#YourStory – Stalwart opens up about growing up in Edenvale
His family was one of the first black families to settle in Edenvale.
Not many Edenvale residents may remember what the town looked like 75 years ago.
Dr Stephen Mncube is an exception.
His family was one of the first black families to settle in Edenvale.
His father, Mr Benedict Khosi Kuzinjini Mncube, worked as a senior clerk for a company called Advanced Laundries.
Dr Mncube said although he was born in Edenvale, when it was time to start school he could not be enrolled in any of the schools in the area due to the Group Areas Act.
Instead, he and his siblings attended a school in Dukathole, a township near Germiston.
The Act, which was passed under the Apartheid government, assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas. Its intention was to exclude black people from living in the most developed areas, which were restricted to white people.
“As a result, we walked long distances from home to school on a daily basis to be able to get education,” said Dr Mncube.
He said his parents always raised him and his 11 siblings to put education first.
“At a very early age I woke up to the reality that I do not have an inheritance. I knew I had to work hard. By Standard 1, I was already reading Shakespeare’s works and was challenging myself on a daily basis,” he said.
His father was a teacher by profession and met his mother in the then Pietersburg.
“He left Marianhill, Durban, to teach in Limpopo, where he met and then married my mother before moving to Edenvale,” he said.
He said he had a beautiful experience growing up in Edenvale and would treasure the memories all his life.
“As children, we would sell flowers at the Horwood Cemetery to families coming to bury their loved ones. The sad part about this though, was that our people could not be buried there as it was only for white people,” said Dr Mncube.
He said one of his brothers was buried at the Edenglen Cemetery.
The Group Areas Act also led to black people being forcibly removed for living in the “wrong” areas, which were deemed white-only areas.
Dr Mncube’s family moved to Dube, in Soweto, where his father was buried after he died at the age of 102.
He has contributed to the fight against Apartheid.
“While others carried guns, fighting the system, myself together with other comrades were out in countries like America to conscientise people by highlighting the situation at home,” said Dr Mncube.
He said after returning to South Africa, his other comrades went back to their places of birth and that is what he intends on doing as well.
“Edenvale is my home and it keeps calling me back. I bought an abandoned house close to where we grew up. I demolished it and the construction of a new house is underway. That is where I want to live,” he said.
In May, Dr Mcube retired from his position as the chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).
He currently lives in St Andrews, Bedfordview.
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@Duennna_M
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