Tribute: Mario Gatto Wanza, a pillar of Manenberg’s struggle, dies at 59

Mario Gatto Wanza, an iconic figure in the Manenberg community, passed away on Wednesday, 24 December, at the age of 59.

Wanza came into his own during the national uprising in 1985, when he led Manenberg students in joining the revolt against Apartheid. He was central to building powerful student and youth organisations in Manenberg.

He formed part of a collective of community leaders who constituted a formidable broad front of civic, political and youth organisations in Manenberg during the 1980s and up to the election of a democratic government in 1994.

Mario was defined by his commitment to practical politics instead of sterile ideology. To him, the day-to-day struggles of ordinary people constituted the basis of all politics.

Their organisation into structures to which they could relate was the logical consequence of this principle. Wanza threw his energy into the structures that most needed him at any given moment- student or youth organisations, civic politics, the United Democratic Front and then as an organiser in the trade union movement. Mario’s commitment to workers' rights extended to his work as a commissioner at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), where he made an active contribution to the country’s labour jurisprudence.

Throughout his life, Wanza worked towards peace in working-class communities. He was a consistent figure in the struggle to bring peace to Manenberg and served as a mediator between warring factions in the taxi industry in the Western Cape. With all the options of formal politics available to him in the democratic dispensation, Wanza instead chose to build People’s Power through supporting the education of underprivileged youth in Manenberg and the establishment of Proudly Manenberg.

The Proudly Manenberg initiative became a model for similar initiatives across the Western Cape, setting the benchmark for community-centred development, empowerment and politics. Wanza was, unlike many modern politicians, rooted among the people. He had the lived experience of growing up and living among the urban poor.

He was unapologetic about his politics, even when this created discomfort for those who had settled into ways of engagement driven by protocol instead of substance. Gatto, his taken name as he pursued a decolonial form of radical politics, challenged the stale and conventional politics that have come to characterise the nation’s political leaders. His challenge to the Eurocentric law and worldview through which many continue to interpret South Africa predates what has now become a common Afrocentric politics.

Mario was a team player and always worked with people in teams through careful consultation, discussion, and action. He always sought the advice of others, though his decisions were his and he owned it as suchnot always implementing advice received from others. He had an unshakeable belief in radical change, change which he propagated and fought for throughout his life.

In the process, his commitment to that societal change always shone through and disrupted the thinking of many comfortable comrades. Gatto lived a big and wonderful life outside of politics. He loved music and was an avid football player. Mario Gatto Wanza was principled, loved his community, and left behind an army of progressive activists, to whose development he contributed from the 1980s to his dying breath.

He will be fondly remembered by his family, loved ones, the people of Manenberg, and his comrades across the country.

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