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An interview with Simon Vilakazi, son of Chief Vilakazi and secretary for the Matimatsatsi Tribal Authority, by Dale McKinley and Ahmed Veriava.
An interview with Simon Vilakazi, son of Chief Vilakazi and secretary for the Matimatsatsi Tribal Authority, by Dale McKinley and Ahmed Veriava.
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Project name: Alternative History Project
Date of interview: 2007-06-11
Location of interview: Maandagshoek, Limpopo
Language of interview: English
Name of Interviewer/s: Dale McKinley & Ahmed Veriava
Name of Interviewee/s: Simon Vilakazi
Name of transcriber: Moses Moremi
Audio file name: AHP_MAA_VilakaziSimon_20070611
INTERVIEW WITH SIMON VILAKAZI
DM: Okay, first of all thank you very much for agreeing to talk with us, can you just give your full name, your position in the community ... Where you born here, how long have you been in this community?
SV: First of all, I am Simon Vilakazi, I was born here in 1977 by the 3rd of February, so in the community, I am acting as an alternate Tribal Secretary, I am doing a lot on Secretarial duty in tribal authority.
DM: What we want to do in this interview is we want to combine a little bit of your personal history and some of your life here in the community with some of the politics and things that were going on ... You were born in 1977, how was it, can you describe to us how it was like growing up here in this community under apartheid?
SV: Even though I was still young by that time I can still remember some of the things ... okay then it was quite difficult for us to live under such undeveloped situation, say for instance like as you can see our road is very ugly, is poor and the development in general is not up to standard, so of course we are struggling a little bit on that one, so for many things like shopping we have to travel for long distance, it was a problem on that one.
DM: Okay and what about the relationship with the authorities at that time during the 1980s ... Was there a lot of struggle going on here, can you tell us something about that?
SV: Like I said I was still young. Some of the things I can remember very well is that we were being chased up and down by the apartheid, at the time we were running up and down to the mountains for ...say something like ... I'm sorry to use these words ... the white people were always coming here, sometimes they were talking about that we must be relocated from where we are staying because it's their farms, something like that, we were struggling by that time.
DM: Tell us a little something about your schooling during that time period, what was it like?
SV: Also the schooling it was a bit of a problem. Of course we had a primary in our community near just by that side, at least by that level of the primary it was still better, the problem emanated when we have to travel for long distance to our high school, it is far ... plus/minus 13KM from here, so we struggled a bit because of crime on the road, we were walking on foot, the rains and stuff like that ... we were struggling there.
DM: And in the schools at that time, let's say by that time, by the late 1980s ... was there quite a lot of political activities at schools?
SV: Yes, like we were sometimes taking part in say, the youth parties, as a youth, what are you doing in your community, sometimes having a get together as youth, discussing how to go through the crime in our community, how can we participate in the community, how can we keep ourselves busy in the community as youngsters like soccer, all of that stuff, enjoying our selves, games something like that.
DM: Okay now by the time ... if you were born in 1977 ... by the time political changes started happening in the country in the early 1990s, so you were a teenager at that point ... Tell us how you felt when Mandela was released and the talks started happening and it was expected that maybe things were going to be changing quite soon ... how did you feel as a young man by that time?
SV: You see something came to my mind that obviously I would be living under freedom, that's the point and then the second point was that most of the things like development wise obviously we would be getting new development rather than ... because in the previous days we were, we used to upgrade our roads ourselves, getting someone to upgrade and pay that person to upgrade our roads ... so for sure I thought something nice would happen like development wise.
DM: Okay so what were you expecting, not just for the community but for yourself? How did you look at the future at that point, because that you were probably 15, 16 years old?
SV: Obvious what came to my mind is that I have to work hard first of all to live in such a way a proper and better life you have to be educated, I have to go to school. I make sure that my future is going to be bright, because I mean according to me if you are not educated then you are going to be behind, because some of the things you are not going to distinguish between the good and the bad.
DM: Okay and tell us a little bit how you came to be part of ... you said you are an administrative secretary ... so tell us a little bit about that side of the history of the tribal council and other things.
SV: Okay say before I could come to that point. I used to be a secretary in most of the organizations ... in our football ground I have to be a secretary, in our Church I have to be a secretary, so that experience of secretary is my priority in all the things. So coming to our tribal authorities, yes I am doing the duty of secretary, most of the time as a secretary I have to book everything that is said in the authority, say the registration in general of the people living around here, what is happening about the development, how to handle cases, if the cases here like the minor cases, before they can be reported at the police station they have to start here. So that's part of my duty, that's what I am doing at this stage.
DM: And are you in that position, because you are one of the more educated members in terms of being able to read and write and all sorts of other things?
SV: Yes I can as so, because you see the problem for the school to be far from us, some of the people they struggle to get there and money wise is also counting on that issue, so most of the people here are not educated that much ... we are just a few. That's why I had the opportunity to be as a secretary.
DM: So when 27 April 1994 happened, the election of Mandela as President and the changing from the old apartheid ... how did that make you feel at that point when it happened actually on that day?
SV: You see in 1994 I was still under age by that time I was still unable to vote. They left us at home. my mates and downwards we were left at home by that time but they told us when they came back that it was interesting and most of the people never believed what they saw and most of the people were positive about the future, about the issues that will happen after the votes.
DM: So even though you were unable to vote and participate through that April 1994, how would you describe what you and this community here expected to happen after that, because you were saying you expected development. What specifically did in your community expect to happen?
SV: Say because it was five years after 1994 the next vote if I am not wrong that was in 1999, that was my first opportunity to get to vote. So after I crossed there I felt happy because like I said of the development in our village it was so poor. First of all I told myself we would have a nice get together because we were running out of electricity obviously, we were going to have electricity, they are going to upgrade sanitation wise everything that's giving us a problem in our community so I think and thought it's going to be a better life for us all as we voted.
DM: And what about employment? What were ... in 1995, 1996 employment wise ... what were the opportunities for you and your colleagues, your mates as you call them.
SV: I remember the time when I was still at school in standard six I went through a certain document talking about the political stories, so there was one sentence telling me about after 1994 ... after 1994 that time we would have opportunities to work in a near by situation, we were not going to travel that much. So after that I heard of most of the mines coming in South Africa, so I told myself that was a real thing that I heard about freedom, so I can see that it's coming now we have companies near by the mines are here.
DM: So when was the first time that the mines came in to the community that you had to start dealing with the mines as a tribal authority?
SV: It was early 2000
DM: And up until that point by 2000 ... six years after 1994 ... had things changed, had you had those things that you talked about, expecting the upgrading of the roads, electricity, sanitation, the schooling, the shops, what was the situation at that stage?
