A place where people were conscientised that is how prominent human rights lawyer and former political activist Barney Pityana described Gqeberha’s oldest township New Brighton as it celebrated its 120th anniversary.
For some apartheid struggle heroes who lived in New Brighton in the 1970s, fighting the regime was not a conscious decision circumstances thrust them into politics as they strived for a better future.
There was once a time when walking down the historic hallways of New Brighton’s two biggest high schools and bumping into John Kani, Dan Qeqe or Sipho Pityana was the norm.
Failure to develop and reconstruct the townships stands out as the ANC-led government’s single-most damning failure. This is where the government’s core support base resides. These communities vote like their lives depend on it. They fought and know first-hand the effects of apartheid.
SA's constitution needs a reviewing to close the gaps in the founding document that have created inequality and systems that don't work for ordinary people.