ORAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA CULTURE, MEMORY AND TRAUMA Proceedings of the Third Annual National Oral History Conference Richards Bay, 7-10 November 2006 Editor: Patricia Opondo Series Editor: Christina Landman © 2013 Research Institute for Theology and Religion University of South Africa, P O Box 392, Unisa, 0003 South Africa First edition, first impression ISBN 978-1-86888- Typesetting, typographical editing and final lay-out: Nonnie Fouché, Research Institute for Theology and Religion, University of South Africa Cover design: David Kahts Department of Production University of South Africa Printed by: Bontshi Business Services PO Box 51248 Wierda Park Centurion 0149 Acknowledgement: This publication was made possible with a financial contribution by the Department of Arts and Culture. © 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – mechanical or electronic, including recordings or tape-recording and photocopying – without the prior permission of the publisher, excluding fair quotations for purposes of research or review. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors of the papers and not necessarily those of the Research Institute for Theology and Religion or the University of South Africa. Table of contents The resourcefulness of Elders and their strategic intelligence in dealing with culture, memory and trauma: an African perspective 1-10 Langalibalele Mathenjwa (South African Heritage Resources Agency, KwaZulu-Natal) Apartheid, memory and other occluded pasts 11-33 Philip Bonner (History Workshop, Department of History,University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) The resourcefulness of Elders and their strategic intelligence in interpreting the footprints of missionaries 35-59 Otsile Ntsoane (Knowledge Management, National IKS Office, Department of Science and Technology) Ukuhlonipha: Gender and culture at Emmaus Hospital 61-75 Radikobo Ntsimane (Sinomlando Centre, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg) Reconstructing the figure of King Shaka in our cultural heritage 77-88 Irenata Gloria Biyela (University of Zululand) Do women tell stories differently? Exploring the Zondi women 89-96 of Greytown Thenjiwe Magwaza (University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg) Reconciling recent oral traditions with old documents: 97-109 Bambatha and his family Paul S. Thompson (University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg) Freedom Park: remembering culture and heritage 111-118 Sekgothe Mokgoatšana & V.D. Mabuza (University of Limpopo) Preserving oral histories through learning: an educational perspective 119-129 Rebotile Machaisa (St Augustine’s College, Johannesburg) Through the limits: trauma, memory and Rwandan refugees in post-apartheid Cape Town 131-152 Sean Field (Centre for Popular Memory, University of Cape Town) The Living Heritage Project: using oral history as a tool to retrieve our living heritage 153-157 Derek du Bruyn (Free State Provincial Archives) Capturing a fading national memory: the role of oral historians in Zimbabwe 159-166 Catherine Moyo (National Archives of Zimbabwe) Exploiting the traumatised: a study of Zakes Mda’s She plays with the darkness 167-180 Richard Madadzhe & Nettie Cloete (University of Limpopo) The forgotten history of the Black mineworkers on the West Rand mines 181-196 Joseph Mhlabaki Modise (Mogale City Heritage Society) Language, oral tradition, song, and the mobilization of Northern Ndebele ethnicity in post-apartheid South Africa, 1994-2004 197-230 Sekibakiba Peter Lekgoathi (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) Introduction Philippe Denis OHASA Chairperson This book is a record of the proceedings of the 3rd South African Oral His- tory Conference held on 7-10 November 2006 in Richards Bay, KwaZulu- Natal. Fifteen papers – out of the twenty-seven presented at the conference – are reproduced here. The presenters were university lecturers, heritage workers and government officials. These presenters came not only from KwaZulu-Natal, the hosting province, but also from Gauteng, Limpopo, the Free State, the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape and Zimbabwe. The confe- rence was jointly organised by the Oral History Association of South Africa (OHASA), the Department of Arts and Culture, and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism. The existence of OHASA, the regular holding of oral history con- ferences and the multiplication of oral history projects throughout South Africa demonstrate the importance that oral history as an academic endeavour and a tool in heritage development has gained in South Africa since the advent of democracy in 1994. In a country still wounded by a legacy of racial discrimination, the retrieving of oral memories is a