A life well lived: Tribute to Comrade Vuyisa Qunta

Black Consciousness stalwart and intellectual giant, Comrade Vuyisa Qunta, is no more. After a month of incapacitation at One Military Hospital and a week after the amputation of his right leg, it seemed like the evergreen Qunta could not reconcile with the state of sudden immobility. He fell on 26 August 2014 at the age of 65.

A fanatic of wellness and fitness, Cde Vuyisa Qunta would prefer to stand or squat, rather than inactively sit down. He never walked, but ran even in his own house. He seldom told a story without physically demonstrating the engaging parts. He was endowed with the indomitable spirit of a lion, irrepressibility of a flea and the agility of a cat.

Our grudge with the irrationality of death is best captured by the late Cde Muntu Myeza speaking at the funeral of the murdered Cde Dr Abu Asvat where he said, “The irony of life was that valuable people often died too early, while others lived too long and even defeated heart attacks and strokes”.

On being asked in a 2013 interview as to how he would want to be remembered, Qunta had this to say:

‘Firstly as a person seeking to create an atmosphere of fairness and peace. I am endowed with a big capacity for affection and real deep compassion. I think this is what has driven my patriotism. I would like to be remembered as someone who gave a lot to heal and grow my country, my community and my family, in that order.’

That unflinching patriotism saw him being active in the liberation struggle in the activities of the Black People’s Convention (BPC) in the Western Cape. In 1973 he was in the same train with Cde Twiggs Xipu to the University of Fort Hare. Fellow passengers could not believe the energy of this stranger who talked non-stop to the whole coach from Port Elizabeth to Alice.

At Fort Hare they joined other BC activists like Nombulelo Kobus (now Mkefa), Jimmy Yekiso, Wallace Mgoqi. As members of SASO, of which Steve Biko was the inaugural President, they wasted no time in waging a struggle whose demand was the removal of Warden Makunga of the Beda Residence. When the management would not budge, they physically removed the Warden by throwing his furnisher and other belongings out of the university accommodation. This led to their expulsion by Fort Hare.

In 1974 he “skipped” the country and joined other exiled BC militants in Botswana. He was instrumental in bringing together exiled BC organisations under the umbrella of the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania (BCMA), which was launched in 1980. As a gifted communicator in both the spoken and written language, he was bound to be the BCMA’s Secretary for Publicity and Information. As a publicist, he was responsible for the production of the BCMA’s quarterly journal called Solidarity, and the legendary monthly mobilisation pamphlet called Letsetse (The Flea).

He was renowned for his forthrightness and his astuteness in polemics. His piercing pencil and thorny tongue made him popular with the readership of Letsetse inside the country. Curtis Nkondo found himself at the sharp end of Qunta’s pencil when he mocked BC saying he had never heard of yellow or green consciousness. This was after Nkondo was expelled by AZAPO. In Letsetse, Qunta described Nkondo’s attack on BC as “the upper limit of stupidity”. He went on to characterise Nkondo as “a spineless opportunist that was uprooted by the June 16 uprising”. At a meeting with the Rector of the Peninsula Technikon (Pentech), he could not remember the name of a BC leader that deserted the BCM. An AZASCO leader in the meeting reminded him of the person’s name. He sprang to his feet and exclaimed, “Yes! The python he is!”

Having co-founded AZANLA, he became part of the first groups that underwent military training. Together with the initial AZANLA instructors like Cdes Skaap Motsau and Hlomani Mabasa, they were given the task to study the military approach and strategy of the Eritrean National Liberation Army. As a trained soldier, he often infiltrated the country as part of the AZANLA Units to carry out military operations.

The intensification of these military operations resulted in the apartheid South Africa putting pressure on Botswana. Without giving reasons, Botswana declared Cdes Qunta and Mpotseng Kgokong “prohibited immigrants” and incarcerated them in Cell 73 at the Gaborone Prison. The non- disclosure of the reasons was meant to make it difficult for any other country to give them political asylum. Zimbabwe could not be fooled, and gave them asylum only after a 15 minutes interview!

He had a dim view of the military strategy of the other armed wings that were locked up in bases thousands of kilometres away from South Africa where the battle field was. “It was an advantage to AZANLA and the BCM that we had no external bases where trained fighters would turn into vegetables when the real struggle was being waged here at home”, said he.

Qunta could be described as a Guevarian type of a revolutionary who believed that, “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall”. It is no wonder that on his return from exile in 1994, he made it clear that he was not impressed that the AZAPO Western Cape Chairperson, Cde Jimmy Yekiso (now a Judge), did not own a gun. By this time he had become AZAPO’s Secretary for Publicity and Information.

Throughout his political activity he did not lose his “big capacity for affection and real deep compassion”. This is what he shared about his parenting responsibilities:

“I absolutely loved preparing for the arrival of Yolisa and Nzinga – attending six months of birth education ahead of each. I was able to assist in their delivery; clamped their cords; wrapped them around my chest and later cut the cord once it had stopped beating”. A strict disciplinarian he was, there was no TV, but only books in the house!”

He was a versatile person that did not only play and lead rugby, but he also co-authored two books, namely, 1891-2003: 112 Years of Springbok Rugby – Tests and Heroes, and The Badge. He decried the lack of transformation in rugby.

Che Guevara speaks for Qunta when he declared that “I don’t care if I fall, as long as someone else picks my gun and keeps on shooting”.

“Sisayibambile, Bhuti”.

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