ABOUT THE BOOK
“This highly readable book advances understanding of black social history under apartheid” — Zanele Mbeki
The Bam family came from Goqwana, near Tsolo, in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape. The book focuses on six brothers and sisters and their ancestors, and particularly on brother and sister Fikile and Brigalia Bam, who became significant public figures.
Biographies are about people. They are not overarching studies of political, economic or social movements over time. At their best they remind us of the humanity and individuality of those whose individual experiences might otherwise disappear in collective categories.
In the book, personal stories of the struggle for education, marriage and the pressures of separation, migration and war, women in a patriarchal and racist society, social class in African societies, missionaries, churches and religion, land and authority in a “native reserve” that became a homeland, liberation politics and more all play their part, as do humour, eccentricities, courage and failure.
The book is the story of a family that survived and even benefited from colonial conquest, that managed to keep its integrity and self-assurance under the degradation of apartheid and that went on to confront the difficulties and opportunities of the post-1994 dispensation. It is a book about a changing South Africa, mirrored in and made vivid by the lives of the Bam family.
EXTRACT
Brigalia at the Independent Electoral Commission
One of Brigalia’s closest colleagues at the IEC and a fellow commissioner from 1997 was Thoko Mpumlwana, whose background was in the BCM. They had known each other since she had visited WCC headquarters on church affairs and they worked together closely at the SACC. Brigalia believes that what made her a pillar of the organisation was her many facets: as an activist who had suffered for her beliefs; as an emphatic supporter of the constitution; as an educationist committed to democracy education; and as a resolute feminist, as well as her capacity for hard work. As chair, organisational questions loomed so large that she needed a person like Thoko to remind her of race and gender and the other underlying issues. Thoko believes that Brigalia was ‘highly social, sociable, pleasant to work with’, that she defended her ideas vigorously but was willing to admit when she was wrong, and never held grudges. ‘She had confidence in people,’ she says, ‘she built loyalty.’ Bongani Finca comments that she was able to build ‘a formidable team of hard workers who quickly enjoyed the respect of a very polarised country’. Sometimes he and others would ask themselves ‘why is she allowing these Boere boys to trample over us? – but she was building a new culture in the organisation to which everybody who could make a contribution must be able to do so and it must be appreciated and valued for what it is’. Those working at the IEC ‘trusted that she would listen, and if it did not make sense to her, you really had to convince her’. For instance, when early in her time as chair it was suggested that the IEC purchase portable hand-held scanning units known as zip-zips, she was not initially convinced that this was a good use of taxpayers’ money. She interrogated the technical people remorselessly, ‘but she would not say: don’t do it ... she had confidence in her people, but would not give them a blank slate to do whatever they wanted, because of the accountability of the Commission.’ After many arguments, she accepted that only the new, universal green identity book would entitle a citizen to vote; even so, having taken that position, though ‘she so did not like this’, she finally agreed that, to take account of the still-surviving homeland and racial identity documents, in the 1999 general election there should be a hybrid system, which indeed she ended up promoting.
The IEC needed the co-operation of many government departments, and Brigalia facilitated this. Many senior officials were still older white men, especially in technical departments such as the Office of the Surveyor General. Their expertise was needed by the IEC, and Brigalia treated them with a respect that some of them may perhaps not have expected. She was generally rewarded with willing co-operation. The same applied to the media, whom she regarded as partners who must be kept informed constantly.
At the IEC, she used her church background and connections to the point that at times it seemed that her task was as much spiritual as secular or at least, astutely, that the spiritual could be utilised to advantage in an environment where the great majority of the population were religious believers, mostly Christians. In meetings she frequently said, ‘Here at the SACC ...’ Thoko Mpumlwana would nudge her and say, ‘Chairperson, IEC!’ She believes that this apparent error reveals ‘that she just couldn’t remove herself from that value-base’. In a difficult meeting, she would say, ‘Moment of silence: I want us to pray now’, and would commend the issue ‘to higher powers’. She was of course aware that not everybody was religious, but the device helped lower the temperature, put disagreements in perspective and prevented ruptures.
Christian priests – all men: women were only beginning to filter into the clergy in some denominations – were prominent in the IEC under Brigalia’s leadership. Provincial heads included the Rev. Bongani Finca in the Eastern Cape; the Rev. Courtney Sampson in the Western Cape; and the Rev. Zwo Nevhutalu in Limpopo. At the local level, churches were often key to successful elections. Thoko Mpumlwana was allocated to Limpopo where she worked to persuade politicians that they could trust pastors, whatever their personal political preferences might be. This was important because they were likely to be believed when they spoke about the importance of voting and because they were in a good position to support voter education. In addition, especially in remote areas, churches and church buildings were among the few venues suitable for hosting voting stations. Women’s groups, which were often associated with churches, also played an important role in publicising elections and advancing voter education. In KwaZulu-Natal and parts of other provinces where political divisions were particularly bitter, it was crucial that there be impartial election observers to monitor the integrity of the election process at polling stations. Pastors and other church officials were mobilised to fill this role. In short, the women at the summit of the IEC played to their strengths and mobilised the networks with which they had long been familiar. To an extent the SACC was recreated within the fabric of the IEC. Not entirely, however: Justice Bekebeke points out that legal practitioners with their own skills and approaches were also prominent. Religious leaders and legal professionals together, he says, ‘made an excellent team’.
Provincial IEC leadership was crucial. The provinces were where training and education happened, where relations were built with political parties, and where they were led to understand the legislation on elections and to co-operate with voter registration. For all this to work, it was essential that there should be transparency, particularly when it came to the transmission and auditing of results. Brigalia believes that while provincial electoral officers and their staff had to be bureaucratically effective, she needed, above all, people who understood and were committed to democracy.
Brigalia and Thoko agreed that elections must make sense to people, which implied a strong emphasis on democracy education, and they were convinced that those working at the IEC should understand and enjoy their work and be motivated to make it relevant to the South African people, most of whom were poor and underprivileged and many of whom were women. This implied that technology should serve, not dominate, the work of the IEC. Brigalia was not a technical or legal expert, both vital areas in running elections, but she understood the importance of such expertise. Bongani Finca believes that her success was due to the trust of the public in the IEC under her leadership and their ‘ability to lift themselves up above party political considerations’. She was willing to admit in public meetings that she was no expert on many aspects of elections, and this endeared her to her audiences.
The Bams of Grasslands Farm is published by Staging Post. Extract provided by Janine Daniels on behalf of JDoubleD Publicity.
