Like Carl Niehaus, our forgotten struggle heroes have been left homeless

There is one thing about Jacob Zuma that cannot be denied – he can garner support from the pockets of society that seem forgotten to the rest of society.

He is a man who was accused of self-enrichment, basically using the state’s purse as an ATM with no limits, who built a fortress for his family and put them and those he called his friends into the lap of luxury.

In his lifetime, millionaires were created and the poor watched on as the neighbours of his now infamous homestead.

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Others relied heavily on coal stoves and bomas for heat, while his family, at the flick of a switch, enjoyed the comforts of an air conditioner to keep warm.

Today, with millions and possibly billions safely tucked away for generational wealth, it is the poor who leave their everyday lives to come to his “protection”.

But there was something I saw in his supporters that had me deep in thought – the men and women who drilled at Nkandla as the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA).

Looking at the lost nature of Carl Niehaus, a man without a political home, having served for so many years under the ANC’s protection and refuge.

Having been cast out of this home, the man is lost and so are others like him.

While they may have fought for the freedom we enjoy, they are reduced to hoping that the offspring of the well-connected will pity and bless them with an opportunity for the life of milk and honey.

That of economic emancipation. That of the South Africa that remembers the men and women who gave their lives to give us ours.

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There is a manipulation of the lost and forgotten struggle heroes whose names were not etched in the history books today after having served their purpose.

Those who can only find an identity in collective combat of defiance, those who were not integrated into society who could only identity with military warfare and resistance.

Today they have no political party, no collective identity … they are just lost.