The Ronnie Mhlabane I, we knew. A Tribute.

The passing on of Ronnie Mhlabane-Ntuli triggered memories that posterity must know about. As the imagination of a lifeless Ronnie could not be reconciled with the continuous sounds of his giggles, the urge to call Reuben Baloyi, who broke the news and ask him if he was not joking, grew every minute. Knowing that he was frail and had been managing a condition, I resigned to believing the announcement. I could only hear Ronnie saying to me in Charles Dickensian parlance, "It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to (the afterlife) than I have ever known".

 

It dawned on me what a mere 195 days for three consecutive years could do to build long-lasting relationships. These were the days we spent together on campus and the times we met for our classes and extracurricular activities. Thrust into a campus in Soshanguve in our late teens and early twenties to pursue qualification for the labour of love profession of teaching, little did we know we were destined for multiple relationships and commissioning that would impact South Africa as we did. 

 

Our relationship and friendship have always been about the future we envisioned for South Africa. As classmates in our first-year class, we were part of the notorious men's only STD class. We were schooled to create sufficient influence as political capital to mobilise the student body and future teachers for the National Democratic Revolution. Our unity and shared purpose made that specific class the substrate of the bigger picture we were all painting together. 

 

We established ourselves into an every Friday males-only chorus singing brigade that was the envy of mixed classes. We had a shirt and tie on Friday, which made us distinct and impactful. Our character as a single-sex class unit extended to other areas of student life; we masterminded several feats together. Our PT class had a vibe that reverberated to college cheerleading, making many in our class eligible for bachelors.

 

With his gift of voice and choral expression, Ronnie became the centrepiece of our singing prowess as a class. Incidentally, our class had James Mothupi, Benji Ntuli, and many others who became the skeleton of our student political and social movement. We were balanced. At the end of our first year, I remember us committing to changing the College when we came back. Ronnie sang the Zuma song 'mhla sibuyayo' very well. 

 

In our second year, we unleashed a series of strategic moves. With Romeo Motlatla, who was instrumental in organising the team and managing its operations, we started a soccer club in the college league, International Kicks. Ronnie joined the College Choir. Somangamanga handled the interface with the MDM structures in Soshanguve. We soon established AZASO, of which I became its founding TCE President and Ronnie, its deputy. The COSAS contingent of the Reuben Baloyi cohort, the SUCA contingent led by Vincent Monene and Nomzamo Petje, then Beauchamp, and many other vibrant young men and women at College. 

 

The call to create people's structures and render apartheid and its structures ungovernable became intense at a time when we were ready for action. In our context, the democratisation experience meant the demand for a student mandate-based student body governance structure. We could only imagine going into a COSAS-democratised learner environment with an inclination to what it meant. A moment had to be chosen to ignite the demand for our portion and portfolio of a non-racial, non-sexist, united, and democratic society. 

 

At a college led by I.J. Bingle, who I later read in the book Super Afrikaners that he was a member of the Boerderbond, the sophistication to keep us content was scientifically managed. The fear, institutional conditioning, the sweetheart student council induced don't worry about liberation, and the lovely time at dorms made any subject of democratisation a luxury many students would engage in unless inextricably linked with a gross discontent. 

 

The system that operated as a firmament over us was, in essence, preparing us to be the last frontier for the apartheid education system to organically replicate itself through us. The liberation movement and its local proxies, and in the  Soshanguve-Odi areas through the SOREA-AZASO-SOYCO complex, saw us as a strategic in-custody constituency to mobilise around education sector transformation matters. The Student Christian Movement brigades were unleashed on us for the distinct purposes of making good disciples of the Gospel of Christ and, simultaneously, pacifying us to be wary of the liberation movement, which many publications presented as anti-the Gospel. The Medunsa SUCA branch, where the current ANC Treasurer-General was leading, was active in TCE and TNT. Ronnie was a regular at Christian gatherings, a constituency we identified at AZASO as strategic as it was given unlimited access to students. 

 

When a food poisoning incident occurred, fate favoured what was in the good stead of justice. The crisis turned into chaos, but we refused to let it go to waste. Knowing the risks, we quickly called for a student body meeting after lunch. The AZASO branch met in my room, disguised as the International Kicks Football Club meeting. We agreed to call the meeting after supper. The AZASO brigades were deployed to all dining halls. A meeting happened, and Ronnie Mhlabane was the first to go on stage to address the students. We were courageous but scared to ascend the Bingle stage, and notwithstanding my being the AZASO president, Ronnie increased as we decreased in his favour. He called me to take leadership and the cradle of teacher mobilisation at a scale last seen when the true African Teacher's Associations were formed in the 1940s. 

