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South Africa: The people shall govern

South Africa: The people shall govern

Released Thursday, 2nd May 2024
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South Africa: The people shall govern

South Africa: The people shall govern

South Africa: The people shall govern

South Africa: The people shall govern

Thursday, 2nd May 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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0:00

Welcome to the documentary from the

0:02

BBC World Service, where we report

0:04

the world, however difficult the issue,

0:07

however hard to reach. Podcasts from

0:09

the BBC World Service are supported

0:11

by advertising. This

0:30

presents Chasing Mountains. Every

0:32

step was an achievement. Listen now

0:34

by searching for amazing sports stories

0:37

wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

0:41

Human

0:45

Rights Day is a

0:48

public holiday here in

0:50

South Africa. It

1:02

used to be known as Sharpville Day, a

1:04

massacre that took place in March 1960, where the

1:06

apartheid regime

1:08

shot and killed unarmed black

1:11

protesters indiscriminately. The day

1:13

commemorates sacrifices made in the fight

1:15

for democracy. Here,

1:19

on the streets of Johannesburg, hundreds

1:21

of people of all races participated in

1:23

a walk to remember what it took

1:25

for the country to get to this

1:27

point. And this year was

1:29

a special one, because it's exactly

1:32

30 years since the end of apartheid.

1:36

Hello, how are you? I'm

1:38

good to see you. My name's Lomsack from BBC

1:40

News. Oh, hi, Lomsack. Tell me why you are

1:42

part of the march today. Well, it

1:45

is human rights day, and

1:47

it's very easy to just have it as

1:49

a day off, but I think the constitution is

1:52

really important. And so

1:54

I came to do the walk to show

1:56

that I think it's really important. And with

1:58

South Africa celebrating 30 years, of democracy,

2:00

what are your thoughts on that? Well,

2:02

I think a

2:04

lot of us have been quite disillusioned at

2:06

the state, a lot of human rights have

2:09

not been acknowledged, there's

2:11

been a lot of corruption, but yeah, we've

2:13

got to use very fast today to research

2:15

it out. Why

2:18

are you here today? There are

2:20

plenty of reasons, but one that

2:22

stands out right now, there's a

2:24

lot of basic needs that are not met,

2:27

so one of the biggest demands is

2:29

access to water. Look at Melville

2:32

right now, people do not

2:34

have water and it's been a long time.

2:36

That is a violation of

2:39

the same human rights that we are

2:41

working for. Hello, can

2:43

I talk to you quickly? What

2:45

does bird years of democracy mean to you? Yeah,

2:49

it's quite a sensitive one.

2:52

As much as we would have hoped that

2:54

our people would have achieved so much in

2:56

the 30 years, we still have

2:58

hoped that all is not

3:00

to bed. I think for

3:03

me today I got

3:05

to reflect on the grid more

3:07

than the bed. Wow. This

3:16

song, which became synonymous with the

3:18

Fismus Fall University protests a few

3:20

years ago, touches on

3:22

the ever-rising cost of living which

3:25

continues to cripple the poor. It

3:28

calls on the government to change the status quo,

3:31

and it's now a regular feature at

3:33

demonstrations all over the country. It

3:40

sums up a lot about South Africa's

3:42

30 years of democracy, that this song

3:44

would become so well known. People

3:47

enjoy the right to demonstrate, and

3:49

there are plenty of protests, but

3:51

that also means there's plenty to protest

3:54

about. So for

3:56

this episode of the documentary from the

3:58

BBC World Service, I want

4:00

to find out what democracy means to

4:02

people today, and whether they

4:04

feel that its promises have been kept. This

4:08

is the people shall govern. I'm

4:10

Nomsama Sago. South

4:15

Africa's democracy began with the first

4:17

multiracial elections in 1994. They

4:21

were an extraordinary moment for the world,

4:24

but especially for the previously

4:26

disenfranchised black majority. It

4:29

was tense a few days before the polls. The

4:32

usual whiff of tear gas filled the air

4:34

in the townships. There

4:37

were fears that violence would disrupt the

4:39

voting process. I remember

4:41

seeing armored military vehicles patrolling, driving

4:44

past our home several times a day

4:46

and into the night where gunshots

4:48

ran out at a distance. Today

4:52

is a day like no other before

4:54

it. Today

4:56

marks the dawn of our

4:58

freedom. The

5:01

morning of the vote was eerily quiet. My

5:04

mother, who was 43 years old then,

5:06

voted for the very first time. She

5:09

told me that her vote was a get

5:11

out of jail card, and that the important

5:13

process would put an end to South Africa's

5:15

brutal past. Others

5:17

felt empowered too. I never

5:19

had the chance to vote before. I

5:23

felt very worried. They

5:25

say every day will be here. I'm

5:27

very grateful. I'm

5:30

excited. I want to look forward for

5:32

the new South Africa. The

5:35

polling station was opposite our house at

5:37

a teacher's college. I

5:39

saw several blue and white peace flags

5:41

flying high, and what I would later

5:43

be told were political party agents dressed

5:46

in their different colors, knocking

5:48

door to door, urging people

5:50

to vote. I felt

5:52

differently that day. The

5:55

heavy load on my shoulders was

5:57

gone, somehow not having the urge to quit.

6:00

I would constantly look over my shoulder

6:02

and hide whenever a tall white policeman

6:04

on horseback passed by. I

6:07

can't stand seeing a German Shepherd breed to this day.