SV: In general let me say ...I am sorry to say that our government was dragging their foot on that one. If you can check, you use this road to come here, you can see it is still not upgraded, likely we can say the electricity is here, even though it is not finished.
DM: Okay, Simon just to pick up on what you were saying ... the government is dragging its foot, can you just explain?
SV: Why I say that, you see after 2000 nothing, from what they said about the development have been done up to now, not including the electricity they have just started now with the electricity. Couple of years after 1994 say like the road is still not upgraded, the water we just get it from the mine and our municipality got together to help us with the water, but only last year. That is why I am saying our government is dragging their feet, because most of the things we got them later, even though some of the things we are still behind them, most of them.
DM: When did you matric, did you complete standard ten?
SV: Yes, it was in 2000
DM: When you were going to school in 1999, 1998 and 1999, where were you going to school, how far did you have to go?
SV: Like I have said our secondary school is 13KM from here, standard six till standard twelve, so I was going there, some of my mates were younger than me so it was a discretion coming to that one.
DM: And the transportation situation?
SV: There was no transport, we have to walk on foot and the issue of crime we were also struggling on coming to that one some of our ladies were chased away by people on the roads something like that, so it was a very big problem when coming to and from school.
DM: By 1997 you were 20 years old by that time and becoming a young man ... what did you feel, how did you feel about those kinds of situations ... not seeing much changes, how did that make you feel?
SV: You see I told myself by that time that if I were a president, I was going to ... you see the issue with the development I think the only way to be sorted out, is to actually visit all the wards, all the wards to be visited and checked if, say there was a budget from the government, so to make a follow up on that budget and if that was done. Because you may find our government is giving us a budget so that our wards councilors can do one, two, three things, so make sure that everything is done, so if they had a stage whereby they come down to the ground and check if our budget were done to be,. So I think that will sort out the problem, that's why now there is no development in our community.
DM: Okay, can you give us an indication or sense ... what -since you have been the secretary of the tribal authority - what were you trying to do to get in touch with the authorities to make them come and pay attention to the situation in this area?
SV: I used to advise our councilors including Chief that we must sometimes write some letters to our municipality/our local government in general just to update them on what is happening in our community, that we are still lacking one, two, three things, as a secretary it was my duty to do so.
DM: What was their response?
SV: Yes, some of the things were responding say, for example upgrading the road from Skirnot. We've got our local government in Skirnot, they were sometimes sending us some TLBs and some upgrading machines once in six months to upgrade, so it was from say two to three years back up to now, there is nothing happening again.
DM: When you talked about the next elections being in 1999, that was the first time you were able to vote. Mr. Mandela went off the scene and Mr. Mbeki, Thabo Mbeki became president in 1999. From that point on were there any changes that you saw because of the change in leadership at the government level.
SV: I can say just few changes according to me, because, what I would like to identify is if there is some changes, they have to happen in our community as well, not above there. There must be changes from above till the bottom, so I can't see any changes in my surrounding community that's why I say few, like we see in the television, so I can't say they did a lot, because in our community we are still poor.
DM: So during that time, was there any starting up of Community Forums or Ward Forums or IDP's or these kinds of things that were trying to listen towards what you had to say here, about the needs in the community?
SV: Yes, we had to get together most of the time like say we had our Women's League Forums, we had the Youth Forum and the Community Policing. We had to get together to sort out some of the problems. Also we used to get our ward councillor to advise us on what directions must we take, we had to be together to talk about the development in general.
DM: Now we are just shifting. You were saying the first mining activity begun in about 2000 here, so describe how was it for you when you saw this mine coming in, what did you think, what was the talk amongst the communities about the mine coming to prospect for platinum?
SV: Okay, during the time we were still busy talking with the mine, consultation period.
DM: When was that consultation period?
SV: It was in the middle of 2000, I am not sure of the months.
DM: How was things with ARM or Anglo ... who were you consulting with?
SV: The first time it was the consultants from the Anglo itself, they came here and talked with us that they are going to start a mine here and due to the new standards and rules we had after 1994 they have to talk to the people who are staying on that place. We have to negotiate and how it is going to be, the operation of the mine, how are they going to develop the community, the surrounding communities. So they came here that was the Anglo Platinum staff After that came ARM and those directors said the same story as Anglo, they said they were going to mine here, they were going to work hand in hand with the Anglo Platinum, they are going to develop. They mentioned most of the things like developing the surrounding community, they were going to get rid of the unemployed people around here, they will be working nearby, they will be training people, most of the staff they promised us by that consultation time.
DM: They just promised you that in meetings, here-talking or did they put everything in writing?
SV: By that time I was not a secretary yet, there was a certain lady, we had to write something down and they also wrote down. But there was nothing says like something like cameras or videos, we were just writing down.
DM: There was no formal agreement between the community and the mines.
SV: Exactly DM: But they were just making the promises. SV: Exactly.
DM: So what happened after that consultation process?
SV: So after that consultation process they started bringing their machines, they started the upgrading of the places where they were going to mine. So we kept on talking to each other, consulting about the mine itself, how are we going to benefit from the mine. They were talking about starting some companies ... there were two companies in section 21, that those are the companies that the surrounding communities will benefit from them ... some outcome from those development companies and section 21. So they had a criteria whereby we are going to use the directors to talk with the mine, every single complaint or input to the mine by the community it will go to the mine through the directors, so they will be talking hand in hand with the directors. So we had the first directors in December 2001, if I am not wrong. So it was going to be quite nice by that time so the issue is what surprised us as a community even if it is still surprising us even now is all the promises they did told us about, nothing is happening up to now. If you check the roads it's still like it was before, they only managed to put some gravel rocks on the roads but that does not help we are still stuck, because we had to talk to them to put some gravel rocks for the meantime as we get stuck during rain falls. So since they did that they didn't do anything to upgrade or put a permanent road that we can use, say like electricity, although we know that they were not supposed to according to them they were not in position to give us electricity/ They told us they will work in hand with our municipality to give us electricity but nothing happened by that stage up to now where the municipality due to the budget that they gave to us, they managed to give us electricity and that's the only thing we got. They also managed to give us water, there is the pipe line of water as you can see and that's the only thing provided by the mine to the community.
DM: And what happened with the employment issues?
SV: With the employment issues ... as stated they promised that they would employ surrounding people here and we also told them that in our community we have a problem, because most people are not educated, let's say 70% of them are not educated, so how are you going to handle that situation. What are you going to do about those people, because they also deserve to eat, they have the democratic right to get something at the end of the month. What they told us is that they will send our people to specific training, they will employ those people who are capable to work, yes they did that but not to a point where we were satisfied, because most of our people you can see we are a too small community say 60-70% of people in this community are still not working yet, so that's the question mark we have as a community, are they doing what we agreed on or what's happening.
