Many lives end unmarked.
This is because most were led privately, without much impact or significance to society.
It was not so with Nondumiso Maphazi, who passed on Monday, June 9.
She was the second mayor of the democratic local government in the then Port Elizabeth.
Hers was a public life, which not only reflected her own personal values, but was also moulded by the public institutions she inhabited and led.
Because Maphazi’s life was public it is not enough, as we mourn her untimely death, that we simply state and restate her biography.
Rather, Maphazi’s death imposes an obligation on us to not only reflect on the significance of her life, but also examine what her life says about SA’s own public institutions and political culture.
A political activist, Maphazi’s worldview and interests were inevitably shaped by the organisation that nurtured her, and which she served, the ANC.
She was influenced by formidable leaders, such as Ivy Gcina and Mamisa Nxiweni.
This was an older generation of women leaders, especially Gcina, who encountered apartheid at its harshest. The state was indifferent to black life.
Blacks learnt early on to fend for themselves.
Nxiweni, who was a medical doctor and one of Maphazi’s mentors, was particularly active on health issues in the townships.
Maphazi’s decision to become a nurse was most likely influenced by Nxiweni, and it was during her nursing career that she probably became even more exposed to the ravages of gender-based violence.
Some of these women couldn’t escape the scourge due to their dependence on men. They lacked independent sources of livelihood.
For activists like Maphazi, therefore, the liberation of women was tied to them becoming self-sufficient. Caring for them in hospitals wasn’t enough.
This realisation took her out of the hospital to public activism.
Maphazi’s appointment as mayor in 2006, therefore, was not a fluke.
Thabo Mbeki’s ANC had decided to go beyond the rhetoric of gender equality.
She was the first woman mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, appointed over two other candidates — Nancy Sihlwayi and Nohle Mohapi.
Unfortunately for Maphazi, her tenure coincided with the beginning of bitter schisms within the ANC.
Jacob Zuma’s ascendancy, to the helm of the party and state, was followed by a purge.
The victims were individuals that were associated with Mbeki. Maphazi was inevitably seen as a Mbeki person.
Those who had supported Zuma wanted to claim the spoils of their victory. It was not about merit, but on which side one stood in the divided ANC.
The victors of Polokwane, led by Nceba Faku and Zanoxolo Wayile, rushed to claim the spoils, but couldn’t come up with a reason to remove Maphazi.
Without any reasons, they simply forced Maphazi to resign in November 2009.
She had no protection in the ANC. Both provincial and regional leaders — Phumulo Masualle and Faku, who were members of Zuma’s national campaign towards the 2007 conference — were firmly in charge.
But Maphazi didn’t resign without pulling a masterstroke on her rivals.
Maphazi instituted a forensic investigation into corruption at the metro. This was a response to a fabricated charge against her city manager, Graham Richards, that he was corrupt.
She disputed the charge and insisted on a probe to test the allegations.
Long after she had left, the audit firm, Kabuso, came back with findings pointing at the accusers. Mlibo Qoboshiyane, who was then the local government MEC, sat on the report.
A court order, on the request of the The Herald, forced Qoboshiyane to release the report.
Its release proved why the party had resisted its publication. It revealed collusion between party leaders and businesspeople in defrauding the state.
The explosive corruption report would go on to haunt the ANC.
The victors of Polokwane turned on each other. Wayile, who had succeeded Maphazi, realised that his comrades had a sinister motive in their removal of Maphazi.
Wayile insisted on the prosecution of the culprits named in the Kabuso report.
The attempts at a cover-up would throw the municipality into disarray from which it would take years to recover.
In the meantime, the party began an electoral descent, from which it hasn’t recovered.
Dependent on the state largesse, Maphazi’s detractors remained locked in internecine battles to secure positions and loot public resources.
Conversely, Maphazi’s life continued to rise. Because she had defined her life outside of party politics, and wouldn’t grovel for employment, she went back to university, studying until she attained a PhD.
Maphazi outlived organisational politics. She refused to be owned, but determined her own fate.
The decay of the ANC results from its leaders’ inability to perceive life outside of organisational confines.
They were willing to do anything, including disgracing their own organisation, so they could prevail. Maphazi was an exception.
- Mcebisi Ndletyana is professor of political studies at the University of Johannesburg.
