Former late President Nelson Mandela’s comrade in protest marches against dom passes during the Apartheid era, Elizabeth Mataboge, lauded philanthropist Linda Twala for thinking of her.
This through a donation of an umbrella which 95-year-old of 4th Avenue said will protect her from the unusual blistering sun attributed to greenhouse effects. For frail looking but bubbly Mataboge who is wheelchair bound, the umbrella will enable her to revert to her routine of basking in the sun on the veranda of her home rather than in the loneliness of indoor life at daytime.
She prefers life on the outside where in addition to reminiscing on the best of Alex’s lively past, she also likes to remember sombre and difficult moments when she and her departed comrades plotted and shaped present-day South Africa.
Despite the unenviable poverty, she is now happy to see all age groups passing in front of her with gay abandon from the freedom which most of them seem to take for granted. “We threw stones and burnt the degrading passes with Mandela,” she quipped as the umbrella was hoisted above her head by 32-year old volunteer caregiver and neighbour, Dumisane Gqamane.
Twala said the combination of Mataboge and Gqamane reminded him of the many phases of the struggle when the elderly and youth bonded in the struggle for freedom and when his own home was petrol bombed. “It’s a past of struggle not to be forgotten and an outcome to be cherished in the interest of the future generation.”
He thanked the non-profit organisation, Gift of the Givers, for sponsoring the donation and a chair she occasionally uses. He asked for further support for this heroine by fixing her refrigerator, installing an internal shower and toilet for her safe use at night.
Mataboge whose safety is also compromised by the lack of a boundary fence is worried about people who sometimes knocked at her front door at night seemingly with sinister motives. Twala committed to helping wherever he can and to have her attend a Christmas party for the elderly on 6 December at Phuthadichaba Community Centre on 17th Avenue.
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