DM: Okay, just to get to the point of education. You were saying that the majority of people in the community are not educated. Someone like yourself who received an education, who went to school, you got your education you got your matric ... why do you think, what is it about, is it the fact that most people in the community, young people like yourself at the time had to work in the field, why is it that people are not getting educated?
SV: Okay like you see I mentioned before ... you see the problem is money wise, we are poor as you can see we are very poor, you can count some of the shelters which are built with cement, some of them and that's after some of us got employed by the mine itself, but before that there was nothing like lookable houses in our community. We struggled with school funds, money if you had to go to school you had to get something to eat, so most of our people didn't have that, because their parents were not working, luckily some of us, our parents by that time they were still under the surrounding mines (so) that's why we had a little bit of education by that time.
DM: So all during the 1990s and early 2000s in terms of school fees and transport and everything else, what you are saying is you had to take care of all that yourself ... nobody assisted you, the government didn't assist in any way?
SV: Not at all, we were trying by ourselves, our mothers and aunts, in general the woman around this village they were selling the clay pots in order for us to get something to eat and in order to pay for our schooling.
DM: And tell us about the schooling itself. What was the situation at the schools that the children in this community had to go to ... is there good schooling, was there a lack of text books, what were the teachers like?
SV: You see the problem that we came across as I was one of those people attending that side, the concentration in the classroom was not up to standard, because the time when the teacher is busy in front it comes to a point where you think about the journey back to home and that disturbs the mind set, the concentration in the school. You had to think about what am I going to eat during break time, the journey from school to home and you get home tired and sometimes you have to stay behind for the studies, then you arrive home around 5-6pm in the afternoon.
DM: Okay so just to get back. Once the mine started actually putting their infrastructure here, in other words, begin mining ... tell us what happened with regard to employment. You are employed by the mine aren't you, tell us a little bit about what happened with people getting employed by the mine in particular young people?
SV: Okay during the infrastructure period of the mine itself at least it was better because I can say 90-95% of our residents here were employed that time because it was still constructors, most of our people got an opportunity to work by that time. But now, after everything was done, when the constructors went away and the mine started to operate itself, yes there was decline of the graph about our people to get work. Some of them were deployed by the contractors, they send them home so we started to struggle and some of our people were signed permanent by the mine, but it is a small percentage of our people.
DM: And tell us ...we have heard from other people on the other side of the community about the section 21 company that was established from your side and this community. How did you involve yourself in that?
SV: Let me put it in this way ... we had the first directors, this is second round of directors. The first round we were included and the community was participating but now the second round of directors, there was another criteria used which was not up to standard according to the community of Matimatsatsi, everything was not actually going well like before and I am not saying it was good in the first round of directors, but what is happening now is even worse than before because the community itself we were not up to date with what was happening with the mine. By the first directors at least we had to get together, we were sharing information we got the production wise of the mine itself, we got some of the information but the second round because there was interruption and the criteria used afterwards was quite different from the previous one, we don't get any information from the mine even now we don't know anything about the mine.
DM: So what you are saying is that the community here is not involved in the second round of section 21 at all?
SV: Exactly, that is what is happening.
DM: Okay tell us a little something about how it is to work in the mine, how long have you been working in the mine?
SV: I am having now say, five years experience in mining.
DM: What have you been doing there in the mine, what kind of work?
SV: Firstly, I was employed like I said that time of the infrastructure of the mine, I was working for Group Five building the mine itself. I was working at the plant, you know the mine is consisting of the shafts and the plant, so I was working at the plant building there is something called silos there, the storage vessels from the underground we were building that structure of the plant, the floatation section, the milling you can name them, the crushing circle we were building the structure there. Then after that when they were finished building everything it came to a point whereby they needed matrics, everyone who did matric, for the training of the mine itself, they send us to training of the mine and it was categorised into two different ways - the people who will be trained by the plant itself and the people who will be trained about the mining. So I was part of the plant side. So they send us to different plants in Rustenburg, we went there and also to Randfontein ESTC in Gauteng province for the training of the plant itself and after that they employed us as full time employees. In our community we were only three who were employed by the mine, two from the plant side and only one for the mining side. We were trained for that job then after that I worked here at Modikwa for one and half years and after that I went to Marula Platinum Mine and am still working in Marula at this stage.
DM: Now after the training, what is your job description right now?
SV: After the training, I found that the training did a lot in my future actually in my life in general. Talking about Modikwa itself I started as a processor there, working at the milling section as I was working there I had to visit around the section for my own benefit just to learn more. After that I was acting as a team leader in different sections, after that when they recruited Marula Platinum mine, they were looking for the above level comparing to that processor as I was a processor at Modikwa mine, they were looking for a team leader so I applied. Luckily they got me that side as a team leader, so I had to lead most of the sections, actually the whole section in a plant and up to now I am still a team leader that side of Marula mine and the position above me is a chief superintendent and sometimes I became in charge of the whole plant if the chief superintendent is not around, I think is very huge development in my side.
DM: And are you satisfied with your conditions of employment, the salary they pay you, the working condition?
SV: Yes, since I left here at Modikwa to that side, at Marula I am satisfied with the payment. Because here it was a problem with money here at Modikwa we were getting less salary compare to what I am getting now.
DM: Were you part of the strike that just happened recently that was in Modikwa, so you were not there?
SV: Yes, I wasn't there anymore.
DM: So in your work in the mines, did you experience any racism between white employees and those who are not white?
SV: In general not, because myself in my shift I am the only black supervisor, the others are white. So up to now we are doing well, there is no racism we are actually doing well when coming to co-operation at work.
Ahmed Veriava (AV): I'm just curious, when you started working in the mine, what was the presence of the mine workers union?
SV: Okay, the union was also participating especially here at Modikwa, because that side at Marula in our plant we didn't have a union we are using a forum. Here at Modikwa there is a union, it was solving some of the employees problems by that time.
DM: We heard, when we were at that other side of the community the other day we came across a worker who is a winch operator. He is employed by the section 21 company in Modikwa, he works ten hours a day, he works six days a work and he gets R1100.00 a month. So, what I wanted to get is do you think that the mine in your experience attempted to divide the workers between those who are casualised and those who are not going to get paid and those that were going to be permanent because they were more skilled ?
SV: You see about the mine itself, especially Modikwa. The time when I was here, we were complaining about most things like that point you are saying, just now. There was allegations around by that time that every employee at Modikwa there is a certain percentage that they deduct from the salary to reach the section 21s and the others community companies. They said they were deducting 40% of that, of everyone's salary to that companies, that was some rumours I am not sure of and I think that could be the point with the winch operator.
DM: Did they give any indication what were they going to do with that 40%, that they were deducting. What was that money supposed to be going to?
