Decades after ’83, who is left?
THE formation of the United Democratic Front in a segregated coloured suburb of Cape Town 30 years ago this week was a tipping point in the struggle against apartheid rule.
Veteran activist Helen Joseph, who attended the launch, and the three founding co-presidents — Archie Gumede, Albertina Sisulu and Oscar Mpheta — have all died. Of the six founding vice-presidents — Joe Marks, Christmas Tinto, George Sewpershad, Virgile Bonhomme, George du Plessis and Frank Chikane — Marks and Tinto have died. Chikane went on to serve as cabinet secretary to president Thabo Mbeki and is now international president of the Apostolic Faith Mission.
“[UDF] people were ready to sacrifice everything for the nation, for the oppressed,” said Chikane. “That is the fundamental difference. There was no salary, there was no patronage, there was no job, there was no tender, there were no benefits.
“Our struggle was like a spiritual thing, but now it’s almost like, who do I support so that I can have a position or have a job, and that distorts exactly what we fought for. That is the challenge of today.”
Executive member Mildred Ramakaba Lesiea, who went on to become an MP, is now 80 and still lives in Gugulethu, Cape Town. “Women from all walks of life played a huge role in all of that. We were united behind a common cause. We could call on someone to do something any time of day or night and they would do it.”
Founder member Murphy Morobe, who stepped down recently after six years as CEO of Kagiso Media, was travelling the back roads of the Karoo with his sons this week. “The intensity with which accumulation is being pursued has had the effect of sacrificing the key principles that informed not only the UDF, but the ANC of Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki,” he said in a telephone interview. “We have to rededicate ourselves to this ideal.”
Valli Moosa, now a leading environmentalist, was one of five secretaries appointed to help Popo Molefe, the first general secretary. Molefe was jailed for 10 years in the Delmas Treason Trial. He later became premier of North West.
The other secretaries were Trevor Manuel, who became finance minister and is now the minister for national planning; Cheryl Carolus, who went to parliament and then into business after a stint as chairwoman of SAA; Yunus Mohamed, who died in 2008; and Joe Phaahla, the deputy minister of arts and culture.
“By the ’80s you had a very large number of South Africans who opposed apartheid and wanted democracy,” said Moosa. “The UDF provided a framework for all these people to come together to make the final push for the downfall of apartheid.”
UDF treasurer Mewa Romgobin has retired after 15 years as an ANC MP.
“We are on the right track, but we still have our society punctuated with selfishness, greed, corruption and a lack of commitment, especially at the local level to deliver the kind of services our society needs,” he said. — With additional reporting by Jessica Bezuidenhout and Andre Jurgens