The Herald
Nondumiso Maphazi refused to be owned by the ANC
Image: SUPPLIED
Many lives end unmarked.
This is because most were led privately, without much impact or significance to society.
It was not so with Nondumiso Maphazi, who passed on Monday, June 9.
She was the second mayor of the democratic local government in the then Port Elizabeth.
Hers was a public life, which not only reflected her own personal values, but was also moulded by the public institutions she inhabited and led.
Because Maphazi’s life was public it is not enough, as we mourn her untimely death, that we simply state and restate her biography.
Rather, Maphazi’s death imposes an obligation on us to not only reflect on the significance of her life, but also examine what her life says about SA’s own public institutions and political culture.
A political activist, Maphazi’s worldview and interests were inevitably shaped by the organisation that nurtured her, and which she served, the ANC.
She was influenced by formidable leaders, such as Ivy Gcina and Mamisa Nxiweni.
This was an older generation of women leaders, especially Gcina, who encountered apartheid at its harshest. The state was indifferent to black life.
Blacks learnt early on to fend for themselves.
Nxiweni, who was a medical doctor and one of Maphazi’s mentors, was particularly active on health issues in the townships.
Maphazi’s decision to become a nurse was most likely influenced by Nxiweni, and it was during her nursing career that she probably became even more exposed to the ravages of gender-based violence.
Some of these women couldn’t escape the scourge due to their dependence on men. They lacked independent sources of livelihood.
For activists like Maphazi, therefore, the liberation of women was tied to them becoming self-sufficient. Caring for them in hospitals wasn’t enough.
This realisation took her out of the hospital to public activism.
Maphazi’s appointment as mayor in 2006, therefore, was not a fluke.
Thabo Mbeki’s ANC had decided to go beyond the rhetoric of gender equality.
She was the first woman mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, appointed over two other candidates — Nancy Sihlwayi and Nohle Mohapi.
Unfortunately for Maphazi, her tenure coincided with the beginning of bitter schisms within the ANC.
Jacob Zuma’s ascendancy, to the helm of the party and state, was followed by a purge.
The victims were individuals that were associated with Mbeki. Maphazi was inevitably seen as a Mbeki person.
Those who had supported Zuma wanted to claim the spoils of their victory. It was not about merit, but on which side one stood in the divided ANC.
The victors of Polokwane, led by Nceba Faku and Zanoxolo Wayile, rushed to claim the spoils, but couldn’t come up with a reason to remove Maphazi.
Without any reasons, they simply forced Maphazi to resign in November 2009.
She had no protection in the ANC. Both provincial and regional leaders — Phumulo Masualle and Faku, who were members of Zuma’s national campaign towards the 2007 conference — were firmly in charge.
But Maphazi didn’t resign without pulling a masterstroke on her rivals.
Maphazi instituted a forensic investigation into corruption at the metro. This was a response to a fabricated charge against her city manager, Graham Richards, that he was corrupt.
She disputed the charge and insisted on a probe to test the allegations.
Long after she had left, the audit firm, Kabuso, came back with findings pointing at the accusers. Mlibo Qoboshiyane, who was then the local government MEC, sat on the report.
A court order, on the request of the The Herald, forced Qoboshiyane to release the report.
Its release proved why the party had resisted its publication. It revealed collusion between party leaders and businesspeople in defrauding the state.
The explosive corruption report would go on to haunt the ANC.
The victors of Polokwane turned on each other. Wayile, who had succeeded Maphazi, realised that his comrades had a sinister motive in their removal of Maphazi.
Wayile insisted on the prosecution of the culprits named in the Kabuso report.
The attempts at a cover-up would throw the municipality into disarray from which it would take years to recover.
In the meantime, the party began an electoral descent, from which it hasn’t recovered.
Dependent on the state largesse, Maphazi’s detractors remained locked in internecine battles to secure positions and loot public resources.
Conversely, Maphazi’s life continued to rise. Because she had defined her life outside of party politics, and wouldn’t grovel for employment, she went back to university, studying until she attained a PhD.
Maphazi outlived organisational politics. She refused to be owned, but determined her own fate.
The decay of the ANC results from its leaders’ inability to perceive life outside of organisational confines.
They were willing to do anything, including disgracing their own organisation, so they could prevail. Maphazi was an exception.
The Herald
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