SV: We only know it was going to those community companies, doing what I am not quite sure of that one.
DM: Okay so, we might have a situation were a company is set in the name of the community, is getting a lots of money, but the money is not coming back to the community.
SV: Exactly.
DM: As this community, have you investigated, have you asked what's going on in terms of that money taken out of workers salaries.
SV: You see that issue according to my understanding, that issue was supposed to be sorted out by the directors. As we agreed that every single problem that the community have, it has to go to the mine through the directors. So we had to deal with the directors to take the situation to the mine so that they would know about it. Because of the problem that we didn't work in hand with the directors that is why most of the things are still behind, we don't know how to talk to the mines, because these directors are not effective to us.
DM: Has this community here also been part of the protests and struggles that have been going on against the mine here in the last two or three years.
SV: Yes we took part there, because most complaints that people in the strike were complaining about is the same complaints we have this side, so had to support that strike.
DM: And what is your opinion of the response of the police and the local government to the community getting very angry about the situation
SV: You see according to some of the people that I heard, because I wasn't here that's the time I was working in Marula. ... I heard most of the guys saying most of the police agreed about what we were complaining about but not the way we were reacting. Because some of the people they were now reacting not in such a way that it will be accepted by the police themselves going beyond the rules, like forcing to get inside the premises whereby they were bounded not to enter but the police themselves agreed on what they were complaining about.
DM: Just a few more questions. You are in a situation now ... what you have described to us ... you are fully employed, you earn a decent salary, you are an educated man so your situation is quite satisfactory. But you come back to a community where things are not satisfactory, where most of your people in this community are still not working. How does that make you feel as someone who maybe has managed yourself because of your education ...got in a position which is a good one ... but the majority of your community is still down here?
SV: I feel upset on that one, really upset because I mean I cannot be in a situation whereby I am enjoying life alone and the others are not ... That's why we got in Mr. Spoor to help us on that situation concerning the mine to take most of our issues. We are not happy with most issues, things are not going right especially with the development, that they promised us, the development we have, it's not what we agreed. That's why we are using Mr. Spoor to help us with such situation and yes it's coming right with the communication with the mine itself including us, the community.
DM: And what do you think about this new mining company that started to prospect here down in the valley, do you know about this?
SV: Yes I know about it, but I am not having that much information about it. I just only heard about it on the radio and some of the people I work with asked them about it but they don't know anything.
DM: As a young educated man, what do you think is the role of the local government and the people who have been voted into power for the community to represent their interests ... what do you think their role is in this, trying to deal with the problems here?
SV: I think our government must intervene in this issue, they must get in and then try to sort out some of the problems. I mean we voted ... that the outcome of our voting is to get a better life and development you can name them but if there is a situation that as the community whereby we are not satisfied under the government, whereby we voted, obviously they must go in and sort out this problem. That's why our Kgoshi every now and then on a weekly basis is talking to our local government about the issues concerning the mine in connection with the development of the community.
DM: Okay we will be talking with him soon (Kgoshi) ... just on another couple of personal questions.. Do you have a family ... are you married?
SV: Yes, I do have a family. If you can check there that's my house (pointing) ... this one (pointing) this is my fathers and my parents home. I am married with only one daughter.
DM: One daughter, how old is your daughter?
SV: She is three years.
DM: She is three years.
SV: Yes.
DM: Do you see a bright future for your daughter in the next coming period as a young father?
SV: I think so because I am unlike my parents. My parents used to struggle before. At least I am in a situation that I am not compared to the situation of the previous years when my parents were still growing up. I think yes, she will get a better life as long as I can pull up my socks and also my wife can do that yes, we will come up with a very good future for our kid.
DM: And your own future? It seems like things are going quite well for you at the moment. If you had to look at the next, let's say 5-10 years, what do you see happening in this community? First of all what would you like to happen and what do you think is going to happen?
SV: From my side I think if we can ... you see communication is the key to everything ... communicate with our community and stand with one voice when going to the mine itself including our local government I think this is a very small community that can be upgraded within a few months. So I think if we can stick to communication including our local government and the mine itself because of our development here in future than this place will be fine and lookable.
DM: And you think the kind of expectations you have, particularly the younger generations, when you look around the people that are your age and the ones that are here, do you see a fairly bright future for them .We've talked to a lot of people in the community, on the other side there, and you know there is quite a lot of unemployment, there is quite a lot of drinking, quite a lot of things, because people are not able to be productive, particularly younger people. How do you see things as a younger person?
SV: You see when sometimes you get together as youngsters say at our play ground ... I use to mention something as youth - we must stick to a point whereby we look forward to our future, we mustn't concentrate on the previous things, we must look forward to our future and to have a better life in future. Obviously I think the first point is to be educated, because there is no way you can go without education and the problem with our youngsters here is that they prefer going to work than schooling, because they think that if they can work in time they will have anything they want. But the key that I use to tell them every time is that they must be educated. I don't mind if they go to work because of their hunger at home, but at the same time as they are employed, they must think of saving money and to further their education, so that they can have the better futures of their lives.
DM: Do you think in that case education should be free for all children in this country?
SV: Ja, I think our government can do up to standard, I think so.
DM: Did they announce here at the local schools the no fees policy, for people who can't afford those fees?
SV: Ja, our primary education this year we are not paying any fees. So I think the government is doing well on that one, because they helped us a lot, because most of our people are not working this year, I think they are coming alright.
DM: Last thing. Is there anything that you want - I mean this video that we are producing and recording is going to be read and seen by quite a number of people across the country - is there anything as a young leader in this community you want to say about that we haven't asked and we haven't addressed?
SV: Let me first say, I thank you for publishing this issue, I thank you very much because if it wasn't you to come to us and find out what is happening most of the countries and most of the people were not going to know about these things. So I am sure if, like I am sure if like I am speaking now, if you can check the surroundings ... we are poor, poor of the poorest, so even most of the people around the country could see everything that is happening here. The main issue is that on top of that we've got the mine nearby us, so we were looking forward actually to benefit from the mine, but we are next to them but nothing is happening. So I think if this is published everywhere most of the parties somewhere then they will intervene, there will be a go ahead on this one.
DM: We thank you very much for participating
SV: Thank you very much.
Simon Vilakazi; 2007-06-11; 1
Date of interview: 2007-06-11
Location of interview: Maandagshoek, Limpopo
Language of interview: English
Name of Interviewer/s: Dale McKinley & Ahmed Veriava
Name of Interviewee/s: Simon Vilakazi
Name of transcriber: Moses Moremi
Audio file name: AHP_MAA_VilakaziSimon_20070611
INTERVIEW WITH SIMON VILAKAZI
DM: Okay, first of all thank you very much for agreeing to talk with us, can you just give your full name, your position in the community ... Where you born here, how long have you been in this community?
