Skills Exchange

John Forsyth

I wasn't long on South African soil when Isaac indicated that he'd require a blog from me before I go.

I have come to appreciate in the time since I arrived that the phrase “Isaac requires” has taken on a new meaning while he has been here.

It's not that he has everyone – except me – actually doing what he identifies that they need to do but at least no-one is any doubt about what he means. He has become very direct.

The day after I arrived we met Mr Mjoli, Russell and Abdul at SISCO. They were most welcoming as were the lady ‘gogos’ in the kitchen.

Mr Mjoli explained at length how God comes to the rescue every time they reach a moment of need -  shortage of food or the fee for some piece of documentation. Isaac pointed out to Mr Mjoli that God would probably not need to be quite so last minute if the paperwork was in better order.

I was willing to declare that a 1 – 1 draw until Mr Mjoli sneaked in with a Derek Riordan-type 'squiggler' and explained that it is God who has sent Isaac to hassle them about paperwork. 2-1 that time but the second leg should be a cracker.

On Sunday we went to Umlazi. I saw Zwelibanzi High School though, being Sunday, there was only one class in doing extra work. We met the head master, Mr Maseko and then met Ti Ti who took us to his new home, as yet unnamed.

We picked up Siza and the four of us went back to Durban to record Siza's video interview as the first of the Jabulani Stories.

Both Ti Ti and Siza are young men of great character. I was proud to make their acquaintance and pleased when Isaac asked Siza for one song before they went home. Siza harrassed Ti Ti to sing too and then Isaac. It turned into two or three before they had to hustle away to get the last transport home.

We spent most of the next day putting the video together on Isaac's laptop. I hope we did Siza justice.

On Wednesday we went out to Burlington to meet Lucky, another impressive young man, who recalled the big influence on him the Gillepie’s connection has been and how his visit to Edinburgh opened his eyes not just to how things are in that funny far off place but also made him see his own situation and himself differently.

We did record some video interview with him for Jabulani Story Number 2 but with the strong wind, the chickens, the trains, the traffic, the neighbours and the law of sod it may have to be a bit of a salvage job. We'll do what we can.

Lucky's new home under construction

I saw a wee story in one of the local free papers that FW de Klerk would be speaking at a Rotary Club breakfast on Friday. It was only when I phoned up to check if we could go they mentioned the newspaper had missed out the key word 'fundraising' and it was R300 a ticket. It seemed worth it to hear in person one of the key political figures of the latter part of the 20th Century.

When we arrived we heard that he had caused great controversy in a TV interview the night before by apologising for the injustices of apartheid but not for the original concept of separate development.

He did not appear abashed when he made his appearance. He spoke for an hour with real power and presence. There are few politicians who can hold an audience today. And when a question from the floor asked for his clarification on the previous night's controversy he paused and then said, “let me speak from the heart”.  I'm not daft enough to think that when a politician says he's speaking from the heart that doesn't necessarily mean it's more than a dramatic device. But you could hear him tap into real anger when he explained the Afrikaaner struggle against British colonialism as his abiding political influence.

He apologised again for the pain and oppression of apartheid. It was that, he stated, rather than sanctions or boycotts that explained his 180 degree turn away from separation to single South Africa “togetherness” in the 1980s. He pointed out that the world is lining up behind a 2 separate state solution for coexistence in the middle east so it can't by definition be morally reprehensible.  He turned against it in South Africa not because separation was inherently wrong but because it didn't work and damaged too many lives. I think that's a fair summary of his position, defensible or not.

Now I don't know what questions he was expecting to field that morning but I'm willing to bet he wasn't expecting mine. Picking up on his anger at British colonialism I wondered if he had a view on Scottish independence and the imminent referendum - did he advise separation or togetherness?

He said if he was a Scot he'd be interested but also to be careful what you wish for.

There were two things that struck me from the morning. First, the other people at our table – all but one white lawyers – said this was the first time they had seen de Klerk 'live'.  Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised.

Secondly, though you could drive a herd of springboks through the gaps in some of his arguments it was an experience to hear him. When our politicians tell us of the “tough decisions” they have to make they are laughable in comparison. Here was a man who with Nelson Mandela really did make tough decisions that affected their nation, their continent and the world.

Afterwards speaking to Ntuthuko and a friend back at Isaac's we wondered whether they would give de Klerk any credit for his part in ending apartheid. Their answer was no. “What he did in the end doesn't let him off the bad he did for years before,” said Ntuthuko.  I can see his point on behalf of the millions of his parents' and grandparents' generation who tholed humiliation, violence and manufactured disadvantage while Mr de Klerk and his colleagues were travelling their route to Damascus.

de Klerk debrief

But should he get no credit at all? If I were a philosopher or a theologian I might pick away at the difference between repentance and redemption. Thankfully, I am neither.

Oh, and during my question I put in a plug for the Gillespie's connection with Umlazi of the last decade and the Jabulani Project. Afterwards one of the lawyers came up and offered to do any legal work we might need pro bono. R600 well invested, after all.