Thabo Israel Pudi

Stories of the Liberation Struggles in South Africa (eBook, ePUB)

Mpumalanga Province

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

The Stories of the Liberation Struggles in South Africa: Mpumalanga Province is a book about the struggles of the South African people (black, Indian, and colored) when they defied and resisted oppression and apartheid from the white South African government in the pre-1994 era. To ensure dominance over other race groups and the entrenchment of oppression and apartheid, the white South African government applied many tactics. These included dividing people along racial lines, such as, securing separate living areas for whites, black, Cloureds, and Indians. The government further divided the black people into ethnic groups such as Zulu, Xhosa, and Pedi. This was to ensure that the black people were confined to what was called homelands or Bantustans. The apartheid government also promulgated laws that were aimed at discriminating and undermining the freedom and integrity of the black people, such as The Group Areas Act and others. There was also state of emergencies, which were often declared to ensure that the iron fist of apartheid and oppression remained clenched. During these state of emergencies, many black people died, were maimed, or brutally injured, and some also disappeared forever. When the apartheid government went further to enforce that the Afrikaans language should be the official language at all schools, then they found that they have committed the greatest error. The students opposed it. Violence erupted from the Soweto schools, and it spread to all other township. The stories in Part 1 and Part 2 of the books are about the liberation stories of the struggles in South Africa, Mpumalanga province, which touches amongst others, on the toils, the trials, the troubles, and the perils that the youths, especially, had to undergo during that time. Many youths skipped the country to do military training in order to force the apartheid government to go to the negotiation table for freedom and democracy for all; others waged battles within the country. At many instances, they fought against the might of the South African police armed with rubber bullet, teargas, and live ammunition whilst only armed with stones and dustbin lid as their shields. Many were arrested. Many died in detention. Many died, and there was funeral after funeral when the youths went out to bury their dead. Sometimes when they return from the funerals, they would suffer other casualties. This was a vicious circle of funeral after funeral, but the youths (called the young lions) never gave up. There are, of course, other instances when the youth fought the establishment of homelands or the third force elements (impimpis or askaris), which worked with the system. There are, of course, other cases of youths who also fought with local business people because these were perceived to be working with their enemies (the white government). Sad to say, the stories herein also reveal some orgies of the youths fighting and killing people (especially the elderly) who were perceived to be witches. All these stories are true experiences from the contributors.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Xlibris US
• Seitenzahl: 166
• Erscheinungstermin: 12. Dezember 2014
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781503518162
• Artikelnr.: 52554383

Autorenporträt

I agree that this book is not about me. It is also not about anybody but about the struggles and the stories of oppression, victimization, and apartheid. Unfortunately, these stories do not come by themselves but through people. It is people who are the custodians of the struggle experiences, and it is from people that such experiences can be elicited and presented for us and for generations after us to know and to interpret. The struggle was a situation that nobody chose but was an unfortunate result and offspring from the system that was meant to undermine the human integrity of others based on race and origin. I also agree that sometimes it provides a good platform to know the background of the author to understand at least why he has decided to write about the struggle and the manner in which he has presented the contents of the struggle. Of course, having been a contributor or a victim of the struggle myself may not necessarily qualify me to write this book, but it makes sense if you have to write what you, yourself, has been involved in-irrespective of the extent of your involvement. By reading between the lines, some readers would be able to create a picture of who this author is and be able to know certain perspectives about the author, which have not been obvious from the written words. I have to confess upfront that I do not own the struggle or the suffering. In fact no one does. However, the old saying that "when the sun shines into the ocean, it is each and every drop of the ocean that is responsible for the shine" gives me the bragging rights that I was indeed part of the struggle irrespective of how infinitesimally small I was submerged in the struggle. Perhaps I should take the opportunity to say that I am nothing but a droplet in the sea of all what could be written about the struggle. However, the great Greek scientist, Archimedes, in one of his famous writings, said these bold words: "Give me a lever long and strong enough, a fulcrum to support it, then I will move the world." The pen is the lever, and this book is the fulcrum around which the pen in my hand can convey the experiences of the struggle especially of those stories that up until hitherto were on the verge of extinction. The pen is my lever, the book my fulcrum, and equipped with these, I am poised to move South Africa forward-so I hope.