SV: First of all, I am Simon Vilakazi, I was born here in 1977 by the 3rd of February, so in the community, I am acting as an alternate Tribal Secretary, I am doing a lot on Secretarial duty in tribal authority.
DM: What we want to do in this interview is we want to combine a little bit of your personal history and some of your life here in the community with some of the politics and things that were going on ... You were born in 1977, how was it, can you describe to us how it was like growing up here in this community under apartheid?
SV: Even though I was still young by that time I can still remember some of the things ... okay then it was quite difficult for us to live under such undeveloped situation, say for instance like as you can see our road is very ugly, is poor and the development in general is not up to standard, so of course we are struggling a little bit on that one, so for many things like shopping we have to travel for long distance, it was a problem on that one.
DM: Okay and what about the relationship with the authorities at that time during the 1980s ... Was there a lot of struggle going on here, can you tell us something about that?
SV: Like I said I was still young. Some of the things I can remember very well is that we were being chased up and down by the apartheid, at the time we were running up and down to the mountains for ...say something like ... I'm sorry to use these words ... the white people were always coming here, sometimes they were talking about that we must be relocated from where we are staying because it's their farms, something like that, we were struggling by that time.
DM: Tell us a little something about your schooling during that time period, what was it like?
SV: Also the schooling it was a bit of a problem. Of course we had a primary in our community near just by that side, at least by that level of the primary it was still better, the problem emanated when we have to travel for long distance to our high school, it is far ... plus/minus 13KM from here, so we struggled a bit because of crime on the road, we were walking on foot, the rains and stuff like that ... we were struggling there.
DM: And in the schools at that time, let's say by that time, by the late 1980s ... was there quite a lot of political activities at schools?
SV: Yes, like we were sometimes taking part in say, the youth parties, as a youth, what are you doing in your community, sometimes having a get together as youth, discussing how to go through the crime in our community, how can we participate in the community, how can we keep ourselves busy in the community as youngsters like soccer, all of that stuff, enjoying our selves, games something like that.
DM: Okay now by the time ... if you were born in 1977 ... by the time political changes started happening in the country in the early 1990s, so you were a teenager at that point ... Tell us how you felt when Mandela was released and the talks started happening and it was expected that maybe things were going to be changing quite soon ... how did you feel as a young man by that time?
SV: You see something came to my mind that obviously I would be living under freedom, that's the point and then the second point was that most of the things like development wise obviously we would be getting new development rather than ... because in the previous days we were, we used to upgrade our roads ourselves, getting someone to upgrade and pay that person to upgrade our roads ... so for sure I thought something nice would happen like development wise.
DM: Okay so what were you expecting, not just for the community but for yourself? How did you look at the future at that point, because that you were probably 15, 16 years old?
SV: Obvious what came to my mind is that I have to work hard first of all to live in such a way a proper and better life you have to be educated, I have to go to school. I make sure that my future is going to be bright, because I mean according to me if you are not educated then you are going to be behind, because some of the things you are not going to distinguish between the good and the bad.
DM: Okay and tell us a little bit how you came to be part of ... you said you are an administrative secretary ... so tell us a little bit about that side of the history of the tribal council and other things.
SV: Okay say before I could come to that point. I used to be a secretary in most of the organizations ... in our football ground I have to be a secretary, in our Church I have to be a secretary, so that experience of secretary is my priority in all the things. So coming to our tribal authorities, yes I am doing the duty of secretary, most of the time as a secretary I have to book everything that is said in the authority, say the registration in general of the people living around here, what is happening about the development, how to handle cases, if the cases here like the minor cases, before they can be reported at the police station they have to start here. So that's part of my duty, that's what I am doing at this stage.
DM: And are you in that position, because you are one of the more educated members in terms of being able to read and write and all sorts of other things?
SV: Yes I can as so, because you see the problem for the school to be far from us, some of the people they struggle to get there and money wise is also counting on that issue, so most of the people here are not educated that much ... we are just a few. That's why I had the opportunity to be as a secretary.
DM: So when 27 April 1994 happened, the election of Mandela as President and the changing from the old apartheid ... how did that make you feel at that point when it happened actually on that day?
SV: You see in 1994 I was still under age by that time I was still unable to vote. They left us at home. my mates and downwards we were left at home by that time but they told us when they came back that it was interesting and most of the people never believed what they saw and most of the people were positive about the future, about the issues that will happen after the votes.
DM: So even though you were unable to vote and participate through that April 1994, how would you describe what you and this community here expected to happen after that, because you were saying you expected development. What specifically did in your community expect to happen?
SV: Say because it was five years after 1994 the next vote if I am not wrong that was in 1999, that was my first opportunity to get to vote. So after I crossed there I felt happy because like I said of the development in our village it was so poor. First of all I told myself we would have a nice get together because we were running out of electricity obviously, we were going to have electricity, they are going to upgrade sanitation wise everything that's giving us a problem in our community so I think and thought it's going to be a better life for us all as we voted.
DM: And what about employment? What were ... in 1995, 1996 employment wise ... what were the opportunities for you and your colleagues, your mates as you call them.
SV: I remember the time when I was still at school in standard six I went through a certain document talking about the political stories, so there was one sentence telling me about after 1994 ... after 1994 that time we would have opportunities to work in a near by situation, we were not going to travel that much. So after that I heard of most of the mines coming in South Africa, so I told myself that was a real thing that I heard about freedom, so I can see that it's coming now we have companies near by the mines are here.
DM: So when was the first time that the mines came in to the community that you had to start dealing with the mines as a tribal authority?
SV: It was early 2000
DM: And up until that point by 2000 ... six years after 1994 ... had things changed, had you had those things that you talked about, expecting the upgrading of the roads, electricity, sanitation, the schooling, the shops, what was the situation at that stage?
SV: In general let me say ...I am sorry to say that our government was dragging their foot on that one. If you can check, you use this road to come here, you can see it is still not upgraded, likely we can say the electricity is here, even though it is not finished.
DM: Okay, Simon just to pick up on what you were saying ... the government is dragging its foot, can you just explain?
SV: Why I say that, you see after 2000 nothing, from what they said about the development have been done up to now, not including the electricity they have just started now with the electricity. Couple of years after 1994 say like the road is still not upgraded, the water we just get it from the mine and our municipality got together to help us with the water, but only last year. That is why I am saying our government is dragging their feet, because most of the things we got them later, even though some of the things we are still behind them, most of them.
DM: When did you matric, did you complete standard ten?
SV: Yes, it was in 2000
DM: When you were going to school in 1999, 1998 and 1999, where were you going to school, how far did you have to go?
