promoted the emergence of radical black student politics in South Africa. For it was Horwood who authorised the financing of a seminar at Mariannhill which led to the formation of SASO. Perhaps he would also have pleaded not guilty had he been confronted. How could anyone have expected him to care about black student politics at the time? After all, he was only a vice-chancellor, not a keeper of his students.
Historical accidents do give rise to major tides which sweep the unwary aside or redirect them into paths that they could not have anticipated. The formation of SASO and the subsequent maturation of the Black Consciousness Movement into a political force to be reckoned with became the main focus of Steve Biko’s life. One could not help admiring this tall, handsome, eloquent and totally dedicated activist.
Natal Medical School did not only provide me with medical training, but it offered an environment for the transformation of my life from an innocent rural girl to a person who became alive to the vast possibilities which life has to offer. I took time to absorb the vibrancy around me. I was keenly interested in the discussions, which were a political education for me. I learned about the true history of my country, the struggle to resist conquest, and later the struggle for equal rights with those who had conquered us, the stories of the heroes of the struggle (no women were included in these narratives at the time), and the role students could and should play to take the struggle forward. I began to understand and to interpret my own personal experiences of racism and oppression in the light of the discussions going on around me. Given my rural background and lack of access to news media and political discussions till then, I had not fully grasped the relation between the personal and the political.
The University of the North had not presented me with any opportunities for exposure to student activism during 1967. The university authorities were rigidly part of the apartheid system and ensured that the university fulfilled its mission of training blacks for subservient roles in society, discouraging any public debate on political issues. The then registrar used to boast, ‘My vel is my graad’ (My skin is my degree), an acknowledgement that he held this senior position simply because of the colour of his skin. The SRC at the University of the North was no more than an efficient organiser of entertainment activities, posing no challenge to authority at the institution. I did not once attend a student meeting or hold a political discussion at the University of the North. Social life revolved around entertainment events such as ballroom dancing, sports, picnics and parties. A fine preparation for life as a petit bourgeois on the margins of society and power.
* * *
At the University of Natal the circle of friends centred on Steve Biko coalesced into a tight-knit community as the activism intensified. I was drawn closer into this circle and began to adopt some of the behaviour of the group. I shed the wig I used to wear whenever I felt I needed to look more ‘respectable’ than my short boyish hair suggested. The ‘black is beautiful’ slogan of the time had its desired impact on all of us. Some of us switched over to the use of our African names instead of the ‘slave names’ we had hitherto used. I also became more daring in my outfits, taking advantage of my figure and the fashion trends of the time, which were affordable even to me with my shoestring budget: hot pants became my speciality. Hot pants were exceedingly short pants which fitted snugly around one’s body, hovering tantalisingly around the limits of modesty.
Once tested, the boundaries of conventional behaviour began to fall. I started experimenting with smoking cigarettes by offering to light for those needing a smoke. I would comment that it was unlikely I could smoke, but continued to take a puff or two until I got hooked and started buying cigarettes myself. I chose the mild blend Vuyelwa smoked. I also started drinking beer and other alcoholic beverages shared by the group. I slowly but surely embraced the student culture of the 1960s.
We lived at the Alan Taylor Residence, which was a segregated residence for black students at Natal University. An old army barrack situated next to the Mobil Oil Refinery in Austerville, not far from Durban Airport, it had been used during the Second World War to house troops and was then renovated to serve as a student residence when the medical school was established in 1951. We commuted daily by bus to and from medical school in Umbilo Road, some five kilometres away, to attend classes and participate in university activities. Only preliminary11 and first-year students attended classes at the Alan Taylor premises. The level of pollution from the oil refinery was such that you could see traces of soot when you blew your nose, and the bed linen would be covered with a black layer of dust if you left a window open on a windy day. We justified our cigarette smoking by pointing to the inevitability of inhaling carcinogens in the environment in which we were forced to live. A lame excuse for engaging in risk-taking behaviour, but it sounded very smart at the time.
We used to have parties on weekends at which we drank beer and sat around in the smoke-filled room of one of the members of the group, talking politics, listening to Malcolm X’s speeches on tape, as well as those of Martin Luther King Jr, discussing banned books which were secretly circulated among friends, sharing jokes, and also singing and dancing. Our weekends were carefree and full of fun. We became welded together into a sharing and caring community. At the beginning of each year younger people who were new students joined the community – Malusi Mpumlwana, Keith Mokoape and Seolo Solombela were the most notable additions to our group.
10 SASO was founded in July 1969, with Steve Biko as its first president.
11 Preliminary year (popularly called Prelim) was used as an academic support year for those students who did not have satisfactory matriculation mathematics and science grades to be admitted directly into first year.
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