task that is more urgent than ever. The interest raised by conferences such as the one held in Richards Bay shows that oral history has a unique role to play in post- apartheid South Africa. Perhaps I should start by saying that, in a sense, oral history has always existed. From time immemorial conversations have taken place about the past. Stories have always been told in a formal or informal way, parti- cularly in Africa. Oral history was only established as an academic discipline in the late 1940s in the United States. In South Africa the first two oral history projects, at the Killie Campbell Library, University of Natal, and with the History Workshop, Wits University, were initiated in 1979. In recent years, numerous oral history projects have seen the light and countless scholars and postgraduate students have made use of the methodology of oral history to gain a better knowledge of the past. OHASA was formally consti- tuted at the 2nd South African Oral History Conference held in Boksburg in October 2005. The objective of the Association, according to its constitution, is “to promote and facilitate the recording, preservation, access, populari- sation and study of oral history in South Africa”. This includes “poetry, music, oral praise, oral performance and oral traditions”. The theme of the Richards Bay conference was “Culture, memory and trauma”. Such a theme was fitting in a province divided, for many years, by a brutal civil war and which is now suffering the impact of HIV/AIDS. Several papers in this volume guide oral history practitioners, through examples, in the difficult task of retrieving painful memories. But oral history is not only about pain and suffering. It can also be used to affirm and develop the nation’s cultural heritage. As a result of the combined effect of colonial rule and segregation, certain aspects of this heritage have been maintained under tutelage for too long. The time has come to ask the bearers of oral tradition to share their knowledge with new generations of South Africans. Oral history is one of the ways in which this mission can be carried out. Our gratitude goes to the authors of the papers included in this volume for their having taken the time to revise their papers for publication. We owe a special debt to Dr Patricia Opondo, who painstakingly collected and edited these texts. Other volumes of OHASA conference proceedings are still to come. This one is the first to see the light. We hope that it will help to illus- trate the work of OHASA and that it will encourage more academics and heritage workers to become practitioners of oral history. Series foreword Christina Landman OHASA EXCOM: Publications Oral Historiography is an exciting new field of scholarship and a rapidly emerging science within the Human Sciences. This publication bears testi- mony to this fact. This publication is a record of the Proceedings of the 3rd South African Oral History Conference, which was held in Richards Bay in 2006. This publication is made possible owing to a grant given by the Department of Arts and Culture. The impetus for the publication came from the Oral History Association of South Africa (OHASA). The publisher is the Research Institute for Theology and Religion at the University of South Africa. This is the first in a series of three books that contain a selection of the proceedings from seven of OHASA’s annual conferences. The publication of these volumes will be concluded by June 2013. The content of these three volumes will be organised as follows: Book 1: Culture, memory and trauma 3rd conference 2006 (Richard’s Bay): Culture, memory and trauma Book 2: Oral history: representing the hidden, the untold and the veiled 4th conference 2007 (Polokwane): Truth, legitimacy and representation: oral history and alternative voices 5th conference 2008 (East London): Hidden voices, untold stories and veiled memories: oral history, representation and knowledge 6th conference 2009 (Cape Town): The politics of collecting and curating voices Book 3: Oral history: heritage and identity 7th conference 2010 (Nelspruit): Oral history and heritage: national and local identities 8th conference 2011 (Mahikeng): Past distortions, present realities: (re)construction(s) and (re)configurations(s) of oral history 9th conference 2012 (Bloemfontein): Oral history, communities and the liberation struggle: reflective memories in post-apartheid South Africa The present publication has been peer-reviewed by three academics: Prof Graham Duncan from the University of Pretoria, Dr Mary-Ann Plaatjies-Van Huffel from the University of Stellenbosch, and Dr Wessel Bentley from the University of South Africa. The manuscript was submitted in full to each of the three reviewers and a report expected from each of them, as well as a recommendation