I rose to our host Rose’s breakfast of omelet, baked beans, fish sticks, yogurt and banana. It seems like South African food (like its people) is an interesting melange of British, Dutch and African cuisine -- not to mention the Indian, Malay and other influences. After savoring our meal, we boarded the mini-van tour bus embarking on the one hour ride to Pretoria, the seat of South Africa’s government. The theme for the day was “Breaking New Ground - What does it take and what are the challenges?”
For me, the conversation begins with our fearless leader, Nontombi Naomi Tutu. She has marshaled her energy, enthusiasm and considerable connections, to bring our small group of African American women into the inner lives of the South African experience. She has committed herself to giving us a deep immersion into the history, culture and politics of this incredible nation. It is, in essence, one big 10-day teachable moment.
Our packed lineup for today included a 10 am meeting with two women working for the Department of Water Affairs: Simphiwe Damane-Moksana, a legal advisor for the department, and Nonzame Sodladla, an administrator in the same department. At 1 pm we had lunch hosted on the campus of University of Pretoria with Dr. Cheryl de la Rey, the Rector of University of Pretoria (Rector is the same as a president in the states). As such she is the first South African woman of color to be president of a historically white university. At 3 we had a wonderful lecture on the history of South Africa with Dr. Mbulelo Mzamane, an advisor to South Africa’s president, professor and writer of many books. Currently he is working on an Encyclopedia of South African Arts and Culture. And to cap off the day, we were hosted for dinner by St. Monica’s Parrish in Midrand, which is located between Pretoria and Johannesburg. This beautiful Anglican church rolled out the red carpet for us, inviting members of the congregation to meet and dine with us as their special guests.
At the end of the day, I came away with a deeper understanding of South Africa's painful and complicated history -- and the incredible resiliency of its people.
Simphiwe Damane-Moksana, the legal advisor for the Water Department, shared that she garnered a lot of her early governmental experience working in the Bantustans (or Homelands) which were set up as independent "nations" during the apartheid regime. Although the apartheid government ultimately controlled these Homelands, they were quasi-independently run by Black South Africans. Divided into nations according to language -- Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, etc. -- they were designed to push the different ethnic groups into their own small areas, while reserving the biggest and best parts of the country for the whites. While corruption was rampant in the Homelands, according to Damane-Moksana, Blacks had an opportunity to learn governmental skills that would later prepare them to take on positions in the new free South Africa. Today women are well-represented in South Africa's government, however, both of the women we met with stated there's still work to be done to foster greater support between women who have "broken new ground" and those still scratching the surface.
Through these conversations, I see so many parallels between the African-American experience and the Black South African struggle. Years of utter and complete disenfranchisement, powerful resistance movements, ongoing struggles for full participation in all areas of society and a quest for freedom and equality. The biggest differences -- and these are major -- are: South Africa is a predominantly Black country and their apartheid system only ended about 17 years ago in 1994.
What is most striking to me though is the spirit of love, sincerity, and generosity shown to us during our travels. Our hosts have welcomed us into their homes, shared their time and information in long, unhurried meetings and they continue to greet our many many questions with candor, warmth and humor. They have, in fact, embraced us as a part of their extended family.
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