 

As a student body, we agreed to establish a delegation to meet with Bingle and demand a democratic SRC determined by a one-person-one-vote system. We decided that Ronnie and I would lead the delegation. Bingle met us, agreed that we need a different student government system, and told us to write the SRC Constitution, which he will discuss. AZASO Medunsa and the Father Mkhatshwa complex deployed the capacity to keep this momentum from losing its broader national objectives of making TCE a substrate of the NDR. Each teacher converted to a leader of the society activist meant hundreds of learners would have access to umrabulo. It would no longer be COSAS that says release Mandela but teachers that teach about the release of Mandela. 

 

We started the SRC Constitution Drafting Process, a significant step towards our goal. We convinced Bingle to agree that we consult students about the Constitution, creating a platform for massive political education. We invited local activists to address students, and messages of support from fraternal UDF structures were continuously read. We integrated with civil society organisations in Soshanguve and had a permanent AZASO representation ably managed by Benji Ntuli, Ronnie, Reuben Baloyi, and Myself. We ultimately submitted a 27-page document, and Bingle confessed that he did not expect the elaboration we presented. Despite the games to neutralise us, we remained resilient, and our determination was unwavering even when the College was ultimately closed. 

 

Pretoria-based comrades agreed that we must not let Bingle open the College on his terms. I met Ronnie, the late Willie Kutumela, Morris Lechaba, and Reuben Baloyi at the Pretoria Council of Churches in the city centre. We agreed we must organise a meeting of parents, form a delegation to meet Bingle and open the College. A team of parents was set up, they contacted Bingle, and he agreed to meet us. Ronnie was in the delegation. The most memorable item was when Bingle said we held an illegal meeting, and we argued that after he banned our meeting within the state of emergency conditions, we never had a meeting but went to a compulsory church service and made announcements that generated questions we answered. Bingle saw the embarrassment he faced and opened the College. We called a student body meeting on day 1 of reopening, and the following day, the delegation was at his office demanding a Constitution. 

 

He continued playing his games. He demanded we end the chaos at student dormitories. We agreed to take what he called chaos to class. We turned the College into a Guy Fawkes scene. It became intolerable, and Bingle closed the College again and invited the police to come and remove us. In that tension, Ronnie increased again; he proposed we go and meet with the police at the gate. I went with him. On our way, we agreed to batter student safety with our surrender to be arrested. Fortunately for us, Brigadier Coetzee, whom I later worked with Moss Chikane in the early transitional management structures that preceded CODESA, could negotiate a peaceful resolution. I was wearing a banned UDF shirt, and Ronnie was wearing a banned AZASO t-shirt. 

 

The Brigadier asked us if we broke any windows or engaged in any violent activity, and upon our answers, he called some of his guys, and we went to see Bingle. He went in alone and spent 20-40 minutes with Bingle while Ronnie and I sat outside Bingle's offices on the green waiting chairs. I was later called in and told in front of Bingle that nothing would happen to us, on condition we don't break anything or intimidate anyone. Ronnie, a few Comrades, and I escorted the Brigadier to the main gate. He dismissed the police. We later learnt from Nico Tsoka and Themba Soko, whose parents were senior police members, that all police stations were ordered to only respond to Bingle's requests if authorised by Kompol. Such was the collaboration I had with Ronnie. We ultimately got the Constitution approved by Bingle and Job Schoeman, whom we would later engage as part of the leadership of Mamelodi Teachers Union and Moutse Teachers Union. 

 

Ronnie and Lasber became the SRC team's elders in the greater scheme of events. They brought the stability we needed as adolescents called to duty by a historical moment. Save for Ronnie and Lasber, the entire SRC was led by a cohort of early twenties. The group dynamics were of such a nature that in critical moments, I would increase where my competence was required, and the rest would decrease. Each team member was allowed to increase and decrease as regulated by our established decorum. This etiquette was aptly applied when there was a terrible mistake in how we managed the relationship with the local COSAS. I had to decrease, and Ronnie increased to manage our gains and other reasons that can only be shared in the afterlife. How he increased, we managed the transition from him to Reuben and the chain of other Comrades that continued until the disastrous Kader Asmal decision to close TCE. 

Ronnie had to be in TCE and lead with us for his leadership excellence to stand up in the teaching fraternity. As his obituary will show, he went on to lead the country in several ways. 

Like a flag, his leadership is a multifaceted symbol of the various meanings ascribed to it. He represented the many facets of being a Transvaal College of Education alum. TCE is arguably the cradle of SADTU. 

We met and became. I will miss you. Notwithstanding your frailty, we were due to work on your PhD. Keep the courage. 

It is so sad that on the day you are going to be buried, I will be in hospital for a medical procedure. I would have loved to be there and do a proper send-off. 

Yes, Ronnie, "it was the best of times…I wish you knew that our times were young men's and women's dreams. We remain behind, knowing that there is prodigious strength in sorrow and despair, but with you, we declare victory over death because in you we knew a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you."

Lala ngo Xolo Mhlabane. Rest in peace