Enkosi Tata Madiba

As a little Amakwerere* girl who grew up in post-apartheid South Africa I owe a lot to Nelson Mandela and the other freedom fighters. I was raised in Umtata (still lovingly spell it that way not Mthatha) a few kilometres away from Qunu, Nelson Mandela’s ancestral home. 

Let me start with my education: I was fortunate enough to attend the best schools South Africa had to offer and not barred from them because I was black. This enabled me to have a good head start in life: it shaped my thinking and who I am today. It is a privilege I would have been denied had I been born a few generations earlier but thanks to Nelson Mandela’s struggle to end apartheid I was accorded this privilege.

In 1994, the year Nelson Mandela took power I was in grade four at Transkei Primary School. The best primary school in Umtata which had been previously reserved for white children but with the end of apartheid had to accept black children. I felt very special to be admitted to such a prestigious school and be taught by the best teachers in the town. It was a heartwarming feeling to know that I could belong to such an elite and exclusive class.

Through my exceptional performance at Transkei Primary School I was able to go to one of the best girl schools in South Africa: Clarendon Girls High School based In East London. I recall the drives from Umtata to East London that my family would undertake as an outing. Every time we passed the sign post that bore the Clarendon name and emblem I would say to my Daddy: “That’s my dream school. I want to go there for high school”

You can imagine my joy when in 2002 I was granted a position at the prestigious Clarendon Girls High School.  This granted me the chance to interact with children from different walks of life and colours, which enriched my life and taught me acceptance of all people.

Even the chance to study in English not Afrikaans as the apartheid government had wished is a blessing. This I have to thank not just Nelson Mandela but the freedom fighters too who died for my right to study in English.  Although I studied Afrikaans as a second language, it was a choice not a command.

I owe not just my sound education and the opportunities it has brought me to Madiba but my identity too.  I am Amakwerere. Nelson Mandela fought for a rainbow nation that accepts all peoples. He fought against white domination as well as black domination.

It is so painful that as an Amakwerere girl I experienced black on black racism. Some people resented me because I worked hard to get good grades and went to the finest schools. Others disliked me because I did not know the playground games well or speak Xhosa fluently or just because I had an English first name. It would puzzle me as a child and I hated to be called Amakwerere on the playground.  

Then I grew up and learnt to let it go.  When I was young I could not fully comprehend why Nelson Mandela was revered by the whole world then I experienced xenophobia and it took an enormous amount of strength to forgive and let go. Then I understood why it is amazing to forgive people who took away 27 years of your life.

One of my most profound moments came just before I left South Africa for Uganda, during a life orientation class, the teacher was filling in a survey on the diverse backgrounds of the class. She was also handing out ‘Proudly South African’ badges at the same time. I declined the badge but my Xhosa friend understanding only too well why I refused the badge told me that in the rainbow nation there’s a stripe for me too. She said I belonged to South Africa as much as she did. My world changed suddenly the burden of being Amakwerere was lifted and the sting was lost.

That’s  the South Africa Nelson Mandela fought for so that an Amakwerere girl like me can be afforded the opportunities that I have and for that I am grateful. Thank you Tata Madiba.

*Amakwerere is a derogatory Xhosa term for a black foreign national from Africa.