics, not the governmentendorsed propaganda.”
Moonsamy earned her law degree at the then University of Durban-Westville, now the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in 2002.
She said she wanted to be an attorney without prejudice, favour or discrimination.
Moonsamy, or Maggie as she is known to her friends and family, is currently completing her Master’s in law.
I tell her I think there is apathy when it comes to politics, a separation in which people just don’t seem to care for it.
What would you say to those people, who immediately glaze over when you mention politics, I ask. How do we reach them? Moonsamy gives me one of her scrutinising looks and, without pause, answers: “You have to ask yourself these questions. How does politics affect where I live?
“How does politics affect what I study?
“How does politics affect what I believe in, how I worship?
“How does politics affect who I love?
“How does it affect the lives of my children? Their futures? Their choices and opportunities?
“And how can you not think that it matters?”
Moonsamy started a law firm in Pretoria in July last year and two months later founded The Women’s Justice Foundation.
“Did you know that women earn 28% less than their male counterparts for the same jobs in South Africa?
“Our policies and institutions are not working. We need to start acknowledging women.
“We have to start thinking about what will benefit us all.”
When she says “all” she means anyone oppressed.
“Right now, I am fighting for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara Africa, who are being tortured in confined spaces and refused their right to an independent state by Morocco.
“Morocco continues to commit genocide against these peace-loving people. This is a fight over the mineral wealth in the Sahara Desert.
“These are people who are separated from their families and subjected to torture. I think as long as there are people who are oppressed, and you know about it, then you are not free.
“Anyone oppressed is my family.
“My mother denied a bench. My grandmother denied an education. They gave up their lives, they sacrificed everything, without resources, without excuses for just the belief of one day having a better life that they may not see.
“They fought because they believed it had to be better for us, for the future. How can we not fight when there are still people living under oppression? How can we not see it as our responsibility?”