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>>INTERVIEWER: This is interesting.
>>PHIRI: Well I have just been shown a thumb here, meaning that I could start speaking.
Maybe I will wait for the question first. But maybe before the question, it is just
to state that today is the 26102009. We are sitting in Pretoria, on this Monday. The artist
the other side of what you see here on screen is a friend of mine, Cheryl Essop. Ma’am!
>>INTERVIEWER: Good morning, Colonel! Colonel Phiri, you have built the concept of ‘INTO
AN INXILE FROM AN EXILE’. Can you elaborate?
>>PHIRI: Yeah, there is a debate that is brewing in South Africa today in relation to former
freedom fighters who are now members of the security forces. The debate has to do with
the perception that there is a domination of one group against another, in terms of
those who were participating from exile, and those who were inside the country. So there
was a coinage of the term ‘inxile’ which is not in the English Dictionary. But I borrowed
that terminology in order to go further with the ‘short autobiography’ that I have been
writing for the past couple of months. I am rather running short of time so I had thought
I should do this to help me put my ideas together. I have already written in my short biography
about my life...basically Growing Up; Joining The Struggle; Leaving The country. And now
I am basically at the point where I am about to return to South Africa around 1993/1994,
hence the concept ‘From an exile to an inxile’. So, in short, I arrive back in South Africa
on the April 5,1994, quite in time for the first democratic elections in the country
and I am arriving in South Africa coming from a very difficult situation in Dar es-Salaam
in the company of the likes of General Daniel Mohato Mofokeng [born Monday 19560220], a.k.a. ‘Romero
Daniels’ who was my commander of APLA; In the company of then Acting Chief Representative
of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania PAC (in the person of Monezi Gcilitye). Also in
the company of the likes of the late Benson Mandindi. So I am flown back to South Africa
on short notice. My wife [Mrs. Leonilde Makafu-Phiri born Thursday 8 June 1972], whom I had married
two years before with the full knowledge of my party and all those individuals mentioned
above is told [by Nelson Mandela’s fellow-Xhosa-speakers] that she must return to her countryside, from
Dar es-Salaam she must return to Iringa. By that time she is highly pregnant. So, I am
flown back to South Africa like, a reject of the liberation movement. When I arrived
at then Jan Smuts International Airport [the Eastern-Cape tribalists/black-racists] dropped
me there. Despite the fact that the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees)
documentation stated that my home destination is a small dorpie called ‘Amsterdam’; my
party just did not care what happened to me after dropping me at the Airport! I then had
to appeal to my uncle, the husband to my mother’s youngest sister. They lived in Soweto, White
City. I phoned them; and he came with his Ford Cortina to pick me up and basically that
was the beginning of what I call ‘My inXile’. The problems that I picked up (let alone the
problems that my wife was facing in Dar es-Salaam or Tanzania, under a privation without her
husband... a mere peasant, in fact...without any assistance while she was expecting our
baby)... I started a new life in Johannesburg far more difficult than I had ever experienced
in my 11 or so years of exile. Maybe, before I continue with the issue of my struggles
in relation to my former organization and the South African National Defence Force which
which I was, of course, preparing to join, I must talk a little bit about my family.
I come from a large extended family. Not only large; but also illustrious. From my mother’s
side, these are the Mavimbela People renowned
for prophets. The royal family of Swaziland has its religious background, if you like
(in all the challenging times...led by a prophet who was a Mavimbela... my mother’s people).
My maternal grandmother is a Dlamini. She is the direct descendant of the Swazi Royal
House. From my grandmother you easily go back to Somhlolo. So, my family is quite illustrious.