SV: Like I have said our secondary school is 13KM from here, standard six till standard twelve, so I was going there, some of my mates were younger than me so it was a discretion coming to that one.
DM: And the transportation situation?
SV: There was no transport, we have to walk on foot and the issue of crime we were also struggling on coming to that one some of our ladies were chased away by people on the roads something like that, so it was a very big problem when coming to and from school.
DM: By 1997 you were 20 years old by that time and becoming a young man ... what did you feel, how did you feel about those kinds of situations ... not seeing much changes, how did that make you feel?
SV: You see I told myself by that time that if I were a president, I was going to ... you see the issue with the development I think the only way to be sorted out, is to actually visit all the wards, all the wards to be visited and checked if, say there was a budget from the government, so to make a follow up on that budget and if that was done. Because you may find our government is giving us a budget so that our wards councilors can do one, two, three things, so make sure that everything is done, so if they had a stage whereby they come down to the ground and check if our budget were done to be,. So I think that will sort out the problem, that's why now there is no development in our community.
DM: Okay, can you give us an indication or sense ... what -since you have been the secretary of the tribal authority - what were you trying to do to get in touch with the authorities to make them come and pay attention to the situation in this area?
SV: I used to advise our councilors including Chief that we must sometimes write some letters to our municipality/our local government in general just to update them on what is happening in our community, that we are still lacking one, two, three things, as a secretary it was my duty to do so.
DM: What was their response?
SV: Yes, some of the things were responding say, for example upgrading the road from Skirnot. We've got our local government in Skirnot, they were sometimes sending us some TLBs and some upgrading machines once in six months to upgrade, so it was from say two to three years back up to now, there is nothing happening again.
DM: When you talked about the next elections being in 1999, that was the first time you were able to vote. Mr. Mandela went off the scene and Mr. Mbeki, Thabo Mbeki became president in 1999. From that point on were there any changes that you saw because of the change in leadership at the government level.
SV: I can say just few changes according to me, because, what I would like to identify is if there is some changes, they have to happen in our community as well, not above there. There must be changes from above till the bottom, so I can't see any changes in my surrounding community that's why I say few, like we see in the television, so I can't say they did a lot, because in our community we are still poor.
DM: So during that time, was there any starting up of Community Forums or Ward Forums or IDP's or these kinds of things that were trying to listen towards what you had to say here, about the needs in the community?
SV: Yes, we had to get together most of the time like say we had our Women's League Forums, we had the Youth Forum and the Community Policing. We had to get together to sort out some of the problems. Also we used to get our ward councillor to advise us on what directions must we take, we had to be together to talk about the development in general.
DM: Now we are just shifting. You were saying the first mining activity begun in about 2000 here, so describe how was it for you when you saw this mine coming in, what did you think, what was the talk amongst the communities about the mine coming to prospect for platinum?
SV: Okay, during the time we were still busy talking with the mine, consultation period.
DM: When was that consultation period?
SV: It was in the middle of 2000, I am not sure of the months.
DM: How was things with ARM or Anglo ... who were you consulting with?
SV: The first time it was the consultants from the Anglo itself, they came here and talked with us that they are going to start a mine here and due to the new standards and rules we had after 1994 they have to talk to the people who are staying on that place. We have to negotiate and how it is going to be, the operation of the mine, how are they going to develop the community, the surrounding communities. So they came here that was the Anglo Platinum staff After that came ARM and those directors said the same story as Anglo, they said they were going to mine here, they were going to work hand in hand with the Anglo Platinum, they are going to develop. They mentioned most of the things like developing the surrounding community, they were going to get rid of the unemployed people around here, they will be working nearby, they will be training people, most of the staff they promised us by that consultation time.
DM: They just promised you that in meetings, here-talking or did they put everything in writing?
SV: By that time I was not a secretary yet, there was a certain lady, we had to write something down and they also wrote down. But there was nothing says like something like cameras or videos, we were just writing down.
DM: There was no formal agreement between the community and the mines.
SV: Exactly DM: But they were just making the promises. SV: Exactly.
DM: So what happened after that consultation process?
SV: So after that consultation process they started bringing their machines, they started the upgrading of the places where they were going to mine. So we kept on talking to each other, consulting about the mine itself, how are we going to benefit from the mine. They were talking about starting some companies ... there were two companies in section 21, that those are the companies that the surrounding communities will benefit from them ... some outcome from those development companies and section 21. So they had a criteria whereby we are going to use the directors to talk with the mine, every single complaint or input to the mine by the community it will go to the mine through the directors, so they will be talking hand in hand with the directors. So we had the first directors in December 2001, if I am not wrong. So it was going to be quite nice by that time so the issue is what surprised us as a community even if it is still surprising us even now is all the promises they did told us about, nothing is happening up to now. If you check the roads it's still like it was before, they only managed to put some gravel rocks on the roads but that does not help we are still stuck, because we had to talk to them to put some gravel rocks for the meantime as we get stuck during rain falls. So since they did that they didn't do anything to upgrade or put a permanent road that we can use, say like electricity, although we know that they were not supposed to according to them they were not in position to give us electricity/ They told us they will work in hand with our municipality to give us electricity but nothing happened by that stage up to now where the municipality due to the budget that they gave to us, they managed to give us electricity and that's the only thing we got. They also managed to give us water, there is the pipe line of water as you can see and that's the only thing provided by the mine to the community.
DM: And what happened with the employment issues?
SV: With the employment issues ... as stated they promised that they would employ surrounding people here and we also told them that in our community we have a problem, because most people are not educated, let's say 70% of them are not educated, so how are you going to handle that situation. What are you going to do about those people, because they also deserve to eat, they have the democratic right to get something at the end of the month. What they told us is that they will send our people to specific training, they will employ those people who are capable to work, yes they did that but not to a point where we were satisfied, because most of our people you can see we are a too small community say 60-70% of people in this community are still not working yet, so that's the question mark we have as a community, are they doing what we agreed on or what's happening.
DM: Okay, just to get to the point of education. You were saying that the majority of people in the community are not educated. Someone like yourself who received an education, who went to school, you got your education you got your matric ... why do you think, what is it about, is it the fact that most people in the community, young people like yourself at the time had to work in the field, why is it that people are not getting educated?
SV: Okay like you see I mentioned before ... you see the problem is money wise, we are poor as you can see we are very poor, you can count some of the shelters which are built with cement, some of them and that's after some of us got employed by the mine itself, but before that there was nothing like lookable houses in our community. We struggled with school funds, money if you had to go to school you had to get something to eat, so most of our people didn't have that, because their parents were not working, luckily some of us, our parents by that time they were still under the surrounding mines (so) that's why we had a little bit of education by that time.
