SCORES of members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) -the paramilitary wing of the ANC during the fight against apartheid, and some members of the late freedom fighters have undergone private security training, which enables them to get jobs to feed their families.
The commander of the group, national interim committee member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Pearl Gasa, said they approached Bishop Michael Sandlana of the International Pentecost Holiness Church (IHPC) over the plight of the veterans and some families of the late fighters who are based in KwaZulu-Natal.
A prestigious event was held at the IPHC’s Jerusalem premises in the North West, where members of the group who have undergone private security training received their certificates and were also offered jobs.
“We were here to pray. Some weeks ago, the bishop asked us where the soldiers (the MK veterans are) and what are they doing. We responded to him by saying that the soldiers are there, but they are highly frustrated. We told him that their children do not have anything; they do not have jobs,” said Gasa.
“I was then asked to bring them to undergo the training process. I explained that I had submitted around 100 applications to the Department of Military Veterans for the veterans to be trained in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, but that didn't happen as the department did not assist us with the training,” she said.
“We are gathered here to thank Lion (Sandlana, also known as Tau by his followers), because those people who came to be trained have indeed been trained and are receiving their certificates. They are very pleased that at least now they can put food on the table and feed their families and their relatives who were hungry.”
A former MK combatant, Thandeka Nxele from KZN, said she had been sitting at home, “troubled and hungry”.
“I am a member of umkhonto we Sizwe. I joined Umkhonto we Sizwe so that I can defend the ANC. We do defend the ANC, but at the end of the day our needs are not met as members of umkhonto we Sizwe. When we were trained as members of uMkhonto we Sizwe, we were told to defend the ANC as it is our banner. Time has gone by; we are sitting at home; we were troubled, and we were hungry,” she said.
Another former combatant, Sibahle Dludlu, said his hopes of partaking in the proceeds of a prosperous, democratic South Africa had faded over the years.
“My combat name is Dabulamanzi. I joined Umkhonto we Sizwe in the early nineties, and at that time it was very tough, but we stood firm because we knew where we were going and we wanted to liberate our country. At the time when we did our training, it was tough because the whites were not playing around; it was not eating pap and vleis,” he said.
“We have been participating in elections, hoping and praying that our lives would change. We were also getting a lot of promises that one day we would get this and that, and even now we were still waiting. Now it is 30 years later, years after this country was given back to the majority black people, but nothing was done for us.”
“Even now, we're still getting empty promises. We are hungry, and our kids are hungry, too. Our lives are difficult. The DMV (department of military veterans) has taken us for a ride, giving us endless empty promises, but fortunately, by God's grace and luck, we came to this place where we met Lion of Judah of IPHC, where we got helped to get this opportunity to study and get training in VIP (protection), which is very important and very costly,” he said.
Dludlu highlighted that he was not part of the popular church, rated as one of Southern Africa’s biggest denominations with an estimated three million devotees across the region.
Another veteran, Zingu Ngubane from Pietermaritzburg, said he joined umkhonto we Sizwe in 1983, having been an active member of the ANC.
"After I joined Umkhonto we Sizwe, I then lived out of the country. I stayed in Lesotho, then went to Tanzania, then proceeded to Angola. I was too young at the time; I was only 17 in 1983. Our unit was called Young Lions. It was Oliver Tambo who called us the young lions because we didn't want to go to school; we wanted to go to the army, but he would persuade us to go to school. I refused,” Ngubane narrated.
“We all refused. I insisted that we wanted guns so that we can fight for the people of South Africa. From Angola, I later went to the then Soviet Union to learn intelligence and counter-intelligence. I then went to the then Yugoslavia.”
In his later years, Ngubane said he joined and served in the South African Air Force before he resigned.
With the assistance of the IPHC, Ngubane said he had been through different forms of training and had now set his sights on studying towards a degree in psychology.
“He has absorbed us and employed us. With this employment, I now want to improve myself, my family and even my community,” he said.
On behalf of the Tau Project, which funded the training, Japhter Baloyi said assistance was offered to the needy individuals despite their religious persuasions or political affiliations.
Baloyi said of the 18 trained individuals, 14 were former military veterans, and four beneficiaries were the children of former combatants.
“We are helping everyone. This is not the beginning or the end of helping anyone. We do not discriminate based on any religious beliefs; whatever you believe in, either you are a Christian, Muslim or you come from any nation ‒ our father helps because he is a God who helps everyone,” said Baloyi.
“Now what the nation needs to know is that this help that our Lord helps with, through the Tau Project, it is not because we receive any financial assistance or we are affiliated with any business people or companies. Our congregation contributes money and gets hands-on so that these events can occur.”
IOL