The Constitutional Court of South Africa, situated in the heart of Johannesburg at Constitution Hill, is more than just an acclaimed building where 11 judges stand guard over the constitution and protect the human rights of South Africans. It is also a place where tourists come from around the world to visit the open-access court and learn about the victories of justice that have been won behind the courtroom doors.
The Constitutional Court has also recently become ground zero for victims of apartheid-era atrocities who have been participating in a three-month-long sit-in outside the court in a bid to force the government to pay out long-awaited reparations.
Since November 2023, the senior protestors and members of the Khumulani Support Group have been sleeping outside the Constitutional Court, demanding the reparations promised by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
However, this decades-long fight for reparations is now being marred by organisational infighting, power struggles and accusations of manipulation that threaten the likelihood of the victims receiving the reparations they say they are owed.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Determined survivors of apartheid-era atrocities describe their anguish of being forgotten and ignored
Elderly protestors camp outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg in a bid to force the government to pay out reparations promised during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)
A fractured organisation
In response to reporting done by Daily Maverick on earlier sit-ins, KSG National Director Marjorie Jobson sent the publication a letter raising the alarm on an alleged hijacking of the Khulumani Support Group and the manipulation of KSG members by “corrupt leaders”.
Describing the group leading the demonstration outside the Constitutional Court as an illegitimate clone of KSG, Jobson claimed that unbeknownst to her, the “corrupt leaders” Judy Seidman and Nomarussia Bonase registered a clone of the Khulumani Support Group with the National Directorate of Social Development.
Jobson claimed that the KSG board discovered that the group had been duplicated after applying for funding at the National Heritage Council, only to find out that the organisation had already received a funding application from Khulumani Support Group.
Jobson wrote, “It is our view as members of the board of Khulumani Support Group, that the two leaders of the breakaway group, called the Galela Group to distinguish them from the legitimate organisation, are (mis)using Khulumani members whose life circumstances render them profoundly vulnerable, to create spectacles of suffering that have further delayed progress in securing government’s commitment to a concrete partnership with Khulumani Support Group to finally resolve this founding failure of our then newly democratic state — the promise to deliver a holistic programme of reparations.”
A banner erected by the Khulumani Galela Campaign outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg during a three-month stay-in calling for a payout of reparations that were promised during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)
A women-led movement, KSG was established in 1995 by people who experienced apartheid-era violence and has since worked tirelessly to campaign for truth, healing and redress for those damaged by the apartheid system. Work that Jobson claims is in jeopardy with the emergence of the splinter group.
Jobson added that the splinter group has provided the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, which is responsible for administering the reparations, with an excuse that there is nothing they can do to resolve the failure to pay reparations because “there are now two Khulumanis”.
However, KSG Gauteng provincial chairperson Nomarussia Bonase is telling a different story.
“Majorie Jobson was legally dismissed from Khulumani in 2019. Since then, she has been creating all these issues, trying to intervene with our work outside Constitutional Court,” Bonase told Daily Maverick in a heated interview.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘We won’t leave’ – ageing apartheid victims continue sit-in to demand reparations
Bonase, who joined Khulumani at the age of 29, accused Jobson of trying to destroy the protest action of the “real victims of apartheid”.
“The issue here is that we are the victims of apartheid, but we are also the members of Khulumani Support Group, where Majorie Jobson is creating the internal issues,” Bonase said.
“She is not a co-founder. She is not a victim. She was just working as a director at Khulumani Support Group, where they dismissed her because of the problem she created within Khulumani,” Bonase asserted.
Bonase added that victims of apartheid would get their reparation from the government and not Jobson, stating: “This is a long outstanding issue which is known by the presidential department and the department of justice. It has nothing to do with Marjorie Jobson.”
Bonase insisted that the protest outside the Constitutional Court was not hurting the victims’ chances of receiving reparation because she has been liaising with the relevant government departments.
“This has been an ongoing thing which started a long time ago. As I am standing here, I do have documents which have been compiled and show how we have been interacting with our government, not Marjorie Jobson,” Bonase said.
Victims’ voices from Constitutional Court
Regardless of the rift that has developed in KSG and the mud-slinging taking place amongst its leaders, the fight and struggles of the elderly victims and survivors of apartheid are real. They serve as a black stain on the government’s claims to be committed to rectifying the atrocities of the past.
Daily Maverick visited the Constitutional Court where the senior protestors have been sleeping for the past three months. Make-shift beds fashioned out of thin foam mattresses and even thinner blankets lined the side of the building.
Sitting on one of the mattresses on the cold concrete floor was KSG member and representative Thabo Daniel Shabangu (60), who detailed why he would not leave the Constitutional Court until his demands were heard.
“I am here for my revolution because I know what I did to [help end apartheid]. We are the people who came with democracy, and we are proud to say it.”
A Khulumani Galela Campaign’s representative, Thabo Shabangu, shows where he sleeps at an encampment outside Constitutional Court in Johannesburg. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)
Shabangu said his fight against the apartheid regime started during the Soweto uprising of 1976 when black school children revolted against the apartheid government in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction.
Shabangu said he still carries the trauma of the violence perpetuated during apartheid through gunshot wound scars on his back. Shabangu acknowledged that the money would not take the scars of the past away, but it would help better his life.
“People want to paint us as people who don’t understand what we are doing. We know what we are doing. We want [apartheid victims] to live a better life because they promised us a better life. Those revolutionary people must get something from the government because the TRC said all those who fought for the liberation must get reparations. That’s what we understand, and it’s why we are here,” Shabangu said.
Another protestor, 60-year-old Nthombekhaya Lolo, said that even when faced with illnesses, they would brave the cold and continue their protest until the government pays out the TRC reparation.
“When you look at me now, I am very ill. I can’t even walk without crutches. Don’t think I am here because I don’t have a home. I have a home, but I have decided to sleep here on the ground because I deserve the reparations we were promised,” Lolo said.
Read more in Daily Maverick: The unfinished business of the TRC is killing us, say apartheid’s victims
A sickly elderly man lays on his makeshift bed as Khulumani Galela Campaing’s stay-in outside Constitutional Court continues. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)
Accusations of swindling tourists
Being one of South Africa’s foremost tourist attractions, the Constitutional Court has seen many visitors from around the world. Visitors who were confronted by the protest outside the court and heard stories of the struggles the elderly protesters faced.
The heartbreaking stories have resulted in many tourists donating to the cause, which raised eyebrows for some who frequent Constitution Hill, who believe the Khulumani protestors were being manipulated to swindle tourists out of money.
Daily Maverick received an anonymous tip that, on one occasion, an American tourist gifted the Khulumani Galela Campaign R3,000 over the festive season.
The tourists were allegedly under the impression that the protestors were homeless. However, many do have homes, which they left to participate in the protest.
“When the tourists come to Constitutional Court, they see our banners, and they come to us and ask what is going on. We don’t ask for money. We just share our stories. They decide to give us the money because they feel for us,” Shabangu said.
The 60-year-old apartheid atrocity survivor said the donations they get from the tourists are used to buy food and medicine for the elderly protestors.
When asked about the allegations, Bonase said she was aware of the complaints, “People are saying me and Judy have been given donations [which we eat] and we are playing with the people. But the issue was sorted out here with the managers of Constitution Hill and the protestors.
“This is a painful issue when you have somebody from South Africa complaining when people coming from outside are feeling pain to see people sleeping on the cement outside, hungry not even having something to eat. They are giving out of mercy.” Bonase said, “So it is a pain when we hear people complain that we are eating money. What money? We are sitting here fighting for our reparations which they promised us.” DM
At the time of publication, Constitution Hill and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development had not responded to requests for comment.