'People's poet' wants out
2002-08-20 08:55
Mandy Rossouw
Pietermaritzburg - "People's poet" Mzwakhe Mbuli has been behind bars 10 times. He says he survived every form of torture at the hands of the apartheid security police, as well as several attempts on his life.
On Monday, he asked the South African government to convert his 10-year sentence to correctional supervision.
At Johannesburg's Leeuwkop Prison on Monday he did his life motto proud: "Always noisy and always stubborn".
Clad in khaki prison clothes and using expressive gestures, he told of his trial and sentencing in 1999 - 10 years for armed robbery and the possession of a hand grenade.
"I was falsely accused. No one ever looked at the finer details of the case. State witnesses withdrew their evidence. The case was continually postponed without good reasons. They knew there was not really much to convict me on."
Nevertheless, he was sentenced to 10 years in Pretoria Central Prison, later Leeuwkop.
"If I am really a criminal, someone who has to to be kept from people, why do I have a support base outside prison that is growing daily? Why do I get visits by high-ups in the ANC, the IFP, the PAC and the UDM? People out there know I am innocent and they are fighting for my freedom. Wherever I go, I have supporters. People call it Mbuli's Rent-a-crowd."
The last three years in prison have made him re-evaluate his life.
"When I got a letter in 1989, shortly before [Nelson] Mandela's release, from Madiba himself, I was ready to leave the country. But he praised me for my role in the struggle and encouraged me to continue my work.
'I have a duty'
"Later I started to put things into perspective. I realised I have a duty, I have something to contribute."
His duty begins in Leeuwkop. "On public holidays, like Human Rights Day or Heritage Day, I arrange concerts at which big names in music perform for the prisoners. I give guidance to the prisoners every two weeks and I feel very strongly about giving information about HIV/Aids. I also get speakers to talk on rape, both outside and inside prison."
He doesn't want to say much about his family. "I have been criticised by my in-laws for the suffering that my wife and children have endured. They suffered when I was always in hiding."
Mbuli's application for correctional supervision was made with the help of Dennis Bloem, ANC spokesperson on Correctional Services.
When will his fate be decided?
"Soon, very soon. With Mbuli's record of good behaviour and involvement with the other inmates, no right-thinking magistrate would turn him down," Bloem said with great conviction.
Mbuli acknowledges this with a wink. "At the time of the robbery I had just signed a contract with Spoornet for half a million rand. Why would I rob a bank for R15 000?"
Mbuli's appeal against his sentence was recently turned down by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
- The Witness