DM: So all during the 1990s and early 2000s in terms of school fees and transport and everything else, what you are saying is you had to take care of all that yourself ... nobody assisted you, the government didn't assist in any way?
SV: Not at all, we were trying by ourselves, our mothers and aunts, in general the woman around this village they were selling the clay pots in order for us to get something to eat and in order to pay for our schooling.
DM: And tell us about the schooling itself. What was the situation at the schools that the children in this community had to go to ... is there good schooling, was there a lack of text books, what were the teachers like?
SV: You see the problem that we came across as I was one of those people attending that side, the concentration in the classroom was not up to standard, because the time when the teacher is busy in front it comes to a point where you think about the journey back to home and that disturbs the mind set, the concentration in the school. You had to think about what am I going to eat during break time, the journey from school to home and you get home tired and sometimes you have to stay behind for the studies, then you arrive home around 5-6pm in the afternoon.
DM: Okay so just to get back. Once the mine started actually putting their infrastructure here, in other words, begin mining ... tell us what happened with regard to employment. You are employed by the mine aren't you, tell us a little bit about what happened with people getting employed by the mine in particular young people?
SV: Okay during the infrastructure period of the mine itself at least it was better because I can say 90-95% of our residents here were employed that time because it was still constructors, most of our people got an opportunity to work by that time. But now, after everything was done, when the constructors went away and the mine started to operate itself, yes there was decline of the graph about our people to get work. Some of them were deployed by the contractors, they send them home so we started to struggle and some of our people were signed permanent by the mine, but it is a small percentage of our people.
DM: And tell us ...we have heard from other people on the other side of the community about the section 21 company that was established from your side and this community. How did you involve yourself in that?
SV: Let me put it in this way ... we had the first directors, this is second round of directors. The first round we were included and the community was participating but now the second round of directors, there was another criteria used which was not up to standard according to the community of Matimatsatsi, everything was not actually going well like before and I am not saying it was good in the first round of directors, but what is happening now is even worse than before because the community itself we were not up to date with what was happening with the mine. By the first directors at least we had to get together, we were sharing information we got the production wise of the mine itself, we got some of the information but the second round because there was interruption and the criteria used afterwards was quite different from the previous one, we don't get any information from the mine even now we don't know anything about the mine.
DM: So what you are saying is that the community here is not involved in the second round of section 21 at all?
SV: Exactly, that is what is happening.
DM: Okay tell us a little something about how it is to work in the mine, how long have you been working in the mine?
SV: I am having now say, five years experience in mining.
DM: What have you been doing there in the mine, what kind of work?
SV: Firstly, I was employed like I said that time of the infrastructure of the mine, I was working for Group Five building the mine itself. I was working at the plant, you know the mine is consisting of the shafts and the plant, so I was working at the plant building there is something called silos there, the storage vessels from the underground we were building that structure of the plant, the floatation section, the milling you can name them, the crushing circle we were building the structure there. Then after that when they were finished building everything it came to a point whereby they needed matrics, everyone who did matric, for the training of the mine itself, they send us to training of the mine and it was categorised into two different ways - the people who will be trained by the plant itself and the people who will be trained about the mining. So I was part of the plant side. So they send us to different plants in Rustenburg, we went there and also to Randfontein ESTC in Gauteng province for the training of the plant itself and after that they employed us as full time employees. In our community we were only three who were employed by the mine, two from the plant side and only one for the mining side. We were trained for that job then after that I worked here at Modikwa for one and half years and after that I went to Marula Platinum Mine and am still working in Marula at this stage.
DM: Now after the training, what is your job description right now?
SV: After the training, I found that the training did a lot in my future actually in my life in general. Talking about Modikwa itself I started as a processor there, working at the milling section as I was working there I had to visit around the section for my own benefit just to learn more. After that I was acting as a team leader in different sections, after that when they recruited Marula Platinum mine, they were looking for the above level comparing to that processor as I was a processor at Modikwa mine, they were looking for a team leader so I applied. Luckily they got me that side as a team leader, so I had to lead most of the sections, actually the whole section in a plant and up to now I am still a team leader that side of Marula mine and the position above me is a chief superintendent and sometimes I became in charge of the whole plant if the chief superintendent is not around, I think is very huge development in my side.
DM: And are you satisfied with your conditions of employment, the salary they pay you, the working condition?
SV: Yes, since I left here at Modikwa to that side, at Marula I am satisfied with the payment. Because here it was a problem with money here at Modikwa we were getting less salary compare to what I am getting now.
DM: Were you part of the strike that just happened recently that was in Modikwa, so you were not there?
SV: Yes, I wasn't there anymore.
DM: So in your work in the mines, did you experience any racism between white employees and those who are not white?
SV: In general not, because myself in my shift I am the only black supervisor, the others are white. So up to now we are doing well, there is no racism we are actually doing well when coming to co-operation at work.
Ahmed Veriava (AV): I'm just curious, when you started working in the mine, what was the presence of the mine workers union?
SV: Okay, the union was also participating especially here at Modikwa, because that side at Marula in our plant we didn't have a union we are using a forum. Here at Modikwa there is a union, it was solving some of the employees problems by that time.
DM: We heard, when we were at that other side of the community the other day we came across a worker who is a winch operator. He is employed by the section 21 company in Modikwa, he works ten hours a day, he works six days a work and he gets R1100.00 a month. So, what I wanted to get is do you think that the mine in your experience attempted to divide the workers between those who are casualised and those who are not going to get paid and those that were going to be permanent because they were more skilled ?
SV: You see about the mine itself, especially Modikwa. The time when I was here, we were complaining about most things like that point you are saying, just now. There was allegations around by that time that every employee at Modikwa there is a certain percentage that they deduct from the salary to reach the section 21s and the others community companies. They said they were deducting 40% of that, of everyone's salary to that companies, that was some rumours I am not sure of and I think that could be the point with the winch operator.
DM: Did they give any indication what were they going to do with that 40%, that they were deducting. What was that money supposed to be going to?
SV: We only know it was going to those community companies, doing what I am not quite sure of that one.
DM: Okay so, we might have a situation were a company is set in the name of the community, is getting a lots of money, but the money is not coming back to the community.
SV: Exactly.
DM: As this community, have you investigated, have you asked what's going on in terms of that money taken out of workers salaries.
SV: You see that issue according to my understanding, that issue was supposed to be sorted out by the directors. As we agreed that every single problem that the community have, it has to go to the mine through the directors. So we had to deal with the directors to take the situation to the mine so that they would know about it. Because of the problem that we didn't work in hand with the directors that is why most of the things are still behind, we don't know how to talk to the mines, because these directors are not effective to us.
DM: Has this community here also been part of the protests and struggles that have been going on against the mine here in the last two or three years.