Even paternally, it is the same background. You see, among the Zulu people of today, there
are people who are of my own blood. Before Shaka Zulu, there were the Tonga/Baroka People
who were comprised basically of the people of the Eastern Cape like AbaThembu where Nelson
Mandela comes from and people like Amampondo. And basically, all the groupings with their
own kings in the Eastern Cape were formally AmaThonga (Batho baMoroka). And then, in what
we call KwaZulu-Natal today, before the rise of Shaka Zulu, there were the people of Zwide
Ndwandwe. And there were the Mthethwa People. They were all AmaThonga. And [it] is that
area where there used to be the Matanje People. Matanje people then are the people of my father
because my ancestors were kings there. Matanje Phiri was a ruler in ancient present-day KwaZulu-Natal.
>>INTERVIEWER: Ahem!
>>PHIRI: That is how there is confusion...because the Zulus as a clan: they came here about
300 to 500 years ago... only a few centuries before the White People came. The Zulus as
a clan...the surname ‘Zulu’. The Xhosas also as the Tshawes, they also came together with
the Zulus; they are closely related. But when they came here, Tonga or People of Moroka
had been here for thousands of years in South Africa. It is from this arrival of the clans
of Xhosa and Zulu that now European scholars deliberately say that every Bantu-speaker
is a newcomer. If Phiri is part of the Bantu-speakers, I am not a newcomer. That is why you will
find a Phiri clan among Basotho, Batswana; you will find them in Zimbabwe; you find them
in Malawi; you find them all over in Africa. You do not find them among the Zulus because
the Matanje Phiri People who are my clan in particular, resisted Shaka Zulu’s rise to
power. So, they were the people who then had to leave the country...the Tongas who had to
trek northwards with the Difaqane/Mfecane. They went as far as Tanzania where they were
known as the Ngoni People. So, that is a bit of it. It is quite an illustrious family that
I come from. So, when I came from exile in 1994 maybe I had an exaggerated sense of myself.
I was expecting my family: my [maternal] grandmother’s people (because my [paternal] grandfather’s
people are now in Malawi) that they would welcome me and be very happy that I have come
home. I was expecting it that maybe there would be...kind of a function to welcome me
back: I have been a freedom fighter and I have made it possible for them to be like
other South Africans. But I discovered that I was... nobody was happy. Let us leave aside
the extended family. Let’s talk about the Phiri Clan where I was born. I am the first-born
surviving child of the Phiri Clan who live in Mayflower, Mpumalanga Province next to
Ermelo. You would expect now that as the eldest boy or child who has arrived back home, everybody
would be happy... but No! The guy who comes after me is Mr. Robert Phiri. While I was
gone away in exile he was like the acting big brother of the household and there is
a lot of cultural attachment to that. I get the feeling that my coming back did not make
him feel comfortable. He felt like I was The Prodigal Son and I Had Come Back to Usurp
Whatever Status He [Had Been] Enjoying...I do not know. But that is the kind of relationship
I was having with my siblings. Then there was a girl called ‘Grace Phiri’. She comes
after Robert. And then the last girl or two are Soneni and Xolisiwe. They were all inimical.
That is how I ended up not even bothering to go to Mpumalanga and I settled in Johannesburg
with my uncle: a man called ‘Mr. Ephraim Beziwa Sithole’[born 19311115]; and that
is the gentleman who had fetched me from the Airport. The long and short of it is: my extended
family is not big on ties which is for me quite the opposite. I am a person who is very
fond of knowing who my relatives are. I believe I can never fully know myself if I do not
know my relatives because every single one of them has got a piece of me meaning if I
know them then I understand myself better why I behave in certain ways. That is basically
that! But, they do not believe in it. I can remember, very recently, there is a 3rd cousin
of mine who lives in Nelspruit...on my maternal side...a relative from my grandmother: the
Dlaminis. When I was organizing a function about 12 months ago to meet them, that we
get to know one another... that was on my part now at my own expense. I went around to Swaziland,
Nelspruit; around Johannesburg and Pretoria; inviting them in person to participate in
the function and I must say ‘Thank You Very Much’ to one of my cousins... he is actually
2nd-Cousin-Once-Removed, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, the former Executive Mayor of Tshwane.
