Special Hearings — Women's Hearings — 1997-07-28

UNKNOWN: Good morning.  Before I start, I would like to share a quotation from a writer that I have admired for many years;  a South African writer, who many young people today don't know, whose name they don't know.  But it is somebody whose spirit many times goes around with me too.
 I listen to a lot of people and as I grew up I was told that "a person learns until they die".  And I keep learning from many great people who have got a lot to share with me.   And many times when I visit a new place, I'm always found either with very young people or the very old people.  Somehow these two extremes seem to connect with my spirit and I learn a lot that way.  
 And this is a writer called Bessie Heard.  And she was asked in the Seventies, early Seventies, how she thought a revolution will come one day in South Africa and her answer was:  
"It is impossible to guess how the revolution will come one day in South Africa, but in the world where all ordinary people are fighting for the rights, it is inevitable.  But also, it is to be hoped that great leaders  will arise there, who will remember the many years of suffering and out of that formulate new laws to treat people with human dignity and respect.  It is also to be hoped that Southern Africa might one day become the home of the story- teller and dreamer, who did not hurt others, but only introduced new dreams that fill the heart with wonder; new dreams that fill the heart with wonder."
That is Bessie Heard talking.
 I have worked recently with people who raised my consciousness about women whose husbands are dying in the mines and this is continuing.  It's like the earth is swallowing our people.  And what do women go through with this? I do not know.  I do not have a husband who works in the mines.  But this is a reality that we experience as well as we listen to people's pain, as we share with people who talk about these realities and this is a little poem that I wrote, as something came to my mind about this experience.
 Its called:  
"Deeper than the dead.
 My man, Zolake, works in the mines
 Many years he has worked each day, risking his life;
 With my mind's eye I see him every step of the way;
 With that lamp on his forehead
 And as I battle to answer the many questions our children ask, I know very well how he misses us.
 Every drop of sweat, as it falls from his muscular body; sends out lightning fast messages that travel underground all the way from the thundering mountains of Johannesburg to find my heart.
 They enter through the floor; finding my tired feet; the drops of sweat stop,
 And then they start in slow motion;
 To caress, to love, to reassure and to remind me of how much I love that man
 When I go to wash down at the river, I think of him; I soak myself all over.
 Then, as I throw water over my body,
 I feel his hands all over me; as his love goes deep and touches my soul,
 I know we were made for each to other
 To raise our children the way our ancestors did.
 He is a healthy man, full of joy and laughter;  he was not meant to be buried so far, deeper than the dead men's graves.
 Tell me now;  what sort of life is that?
 Tell me please;  what sort of widow am I?
 And by the way;  where is the gold he risks his life every day for?
 Where are the glittering diamonds that sparkle and shine in cruel disregard for the tired lonely diggers?
 The gold and diamonds are gone
 Gone to faraway countries where they know none of the pain of megapain
 They don't hear me shout:  I want my man to be with me and our children
 Oh, how I dread the day the news will come;
 There is another accident at the mines in Egoli, men have lost their limbs and others have died; their names are still unknown.
 I tremble and think;  if my husband were to die in those mines, I would lose my mind.
 Our children I tell again and again to please try to learn in these times of school boycotts and street marches. I tell them to march with their minds; I tell them to think deep before they do anything;  to think deeper than the dead; Deeper than the cruel minds that have robbed us of Zuleka's presence;  I remind them;  they are not orphans, for I am here, andnd that their father's love runs deep, deeper than the dead; yes, deeper than the graves."
(Applause).
 Thank you very much.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much, Gcina, for starting for us.
 I am going to ask Hlengiwe Mkhize to introduce the next witness for us.  She is the head of the Gender Commission and we are very please to welcome her here.

MS MKHIZE: Thank you, Chairperson.  I will ask Thenjiwe Mtintso to take a seat.  While she is doing so, I would like to extend a special word of welcome.
 We really appreciate your presence and we are particularly grateful in view of the fact that you agreed to carry millions of other women in sharing about women's involvement in politics and gender specific struggles.
 We know how difficult it is for women, especially in politics, to betray their solidarity, which is the language of politics, and often its solidarity with male counterparts.
 But we hope more and more there will be women of your calibre, who, besides that you are given responsibility being a chairperson of the Commission on Gender Equality, who will claim space for themselves.  And hopefully lead other women to realise that it's critical, if this country's going to move forward, for women to see it appropriate to betray sometimes their male counterparts and look at gender specific violations.
 We really appreciate your coming.  Thank you.