'Freedom is a big deception,' says anti-apartheid activist

“Freedom from what? Free from what? Because the system is still intact.”

Almost 25 years after the end of the oppressive apartheid system he fought against, activist Nelson Mogadi believes he is more enslaved now than he ever was.

“The systems that dispossessed my people are still intact. It will never change. Freedom is a big deception,” Mogadi, who spent more than a decade in exile during the previous regime, told Times Select.

The 60-year-old former PAC member and soldier in the Azanian People’s Liberation Army still lives in his father’s house in Tsakane township in Ekurhuleni, where he leads the fight for homes promised by the government to himself and others 13 years ago.

“The freedom my people have is the freedom to abuse drugs, to prostitute themselves and to even give away our own land,” he said.

• Read the full story on Times Select.