He participated in that function...yeah... and many others. But I met that particular 3rd
cousin in Nelspruit and she told me openly: ‘It sounds like madness. How can you go around
looking for relatives, getting to know them? After knowing them, then what?’ So that gives
you a picture on how different we are. We have got the same blood but others do not
think it is important to get to know one another. But I am that kind of a person. I can tell
you that from all the people I visited even as far afield as Komatipoort...I drove about
4 tankfuls of my Toyota Corolla, trying to invite them. Only about 10% of them turned
up! There was not even an apology to say ‘we could not make it’. But I did make the effort...
>>INTERVIEWER: Ahem
>>PHIRI: ...and I think the arrival of Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa blessed the whole [do].
He is currently, if I remember well..he is now heading some organization... more or less
from the same office where he used to work before. (The office of the Mayor now is in
the hands of one Gwen Ramokgopa, by the way. But I hear that as of today, there is a lot
of challenges in terms of service delivery. And it looks like the ruling party would consider
an axe). Anyway, that is the position that 2nd-Cousin-Once-Removed Mkhatshwa used to
[hold]. He is now heading a kind of organization relating to other municipalities in Africa.
He is more pan-Africanist now...excuse the pun: he is actually ANC, but he is more like
Pan Africanist Congress of Azania.
>>INTERVIEWER: Ahem!
>>PHIRI: Sometimes I sit and wonder why the PAC still exists. If the ANC is doing all
the work that the PAC was dreaming of...
>>INTERVIEWER: Ahem
>>PHIRI: ...Why keep a separate organization for the purpose that another and even bigger
organization is already fulfilling? Why, when moreover, the roots of this particular specialized
pan-africanistic organization...has its roots in the same mother body, the ANC? What is
the raison d' être of the PAC? Why is it still having a reason to exist? But now, I
am going astray. I want to come back now to my life in Johannesburg where I am preparing
now to integrate with the South African National Defence Force where everybody under Mandela’s
administration was going... [break in the interview]. Yes! We had a short break. My artist the other
side of this screen had to take a breather. I have abandoned the issues of the family
which I had just cited to show a similarity between the way I am being treated or have
been treated by my relatives... the similarity with the way I have been treated by my own
organizations: APLA and the SANDF as of now.
>>INTERVIEWER: I am with you..
>>PHIRI: So, my [narration] now comes to when I am in Soweto, trying to integrate. And,
for a reason best known to the powers that be, ‘Romero’ Mofokeng, the APLA Commander
I had lived with in the same house at Mwanachi Building [Nkrumah Street next to Gapco Gas
Station] in Dar es-Salaam; and he was now heading the integration process for the PAC
and APLA in the SANDF ‘he did not know Phiri!’ So, I was like a fraud. I am ‘pretending
to having been a freedom fighter when I am no freedom fighter’. Mofokeng is the man
who was, as I have related, with me with other leaders of the PAC and APLA including the
then leader of the PAC, Johnson Mlambo [born Thursday 19400222] who knows me, ‘Yet Suddenly
Mofokeng Does Not Know Me’. So Mofokeng was integrating there and all the people who worked
with him just walked past me. I was still a member of the PAC. I was participating.
I was actually the secretary of the Johannesburg Branch of the PAC! And people were just streaming
in going in for integration and I was being passed by. The reason, I believe, is because
Mofokeng is married to a Xhosa-speaking wife who is ‘Pearl’ whom I know. Not only was
Mofokeng being cooked for by my wife whom they exiled the Mofokengs of this world...
they exiled to Iringa...but [Mofokeng’s] WIFE AS WELL, whenever she had a break from Tanga
where she was studying Nursing...coming to Mwananchi...my wife was cooking for her because
my wife was also working for the PAC. But now, I had written when I rejoined the PAC
that the reason why I had to leave my stint with the ANC in Morogoro Dakawa was because
of Xhosa [racism]: there were individuals who were practising [racism].
