Open Letter to the President - Why has ANC forgotten struggle comrades: iLIVE

Mr President I write this open letter to you hoping that some questions I have will be answered.

Mr President, I watched celebrations of the ANC over the weekend which prompt me to gain courage to write this letter and address questions and issues I have with the ANC.

Mr President, My name is Kimathi Mashiqana. I was born and raised by a very strong single mother of 3 in Port Elizabeth. My mother did not become a single parent because of her carelessness. She became a single parent because my father choose the struggle and ANC over his family.

Mr President, my father Mr Siyolo Raymond Mashiqana, a very clever short man who believed in the philosophy of the ANC back then. He was an active and hands on member of the ANC during the years of the struggle and went into exile in Kenya.

He returned home the same year Mr Nelson Mandela was released. If I’m not mistaking I was seven years old. That is when I started to know my father as he went into exile when I was a small baby before I could make sense of anything.

I have vivid memories of how police would come to the house, flash our little faces in bed with torches, insisting that we knew the whereabouts of my father. My mother was tortured right through his time in exile. They would sometimes tell her that they hanged him at some bushes close by.

Mr President, let me get to the point:

My father returned a damaged man. He does not talk about the times of the struggle. I rely on the internet for information. He was a bitter man who use to have terrible dreams. He became physically abusive as a result my parents separated.

Mr President, my father did not receive any counselling upon his return. The only thing he received was payment. I cannot tell you the amount but I can assure you it was not enough as compensation for the years we suffered without a father and food to eat.

Mr President, my father has struggled to find a proper job since his return. Today he is unemployed. Today he lives in a room at a township in New Brighton. He eats by means of fixing people's shoes in the township he resides in.

Mr President, TODAY THE ANC DOES NOT KNOW HIM.

Mr President, I see some of his fellow comrades he was involved with in the struggle living in mansions, driving fancy cars and holding high positions.

Mr President, I ask the following questions:

1. Why has the ANC neglected my father?
2. Was it worth it for him to give up his family, work and life for the struggle and the ANC?
3. Give me reasons why I and the rest of South Africa should be committed and active members of the ANC when the ANC treats their own with such carelessness?

Mr President, I ask that when you have time you come past for coffee to discuss this in depth.

Mr President, I await your response.