LEWE NA APARTHEID: LIDMATE SE NARRATIEWE VANUIT 'N ...

Bylaag 7: Gesprek 7 (4 November 1998)
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Quincy: I think I must just kick off, it can be a very, very long story, before I say what I
think of it now, I just want to say if I was not interested in seeing South Africans moving
closer to one another, I wouldn't have participated in this discussion. I am here
because I am a committed Christian, I'd like to see people moving towards one another
finding each other. That is why I am here. Thinking of apartheid, the human dignity,
black people were not treated with dignity, were treated like animals. You mentioned
that black people will not sit with a white person in a car for an example, but you will
see a dog in that car, but not a black person. This is how I perceive apartheid. The
whole humanity was not there, we were not treated with respect, we were dehumanised,
and this is how I see apartheid. There are instances where as one would
be working, you will see people getting out of a car in into an office where they have a
meeting with a white manager, after some 10 minutes they come and pick you up and
take you for questioning, politically. Those were things which in fact made me in
particular unhappy. There were many other instances; we had a white dominee in
Thabong, dominee Z. He was in our church, and I use to do some interpreting for his
sermons and my brother there (indicating Steve) was one of the guys who stood up
when I was pulled up. In fact the reasons why I was chased out of that church is simply
because I had questioned monies that were mismanaged of youth as I was the
chairman there. And after giving a report to the church – if I had not questioned him on
those funds, then the youth league would ask me why didn't your question him, maybe
these funds are with you, what happened to it. So I had to raise that concern. Then he
said he was going to investigate. Instead of going to investigate and come and give the
feedback the following week, that is when some of the church council members were
influenced against me and I was charged with trespassing. On numerous occasions I
was actually taken out of the church and thrown out of that church and he (indicating
Steve) had to intervene. He can witness to this occasion.
Albert: So you were physically removed from the church
Quincy: Physically removed from the church service, simply because I had questioned
this white minister who actually came to our church and delivered sermons every
Sunday. This is my perception, that simply because I was able and brave enough to
question this white minister I am now being chased out of the church. Those are my
perceptions, and this is part of the things that we view apartheid as having dehumanised
us and we were not treated with respect. And if you had to question – we all
know these things and please, I am saying these things because at the end of these
meetings here we should be able to say, this is how apartheid treated people, but now