>>INTERVIEWER: Ahem!
>>PHIRI: So, I think Mofokeng felt that I was insulting his in-laws. So he felt he had
to ingratiate himself with the Xhosa-speakers by punishing me. He was together with Monezi
Gcilitye; and Benson Mandindi who were instrumental in the whole thing. So, for 4 years I was
basically reduced to a hobo because I remember at some stage I was working somewhere as somebody
who is looking after cars of a company and I was earning R800 per month in Johannesburg.
>>INTERVIEWER: Don’t say! If you took that money and you calculated
taxi fare from Johannesburg to Soweto...it was less than taxi money. And at some stage
then, I had NOT to go home to Soweto with my uncle. I had to stick around [JOHANNESBURG]
town; and I had to sit at Park Station [Railway Station] at night, pretending I am a passenger
because I AM SAVING MONEY! So that I can have money, you know, to spend.
>>INTERVIEWER: Ahem!
>>PHIRI: So, that is basically that. And for 4 years! Then there was the issue: NOW WHAT
AM I GOING TO DO SEEING THAT MY OWN COMRADES ARE DENYING KNOWING ME? Then I wrote to the
government of Tanzania. That was for the first time that the Tanzanian government came to
my rescue because I had been working for the radio which is a public institution. I had
been working as PAC Deputy Director for Publicity and Information (Electronic Media). So I wrote
to Tanzanian government to say PLEASE, GIVE ME A DOCUMENT TO SAY I [THEN NAMED ‘MORDECAI
KING’] USED TO WORK UNDER RADIO TANZANIA. And they wrote back. I took that document
to TRC which was led by Bishop Desmond Tutu. Now, very interesting! Because Tutu is also
Xhosa-speaking. First, when I submitted my application to be declared a victim of human-rights
abuses together with my wife [Leonilde] and my then-unborn daughter [Thoko], I expected
an acknowledgement from Tutu to say he has received my application; but there was no
acknowledgement. I had to phone and DEMAND an acknowledgement which the wonderful Bishop
finally did give. And in those [TRC] forms you were asked: DO YOU WANT THOSE YOU VIEW
AS PERPETRATORS TO COME AND HAVE A TALK WITH YOU AND FIND THEIR REASON WHY THEY ACTED THE
WAY THE DID? I said Yes Of Course! I should like Benson Mandindi to come explain to me.
I should like Monezi Gcilitshe too. By that time I had not discovered that Mofokeng was
part of the scheme.
>>INTERVIEWER: Ahem!
>>PHIRI: I was going all the time to the PAC Headquarters to Mofokeng, writing letters
to him and he was smiling at me and pretending everything is fine. I remember on one occasion,
he even phoned Dar es-Salaam and he said to me HERE IS BENSON, TALK TO HIM. And then I
talked to Benson who said DO NOT WORRY, [PHIRI], YOUR WIFE IS COMING; and Mofokeng said I will
make sure myself that your wife comes, ONLY TO FIND IT NEVER HAPPENED! So, there with
the TRC [CASE No.JB04241/01GTSOW]: Desmond Tutu and his grouping of the TRC never bothered
to call Mandindi. Mandindi had to be sorted out by God through other means. He was coming
from a wedding...he was now a high-ranking member of National Intelligence, a general
there. He was coming from a wedding in Soweto, and he had in his car this SANDF Corporal
who had asked for a lift. It is said that as they arrived in Pretoria here, the Corporal
changed his story and said LOOK, YOU ARE A COMRADE AND WE WERE ALL TOGETHER IN APLA AND
THE FACT THAT YOU ARE INTELLIGENCE GENERAL NOW SHOULD NOT MAKE YOU SPECIAL TO ME AND
I SAY TAKE ME HOME AND DO NOT DROP ME HERE IN TOWN PRETORIA FOR I WANT TO GO TO THE TOWNSHIP.