By Phyllis Ntantala
This
book is the brainchild of South African Women for Women, a young
organization of South African women in Canada. When
Carole Adriaans, the President, called to ask me to put the voices of these
African women in print, I jumped
at the idea, saying: "These voices, seldom heard, are going to be
heard today and with the many contacts I have throughout South Africa,
it would not be an impossible task even from this distance."
We salute this young organization, South African Women for Women, for
what they have done and are doing, namely, to provide college scholarships
for
women in South Africa, and for recognizing the many unsung heroines
of South Africa, women who have served their communities in education,
health
services, the arts and liberation movements. This organization has
unearthed a good many of them, people we never knew or heard of, for what
they were doing never hit the headlines. So, as far as the ruling
class media was concerned, they did not exist and what they were doing
was not important. Our tragedy in South Africa, especially we, the blacks,
is that as a subordinate, marginalized group, our heros and heroines have
always been chosen for us, built up by the ruling class through its media
and sold to us. We never even stopped to ask: "Why does the
ruling class pick up this one from among us, throw him up as an icon at
this time? What is their agenda? Is their agenda our agenda
too?" This is how we become seduced by personalities.
The true history of South Africa is still to be written. It will
be written by non-partisan scholars who have no axes to grind; people who
will not promote one group over all the others. To get at the truth
they will have to traverse that country, criss-cross the linguistic and
cultural divide to give us an unbiased, balanced story of the people of
that country, how they interacted with each other and how, together, they
built our country. It is our hope that our women will be part of
that endeavour, for, as we know, throughout the ages and among all peoples
and cultures, women have been the repositories of the histories of their
groups, for they are the Tellers of Tales.
In the introduction to the book An African Tragedy? African Women Under
Apartheid (Agascha Productions, Detroit, 1977), I write: This is the
story of the black woman of South Africa. It is a story of wives,
mothers and their daughters whose lives have been one long song of woe,
tears and death. It is a story of love and sorrow; of hope and despair,
a story of beautiful dreams whose pieces lie shattered at the dreamer's
feet. It is a story that tells of a noble band of women, who, with
fortitude and courage, have refused to allow themselves to be overcome
by their condition. It is a story of man's inhumanity to man.
We are aware of the suffering of the women of other groups. We acknowledge
their contribution to South Africa. We acknowledge their contribution
to South Africa. We are not unmindful of their role in the Liberation
Struggle. Some of these women have suffered much and have lost
as a result of their involvement to make South Africa a better place
for all.
But it is the African women more than any others who have borne the
brunt of
oppression in that country. They have borne it with patience and
courage and above all, they have remained human.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Phyllis Ntantala was born to a priviledged Transkei family in the
1920's. Her
earliest memories are of a relatively privileged childhood and it is her upbringing
and resultant experiences in this region that lend vivacity and spirit to her
stories. She attended school in Healdtown and Lovedale, followed by a degree
course at the University of Fort Hare. She continued her education
and received a BA from UNISA followed by a Comparative African Government
and Law
degree from the University of Cape Town and an Early Childhood Education
qualification from Madison Area Technical College.
Her life is chronicled in her book "A Life's Mosaic: the Autobiography of
Phyllis Ntantala", published in 1993 by the University of California Press. The
book is not of a struggle to escape poverty and obscurity but tells the story
of a creative and articulate black woman's search for identity and fulfilment. What
makes Phyllis' book so unusual is that her world cuts across apartheid. Her
parents emigrated to the USA in the early 1960s, just as the apartheid
net began to tighten but Phyllis and her family found no escape, as they
found
racial discrimination
to be just as prevalent in the USA.
A combination of Phyllis' own politics and feminism led her to pursue various
careers. She has been a teacher, social worker, linguist and author as
well as an activist. In her role as an author her books and writings have
been translated into several languages and have received critical acclaim worldwide. She
was recently awarded an honorary Doctorate of Philosophy by her alma mater
in recognition of her life's work.
Apart from her autobiography, Phyllis is the author of several books, articles
and essays. She recently composed "Ah! Rolihlahla" an epic
poem in Xhosa (with English translation) which was published by Amelia
House in 1988
to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday.
Phyllis has had a life filled with rich experiences as the wife of the
pioneering scholar A C Jordan, and the mother of ANC activist and intellectual
Pallo Jordan. She continues to share her life's experiences through
her writing and is currently working on several projects including a comparative
study of international folklore, translations, and historical sketches
of early
missionary schools in the Eastern Cape.
Phyllis is also well known on the speaking circuit and has covered issues
from literature, education, women's issues, and economics of apartheid,
to South
African politic issues in general. Phyllis has also participated
in numerous conferences and discussion forums in South Africa, Europe and
the
USA