Phakama Mdantsane, phakama (stand up). The letter by Thabang Maseko “Treasure Mdantsane” (DD, April 14) refers.
I am not going to deal with or trace the etymology of the word Mdazana or Mdantsane per se, that’s a discourse for another day. Rather I am going to indulge in the highlights and good things I recollect about my township.
But first, I fully support Thabang’s view that Mdantsane must be treasured. This township is a microcosm of the republic of South Africa. Yet its positive stories and history have not been fully or satisfactorily told.
Indeed if one Googles Mdantsane there’s little about the second biggest township in the country despite its rich tapestry of history, politics, sports, arts and culture.
Mdantsane is famously known as the Mecca of boxing in South Africa because of the prowess of the boxers of yesteryear. To mention a few: Happyboy Nkosana Mgxaji, Welile Nkosenkulu, Mzukisi “Wonder Boy” Sikweyiya, and the world champions Welcome “The Whack” Ncita and Vuyani “The Beast” Bungu, Mveleli Luzipho and Odwa “ Old Bones” Mdleleni. There are many more young guns who currently hold international boxing titles.
These boxing athletes are very important because they put our township on the map in South Africa and internationally. It would be appropriate for Mdantsane to have a boxing museum to honour our boxers, past and present.
Football has also been very big in Mdantsane. Even one of our former boxing champions played soccer but left it because of his boxing career.
In the late 1970s and 80s soccer games and tournaments were played at the NU7 soccer ground, Greenpoint. Now the stadium is owned by cricketers. Another soccer ground was Gomoro at NU3 and later soccer was, and is still played at eTafilene in NU6 opposite Nqubela Hospital.
In the late 70s a fine Mdantsane son, the late Madala “Shoes” Ramncwana had a shot in the trials for Kaizer Chiefs. Unfortunately he did not make it as a professional, not because he could not make the grade but due to regional politics – he came from Mdantsane. This football maestro’s story should be told.
Rugby has also been very big in Mdantsane. I may not be so well versed on this subject, but my peers who reside in NU1 (Kwa 1) are well informed. The game was played there and is still today.
NU2 once boasted a pool that attracted all the young people of Mdantsane who learnt to swim there. This pool also produced lifeguards who could be employed by the municipality to protect and save people from drowning in the sea during festive season or on holidays.
It is a shame that the swimming pool is not functional now and dilapidated. Rather it is a haven for thugs and notorious criminals involved in anti-social activities such as rape, mugging people and abusing substances.
It would be great if Buffalo City Metro would speed up plans to revive and revamp the pool so that we too can produce excellent township swimmers who can compete everywhere and even have a chance to represent South Africa abroad.
In terms of culture I remember there was never a dull moment in Mdantsane.
We used to watch films at the NU9 Roman Catholic Church. A white father was responsible for that – I don’t know his name, maybe Kasi Lam could find out?
Later Empolweni was the place to go to watch movies. It is next to Nontyatyambo Clinic, a place currently used by a church.
There was also the Mdantsane Civic Theatre next to Highway Taxi Rank, where the Boxer store is situated. Choral music competitions and theatrical plays were staged there. Sometimes karate or amateur boxing tournaments were held there, also table tennis contests, dance competitions and most artistic activities.
We had the Saule general store which sold groceries and fast food downstairs and had an entertainment club called Egardini upstairs. On the other side was a fitness centre and a building where upholstery is still done today.
There was a time that Mdantsane township was infected by notorious gangs such us the Supremes, Cool and the Gang, Amadamara, Ngxola Boys and Waya-Waya. They made our township ungovernable, robbing, killing and raping. But the gangsters were politically bankrupt, they lack politics entirely.
The elders recruited them to the ANC and PAC and their lives changed for the better. They became responsible members of the community and political activists, responding to the clarion call to join Umkhonto weSizwe and the Azanian People’s Liberation Army. The political formations did superb work. Some former gangsters are even church leaders now.
We can never downplay the role of the men and women of substance in the liberation struggle, in various platforms such as the labour movement, sports and the church. This is another area of Mdantsane that the Kasi Lam initiative should research.
I have high respect for Vukile Pokwana who wrote a book about Mdantsane marking the township’s 50th anniversary.
As I read Mdantsane Jubilee and All That Jazz I realised there is so much more about the story of Mdantsane that needs to be fully documented. There are many stories, such as the struggle of the hawkers (umzabalazo wonobhlansi) and the story of the lay preacher uTata Ungi, Mdantsane’s own Allan Boesak, that should be preserved and celebrated.
Tata Ungidi was a very short man with albinism. He was a unionist who presided over many funerals of political activists – at the time the Ciskei and apartheid police were harassing our people. He was buried in Mdantsane and the informal settlement at NU8 is named after him, but I’ll bet that most people who reside there don’t know about him.
On the issue of development, there was once the Mdantsane urban renewal programme (Murp) that people still ask about today. Mdantsane was chosen in 2001 by the then president Thabo Mbeki as one of eight nodes across the country to be prioritised for development and poverty alleviation. The Mdantsane programme was launched by Buffalo City municipality in October 2003 with various strategies, including the speeding up of infrastructure implementation.
Apart from an office at the Mdantsane library there is little to show for Murp. And certainly it needs to be done.
Currently the grassroots initiative Kasi Lam is both positive and popular. Hopefully it will have a good spinoff for tourism and local economic development.
I close with the words of Pokwana, who threw down a challenge to the people of Mdantsane: “Your township is awakening. Seize the moment and claim your rightful place in the annals of history.”