SV: Yes we took part there, because most complaints that people in the strike were complaining about is the same complaints we have this side, so had to support that strike.
DM: And what is your opinion of the response of the police and the local government to the community getting very angry about the situation
SV: You see according to some of the people that I heard, because I wasn't here that's the time I was working in Marula. ... I heard most of the guys saying most of the police agreed about what we were complaining about but not the way we were reacting. Because some of the people they were now reacting not in such a way that it will be accepted by the police themselves going beyond the rules, like forcing to get inside the premises whereby they were bounded not to enter but the police themselves agreed on what they were complaining about.
DM: Just a few more questions. You are in a situation now ... what you have described to us ... you are fully employed, you earn a decent salary, you are an educated man so your situation is quite satisfactory. But you come back to a community where things are not satisfactory, where most of your people in this community are still not working. How does that make you feel as someone who maybe has managed yourself because of your education ...got in a position which is a good one ... but the majority of your community is still down here?
SV: I feel upset on that one, really upset because I mean I cannot be in a situation whereby I am enjoying life alone and the others are not ... That's why we got in Mr. Spoor to help us on that situation concerning the mine to take most of our issues. We are not happy with most issues, things are not going right especially with the development, that they promised us, the development we have, it's not what we agreed. That's why we are using Mr. Spoor to help us with such situation and yes it's coming right with the communication with the mine itself including us, the community.
DM: And what do you think about this new mining company that started to prospect here down in the valley, do you know about this?
SV: Yes I know about it, but I am not having that much information about it. I just only heard about it on the radio and some of the people I work with asked them about it but they don't know anything.
DM: As a young educated man, what do you think is the role of the local government and the people who have been voted into power for the community to represent their interests ... what do you think their role is in this, trying to deal with the problems here?
SV: I think our government must intervene in this issue, they must get in and then try to sort out some of the problems. I mean we voted ... that the outcome of our voting is to get a better life and development you can name them but if there is a situation that as the community whereby we are not satisfied under the government, whereby we voted, obviously they must go in and sort out this problem. That's why our Kgoshi every now and then on a weekly basis is talking to our local government about the issues concerning the mine in connection with the development of the community.
DM: Okay we will be talking with him soon (Kgoshi) ... just on another couple of personal questions.. Do you have a family ... are you married?
SV: Yes, I do have a family. If you can check there that's my house (pointing) ... this one (pointing) this is my fathers and my parents home. I am married with only one daughter.
DM: One daughter, how old is your daughter?
SV: She is three years.
DM: She is three years.
SV: Yes.
DM: Do you see a bright future for your daughter in the next coming period as a young father?
SV: I think so because I am unlike my parents. My parents used to struggle before. At least I am in a situation that I am not compared to the situation of the previous years when my parents were still growing up. I think yes, she will get a better life as long as I can pull up my socks and also my wife can do that yes, we will come up with a very good future for our kid.
DM: And your own future? It seems like things are going quite well for you at the moment. If you had to look at the next, let's say 5-10 years, what do you see happening in this community? First of all what would you like to happen and what do you think is going to happen?
SV: From my side I think if we can ... you see communication is the key to everything ... communicate with our community and stand with one voice when going to the mine itself including our local government I think this is a very small community that can be upgraded within a few months. So I think if we can stick to communication including our local government and the mine itself because of our development here in future than this place will be fine and lookable.
DM: And you think the kind of expectations you have, particularly the younger generations, when you look around the people that are your age and the ones that are here, do you see a fairly bright future for them .We've talked to a lot of people in the community, on the other side there, and you know there is quite a lot of unemployment, there is quite a lot of drinking, quite a lot of things, because people are not able to be productive, particularly younger people. How do you see things as a younger person?
SV: You see when sometimes you get together as youngsters say at our play ground ... I use to mention something as youth - we must stick to a point whereby we look forward to our future, we mustn't concentrate on the previous things, we must look forward to our future and to have a better life in future. Obviously I think the first point is to be educated, because there is no way you can go without education and the problem with our youngsters here is that they prefer going to work than schooling, because they think that if they can work in time they will have anything they want. But the key that I use to tell them every time is that they must be educated. I don't mind if they go to work because of their hunger at home, but at the same time as they are employed, they must think of saving money and to further their education, so that they can have the better futures of their lives.
DM: Do you think in that case education should be free for all children in this country?
SV: Ja, I think our government can do up to standard, I think so.
DM: Did they announce here at the local schools the no fees policy, for people who can't afford those fees?
SV: Ja, our primary education this year we are not paying any fees. So I think the government is doing well on that one, because they helped us a lot, because most of our people are not working this year, I think they are coming alright.
DM: Last thing. Is there anything that you want - I mean this video that we are producing and recording is going to be read and seen by quite a number of people across the country - is there anything as a young leader in this community you want to say about that we haven't asked and we haven't addressed?
SV: Let me first say, I thank you for publishing this issue, I thank you very much because if it wasn't you to come to us and find out what is happening most of the countries and most of the people were not going to know about these things. So I am sure if, like I am sure if like I am speaking now, if you can check the surroundings ... we are poor, poor of the poorest, so even most of the people around the country could see everything that is happening here. The main issue is that on top of that we've got the mine nearby us, so we were looking forward actually to benefit from the mine, but we are next to them but nothing is happening. So I think if this is published everywhere most of the parties somewhere then they will intervene, there will be a go ahead on this one.
DM: We thank you very much for participating
SV: Thank you very much.
Simon Vilakazi; 2007-06-11; 1
Transcript: Download (71 KB)
SAHA
Creator: McKinley, Dale
Veriava, Ahmed
Vilakazi, Simon
Veriava, Ahmed
Vilakazi, Simon
Contributing Institutions: SAHA; MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online at Michigan State University
Contributor: Moses Moremi (Transcriber)
Biography: Thirty year old at the time of the interview, Simon Vilakazi is married with one child and has lived in Maandagshoek his entire life. He is the son of Chief Vilakazi and acts as secretary for the Matimatsatsi Tribal Authority. He was employed by Modikwa mine for two years as a general labourer, was promoted to receive further training and now works at the neigbouring Marula mine as a plant sub-manager.
Description: This interview with Simon Vilakazi, son of Chief Vilakazi and secretary for the Matimatsatsi Tribal Authority, was conducted by Dale McKinley and Ahmed Veriava in Maandagshoek in 2007 as part of the South African History Archive's Alternative History Project, titled 'Forgotten Voices in the Present'.
Date: June 11, 2007
Location: Maandagshoek, Limpopo, Republic of South Africa
Format: Audio/mp3
Language: English
Rights Management: For educational use only.
Digitizer: SAHA
Source: SAHA collection AL3280