Amaqhawe Ase Daveyton book launch
Oral history book launch of Amaqhwe Ase Daveyton at Marivate Hall.
The oral history book titled Amaqhawe Ase Daveyton, written by Matedi Mothibe and Arnold Letwaba, was launched on February 29 by Vutha-Tuka heritage site.
The book it is all about the unsung heroes of Daveyton who made a difference in the community. The book review was done by Dr Paseka Ncholo who spoke a mouthful about the book.
“The most interesting thing that I need to raise is that it is not in our culture as black people to write our stories. “Ninety per cent of the books they are written for us as we are consumers of literature,” said Ncholo.
“What Matedi and Arnold have done was to break that chain. It is through their efforts that we are here today.”
Ncholo added that the book contains content that the youth of today needed. Today’s comrades do not care about what the community wants, instead they focus on their pocket. The personalities that are in the book would sacrifice their salary for the needs of a black child.
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“The only thing that I can criticise about the book is that women were not equally included as men. They were included in passing. We need series two of the book that will tell more stories of black women who were heroes because the heart of our struggle was driven by women,” he added.
The journey of writing this book needed patience and perseverance. Mothibe said that there are schools, streets and community buildings named after these heroes but no one told a story.
“We had to balance our daily jobs as professional teachers with a sensitive responsibility of researching testimonial biographies of Daveyton heroes, it was not an easy task to do.”
Letwaba said that this was a humbling occasion for them as they had to go through a rough patch in interviewing the families. “We would like to thank the families for allowing us into their homes, to come up with these stories that we are sharing today.”
Richard Mutshekwane, one of the audiences, said “We are very fortunate that we still have people that are willing to tell stories and educate people about our apartheid heroes.”
Vutha-Tuka heritage site along with the authors of Amaqhawe Ase Daveyton are planning to establish a gallery where people will go and read about our heroes that were unsung in the township of Daveyton in assistance with the Ekurhuleni municipality.