Lamla Gush is a community activist born and bred in Mdantsane
Revitalise the forgotten glory days of Mdantsane
I am not going to deal with or trace the etymology of the word Mdazana or Mdantsane per se, that’s a discourse for another day. Rather I am going to indulge in the highlights and good things I recollect about my township.
But first, I fully support Thabang’s view that Mdantsane must be treasured. This township is a microcosm of the republic of South Africa. Yet its positive stories and history have not been fully or satisfactorily told.
Indeed if one Googles Mdantsane there’s little about the second biggest township in the country despite its rich tapestry of history, politics, sports, arts and culture.
Mdantsane is famously known as the Mecca of boxing in South Africa because of the prowess of the boxers of yesteryear. To mention a few: Happyboy Nkosana Mgxaji, Welile Nkosenkulu, Mzukisi “Wonder Boy” Sikweyiya, and the world champions Welcome “The Whack” Ncita and Vuyani “The Beast” Bungu, Mveleli Luzipho and Odwa “ Old Bones” Mdleleni. There are many more young guns who currently hold international boxing titles.
These boxing athletes are very important because they put our township on the map in South Africa and internationally. It would be appropriate for Mdantsane to have a boxing museum to honour our boxers, past and present.
Football has also been very big in Mdantsane. Even one of our former boxing champions played soccer but left it because of his boxing career.
In the late 1970s and 80s soccer games and tournaments were played at the NU7 soccer ground, Greenpoint. Now the stadium is owned by cricketers. Another soccer ground was Gomoro at NU3 and later soccer was, and is still played at eTafilene in NU6 opposite Nqubela Hospital.
In the late 70s a fine Mdantsane son, the late Madala “Shoes” Ramncwana had a shot in the trials for Kaizer Chiefs. Unfortunately he did not make it as a professional, not because he could not make the grade but due to regional politics – he came from Mdantsane. This football maestro’s story should be told.
Rugby has also been very big in Mdantsane. I may not be so well versed on this subject, but my peers who reside in NU1 (Kwa 1) are well informed. The game was played there and is still today.
NU2 once boasted a pool that attracted all the young people of Mdantsane who learnt to swim there. This pool also produced lifeguards who could be employed by the municipality to protect and save people from drowning in the sea during festive season or on holidays.
It is a shame that the swimming pool is not functional now and dilapidated. Rather it is a haven for thugs and notorious criminals involved in anti-social activities such as rape, mugging people and abusing substances.
It would be great if Buffalo City Metro would speed up plans to revive and revamp the pool so that we too can produce excellent township swimmers who can compete everywhere and even have a chance to represent South Africa abroad.
In terms of culture I remember there was never a dull moment in Mdantsane.
We used to watch films at the NU9 Roman Catholic Church. A white father was responsible for that – I don’t know his name, maybe Kasi Lam could find out?
Later Empolweni was the place to go to watch movies. It is next to Nontyatyambo Clinic, a place currently used by a church.
There was also the Mdantsane Civic Theatre next to Highway Taxi Rank, where the Boxer store is situated. Choral music competitions and theatrical plays were staged there. Sometimes karate or amateur boxing tournaments were held there, also table tennis contests, dance competitions and most artistic activities.
We had the Saule general store which sold groceries and fast food downstairs and had an entertainment club called Egardini upstairs. On the other side was a fitness centre and a building where upholstery is still done today.
There was a time that Mdantsane township was infected by notorious gangs such us the Supremes, Cool and the Gang, Amadamara, Ngxola Boys and Waya-Waya. They made our township ungovernable, robbing, killing and raping. But the gangsters were politically bankrupt, they lack politics entirely.
The elders recruited them to the ANC and PAC and their lives changed for the better. They became responsible members of the community and political activists, responding to the clarion call to join Umkhonto weSizwe and the Azanian People’s Liberation Army. The political formations did superb work. Some former gangsters are even church leaders now.
We can never downplay the role of the men and women of substance in the liberation struggle, in various platforms such as the labour movement, sports and the church. This is another area of Mdantsane that the Kasi Lam initiative should research.
I have high respect for Vukile Pokwana who wrote a book about Mdantsane marking the township’s 50th anniversary.
As I read Mdantsane Jubilee and All That Jazz I realised there is so much more about the story of Mdantsane that needs to be fully documented. There are many stories, such as the struggle of the hawkers (umzabalazo wonobhlansi) and the story of the lay preacher uTata Ungi, Mdantsane’s own Allan Boesak, that should be preserved and celebrated.
Tata Ungidi was a very short man with albinism. He was a unionist who presided over many funerals of political activists – at the time the Ciskei and apartheid police were harassing our people. He was buried in Mdantsane and the informal settlement at NU8 is named after him, but I’ll bet that most people who reside there don’t know about him.
On the issue of development, there was once the Mdantsane urban renewal programme (Murp) that people still ask about today. Mdantsane was chosen in 2001 by the then president Thabo Mbeki as one of eight nodes across the country to be prioritised for development and poverty alleviation. The Mdantsane programme was launched by Buffalo City municipality in October 2003 with various strategies, including the speeding up of infrastructure implementation.
Apart from an office at the Mdantsane library there is little to show for Murp. And certainly it needs to be done.
Currently the grassroots initiative Kasi Lam is both positive and popular. Hopefully it will have a good spinoff for tourism and local economic development.
I close with the words of Pokwana, who threw down a challenge to the people of Mdantsane: “Your township is awakening. Seize the moment and claim your rightful place in the annals of history.”
Lamla Gush is a community activist born and bred in Mdantsane
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