Mr. Darkey Africa is the Consul-General, South Africa Commission in Nigeria. He spoke with SEGUN KASALI on his struggles and activism during the apartheid period in South Africa.
How was growing up, amidst the apartheid struggle in South Africa?
I grew up under the burden of apartheid. There were a lot of things we were not allowed to have, not allowed to do and some of us at an early age, had to develop political consciousness because we don’t have to be in a situation like that. And as a result, we were brought into the struggle at early age. We were not allowed to go to the same school with the whites despite the fact that we were brilliant students at our time. During our time, our schools were bad with poor electricity. We did not have proper health care system but the whites had. Better health facilities were only reserved for the whites. There were no restaurants you could go to as everything was reserved for the whites. There was no transport system, everything was segregated. There were no roads in our township. We all had to go to a place and queue for water. The kind of education we were fed with was not the kind of education we were happy about. And that was why 1976 happened and many of us as young people at that time had to realise that we need to do something to change the situation.
Did you participate in the struggle?
Yes, I participated and I was 17 years old at that time.
What role did you play, sir?
Well, I played a lot of roles. I was organising people. I was mobilising people in schools, places of higher learning, and community civic workers. I was in the trade union at a time and I was also working for the ANC underground, recruiting people to join the military. I was also at home to mobilise the community to keep the ANC alive because the ANC was birthed in the 1960s. And when we started to begin to mobilise, we were interacting with the ANC at the time even when they said we must make the country ungovernable and we did so, through mobilising people underground to realise that we are being oppressed for too long and it can’t happen forever; hence, the need to stop and fight against it.
You must be radical then?
I was radical then but consciously not to be recklessly radical because we needed to make our people see that what needs to happen is in their interest as well. We knew what the target was and when we were told to make the country ungovernable and established what was called the 1980s, we were taking over power from the regime and then make the people realise that they have the power to have their own lives and they cannot rely on the system of apartheid which was in any case denying them everything including their dignity and life.
What was your parents’ reaction to your involvement?
For whatever reasons, my father was in prison and when he came out, he went to the railway service, the very sector we were denied access to. He was very evasive when I was trying to talk to him about it. So, we had to deal with issues in 1976. He knew we were doing all these. He was old enough to understand that something had to be done. We went to where he was working with my friends to try and organise him. He was willing to join the Union because he understood what we were doing. We told him tell us how much you are earning here and who is your supervisor here?” What we realised was that our fathers were working hard there but the whites were just walking around having chats but getting more money than them.
So he gave you full support?
Well, yes indirectly I would say because joining the Union is an admission that we were doing something right and had to support what we were doing.
You must have taken some traits from him
He was a defiant person. So, maybe I would have defied the system because I would not accept that the young whites would call our fathers, boys. They were not called by names. Hey, boys come here. Those were the things that made people very angry. My mother was an anti-system person. She was defiant too. It was just a pity she did not go to school that much but she knew that things were wrong. There were a lot of things I learnt from her that helped me in making contribution to the freedom we have today.
You were expelled from school?
Yes, I was expelled from school because I got involved in the struggle. It was a full time job. I had to go outside. I studied incidentally around 1994. From the 1980s, it was just fighting. So, I thought of studying Law then but I finally chose Development Studies at the University of Free State. Thereafter, I wrapped up two Master’s degrees. Before 1994, we were sent outside by the ANC to go and study in India, one Indian Institute of Local Government. We then went to the University of Birmingham, where we studied around issues of local government. We then went to Zimbabwe. We were just going around trying to look at systems. And even before 1994, we travelled to other countries to study their systems in order to look at what kind of local government systems are we going to create. How are we going to make sure that the system we create would be able to give our people water, electricity etc? So, we had been trained in preparation for 1994.
What was the feeling like when you were expelled?
I was happy but only worried that my parents would not accept that. They were not happy but there was nothing they could do. In fact, it was the school’s car that brought us home because it was a bit far. Just my friend and I were expelled. Others who were convinced about the correctness of our position decided to withdraw but we stood our ground. And we later became leading figures in convincing our communities. So, we felt why stopping since that was the reason we were expelled. We told ourselves: now is the said time to get involved. So, we were reading books. When Mandela was arrested, we started mobilising people. We were also telling people you must not pay rent. You cannot be paying rent for staying in your own place. We were paying them rent even though they were not giving anything by the virtue of the fact that the system allowed them to. So, we told them don’t pay rent. Boycott. We also started telling people don’t buy in town so that the economy can collapse because in any case it does not benefit us. So, we were doing all sort of things and so on. And then, we started working for ANC underground, organising people covertly where people won’t know or suspect we are doing that.
You must have had relationship with Mandela then.
