Time to stop feeding the parasites

by Lindela 'Mashumi' Figlan, The Daily Maverick

Apartheid was defeated by the will of the people, but when freedom arrived, along with it came a parasite. This parasite is eating the people’s struggle from the inside out. It’s time to rid South Africa of its unwelcome guest.

At home in Flagstaff my mother used to feed the two pigs with one big walking dish. One day I noticed that she was no longer feeding the pigs from one big walking dish and that she had separated one pig from another and was using two walking dishes. I was very stressed because one was getting thin and the other was getting fat. I asked my mother about her decision to feed the pigs separately. She told me the thin pig had a parasite that was eating it from the inside.

Lindela Figlan Speaking in Edinburgh

A fantastic talk by Lindela Figlan, spokesperson from Abahlali baseMjondolo, the shackdwellers' movement of South Africa. In Edinburgh October 2012, co-hosted by Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty (ECAP) and Edinburgh Anarchist Federation.

Lindela Figlan Speaks with Ceasefire

Land is at the Heart of our Struggle

by Lindela 'Mashumi' Figlan, Abahlali baseMjondolo

Yes I have to be bold and proud to be a South African. But I’m not proud because our lovely country belongs to the wrong hands. Our struggle began with the question of land and land remains at the centre of our struggle today.

In the old days the people in this country were so united. Even those who were not interested in politics they ended up in politics. This unity came from the fact that they were crying for the land of their forefathers that had been confiscated by those who thought the land was supposed to be under their authority. The people's land had been stolen, fenced and sold.

Lindela 'Mashumi' Figlan

Lindela 'Mashumi' Figlan, Abahlali baseMjondolo

Lindela Figlan was born on the 27th of December 1970 in J.B. Location in Flagstaff in Pondoland in what was then the Transkei bantustan.

His mother was from the Radebe family and she kept the home. His father was secretary of the congress that went into revolt on Ngquza Hill in 1960. More than 4 000 men occupied Ngquza Hill. They were determined to fight for their land and for their dignity. The apartheid state sent in the military and there was a massacre. The courage of the men on Ngquza Hill is always remembered in Pondoland today. The songs from that struggle, like 'Asiyifuni idompas', are still sung today. When Lindela was a young boy the police used to come to their home from time to time, kick in the door and kidnap his father. Sometimes they would take him to a place known as Betani where they would force him to dig potatoes with his hands saying that they did not want to risk damaging their tools. When he came home his fingernails would be red.