I remember that I was the one who interpreted his speech in English to local language while he was interacting with the locals. It was quite interesting and intimidating, interacting with late Mandela because of who he was. But, it was always inspiring to be close to such people. When we were in the struggle, we felt we made a contribution for them to come out because we made the apartheid system not to work. We realised things were not going to work unless we did something. Thankfully, we scaled through and got freedom.
How was life after the struggle, education?
Immediately after 1994, I became sort of a Commissioner in the North West province. I was the first emissary for the Local Government there and I spent about 10 years. We were starting to build houses. Later, I was also an emissary for Finance, Tourism and Economic Development. After 2009, I became the chairperson of the planning commission in the province. And then in 2015, I was called to join the Diplomatic Corp. And when I was asked to go to Portugal, I told them I don’t want to go to Europe but Africa. They mentioned Guinea Bissau but there was problem there and I eventually came here.
How was your experience as a first timer in Nigeria?
Well, there is always a shock seeing a place for the first time. Nigeria was known to all of us then. People had different view and impression about what Nigeria is like. Fortunately, we were exposed to the writings of authors like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka. So, that was how we related especially in ‘Things Fall Apart’. When I came here, I was just shocked to the extent at which you are in a car and you can’t move. And what really surprised me was also the hooting and I said to the driver don’t make the noise. We call it hooting in South Africa but Nigerians call it blowing the horn. So, I was like is there a wedding somewhere here? When they blow horn in South Africa, it means the people are getting merry. So, when you blow the horn here it means you are telling people to get off the road. So, the driver explained to me that you have to horn to tell the person you are coming unlike South Africa where you only hoot or blow the horn when there is a celebration and people are happy.
What other things shocked you?
There was a day we were at an event and foods were laid out. And I asked Comrade, what is this? He said Chief you must eat what you know, not. What you don’t know until you are told what it is later. And I was just only a week here. And when I was invited by the likes of Emeka Anyaoku at the Metropolitan club, I was told the different kinds of food. And then, I got to like jollof rice and pepper soup. So, if I get to a place now, the first I want to have is pepper soup, not with fish but goat meat.
Any embarrassing moments?
Well, I went to a place with my daughter for the commissioning of Ocean Basket. The guy had written in the invite I must be there by 6:00 prompt. And I understood prompt in English to mean exactly 6:00 they would be starting. I was there by quarter to 6 with my daughter and it was at Ikeja Mall there. By 7:00, nothing had happened. But the guys did not know I was sitting there. By quarter to 8 when people were coming, the guy then came to me and said ‘I saw you came early and I said yes’. He now said you know here in Nigeria you would be fined for coming on time.
Then, I was just laughing and I said to him now I know where the notion of African Time emanated from. So, you guys are the ones who made everybody believe that all Africans don’t respect time. It was an interesting one but embarrassing because I was saying to myself so I must always come late but I can’t, because I am not used to that. I remember when we were working in the underground, we had to keep to it. If a person says we must meet by 1pm, we must meet at that time. This was because we have developed the attitude from there. Same happened when Nelson Mandela was there because I was in government then. He did not take kindly to people who did not respect time. So, I think it is respectful to keep to time. He was always saying Africans often times start a meeting with an apology. And you see whenever you start a meeting with an apology because you came late, you have lost your point. Even if you have a good point to make, people are not going to take it seriously because you apologise. You should have come earlier if you have a good point and make the point without an apology. So, it is important to keep to time.
You met your wife while in government?
Well, my wife was an activist. So, we met during the struggle. We worked together. Sometimes, we took guerrilla to some place. I worked together with her. I saw a brave lady and I felt why not if not, I expressed my love to her and the marriage has been quite fantastic. We have been together for over 35 years now.
How do you socialise, sir?
I go out with my friends to restaurants and the likes. They would take me to various places; it is only now I am beginning to see nice places around Lagos.
There must have been some changes in you since you’ve been here?
I tend not to like winter in South Africa because I am used to the weather here. There was a time I went home and I told myself I regret coming here. People were saying but you were here for a long time. I said no! I have not been here for the past five years. Why should I be coming here when it is winter? I know it is cold. But, I also brought a lot of clothes here thinking it would be cold. So, I just put them there without wearing them.
What are your indelible experiences?
There are many experiences I can never ever forget. One of them is a near death experience in 1992 in Lesotho. I was supposed to leave two days after the date. And I was told by old people who could see something was wrong. So, they said go home. So, I left. Two days later, I learnt that people were killed. So, that made us to even fight more because we realised it was a serious struggle. These are some of the experiences I would not forget but also including coming here. So, I have a friend who works at the airport and I asked him how is Lagos and he said Lagos is Lagos. So, I said that is fine because we have something like welcome to Johannesburg. But someone would say this is Lagos and I hope you understand what that means. But, it is a warmth hospitality, nice people here. They would tell me what to do. They tell me to always negotiate when I am in the market. They said you don’t pay at the call of the first price. And ever since, it has been working. So, now I can negotiate whenever I want to buy something in the market.
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