6:11

Those cops would set the dogs on us for no reason. I

6:14

went back to the very same polling station 30

6:16

years on. On

6:19

the 27th of April in 1994, I

6:21

came to this polling station with my

6:23

mother. We started queuing

6:25

from 6am, filled with both hope and

6:28

anxiety. I was too

6:30

young to vote back then, but I saw what

6:32

it meant for black people to be free, finally,

6:35

to choose their own government. Thousands

6:39

of black people lined

6:41

up with their fists in the air, chanting, Kukululagil,

6:44

we are free. And

6:47

I understood that now. I

6:50

was too. A

6:56

part-date was finally banished. The

6:59

1994 election swept the once-banned

7:01

African National Congress to power and

7:04

Nelson Mandela to the presidency. The

7:07

early years were highly promising. A

7:10

progressive and celebrated constitution enshrined the

7:12

rights of all citizens. Tabo

7:15

Meghi replaced Nelson Mandela as president

7:17

in further democratic elections. Civil

7:20

society flourished, as did a

7:22

vocal and free press. Thirty

7:25

years later, the ANC is

7:27

still in power. Key

7:31

reminders of the country's liberation

7:33

struggle are everywhere here in

7:35

Orlando West Soweto, the

7:38

famous township that became synonymous with the

7:40

fight for freedom. For

7:44

much so that a democratic tourism industry

7:47

has developed here, like

7:49

these street performers who were entertaining tourists

7:51

last time I stopped by. A

7:55

young Nelson Mandela lived for some time on

7:58

this street here at Villagas East Soweto. street

8:00

here in Soweto, as

8:02

did Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This

8:05

neighborhood is significant for

8:08

South Africans. Many

8:10

are grateful that it has become commercialized

8:13

because they're able to put food on the table.

8:16

There are tons of souls lining

8:18

the street here. They're

8:20

selling all kinds of different

8:22

things, memorabilia, beads, clothing,

8:26

bright colored shirts, dresses,

8:29

skirts, even shoes are

8:31

sold here on the street. There

8:33

are also bars and well-known

8:36

restaurants. Growing

8:38

up in South Africa as a

8:41

black person, the only time white

8:43

people could be seen on

8:45

the streets in townships were

8:48

riot police and

8:50

soldiers patrolling. Times

8:52

are changed now. 30 years into democracy,

8:55

it's different. Seeing a

8:57

white person driving past in a

8:59

township or even as a

9:01

tourist, particularly in this neighborhood,

9:04

is now normal. We

9:07

don't get startled anymore when we see white

9:09

people walking leisurely

9:12

down the road because democracy

9:15

has taught us about

9:17

equality, it has taught us unity.

9:21

Sakubu Zimakubela owns one of the

9:24

busiest restaurants here on Vrilagazi Street.

9:26

Tourists who often come to Soweto by bus

9:29

end up having meals at his place. Tourism

9:32

has benefited Vrilagazi streets a

9:35

lot. Even me,

9:37

while I saw some of the shopping malls, I

9:40

decided normally, most of the time I'm doing nothing,

9:42

let me rather sell food. So

9:45

I decided let me open Sakubu when

9:47

the former president of Nefkim and Della said

9:50

unemployment is high, the crime is

9:52

high. I decided well not let

9:55

me Open a restaurant and

9:57

make a difference in my community. That

10:00

Beckinsale time I can tie

10:02

into something unemployment has this:

10:05

I'm sorry. I

10:07

can't help but compare his own

10:09

efforts over the last thirty years

10:11

to those of the country's leaders.

10:14

So far and the lesson here is

10:16

feel tired and and last fall a.

10:20

We kinda mccain does that then

10:23

been living We need to change

10:25

the mindset as a nice out

10:27

when you leave your for the

10:29

same units from the fed her

10:32

my done a good job for

10:34

me. So sad that enemy processing

10:36

and some cool stuff it's thousand

10:38

and one instead of society says

10:40

invalid as is more than five

10:43

hundred. So and i

10:45

post is nice and no way in

10:47

and I see ghosts that's have made

10:49

a month. Modern.

10:54

Zones. Are so democratic

10:56

Diverted soon spread far beyond the

10:59

area around. For a busy street. Just

11:01

a ten minute drive away is a

11:03

very different silly to to the one

11:06

most tourists see. I'm

11:08

at a township and sit town just outside

11:10

of silly to. On

11:13

standing in the middle of

11:16

disused rail tracks and that

11:18

crosses overgrown there are as

11:20

you can check if an

11:22

informal settlements our rules of

11:24

portable toilets that I lined

11:27

up here on the streets

11:29

this area is a sharp

11:31

contrast to watch the let

11:33

as the streets in some

11:35

ways in the slide on.

11:39

Inequality was entrenched into our history

11:41

by the A with june. The

11:44

promises of equal opportunities that many

11:46

South Africans hoped would funnel political

11:49

freedom of still not materialized. Summer

11:52

questioning his the honeymoon is over for the

11:54

A and see. The. Movement that

11:56

has long framed itself as the country's.

11:58

Liberate them, Young mothers

12:00

are struggling to get by here. I

12:02

matched has Nema Sylvester sitting outside her

12:05

home wearing a son had black jeans

12:07

and a worn out. read: T shirt.

12:11

How do you feel about celebrating Thirty years

12:13

of democracy? I

12:15

don't see this is something to

12:17

celebrate cause I'm unemployed. No.

12:20

Running water, No toilets. There's

12:23

basically no services. For. As

12:25

here. There's no Jobs

12:27

President. Is telling you they they

12:30

is jobs major selling you when they

12:32

do their badges speech or their a

12:34

provinces speech the speech of what their

12:36

era doing when the tell you that

12:38

days jobs and when this node shows.

12:41

What Are they? Key problems? Here

12:43

to problems is

12:45

electricity. Toilet.

12:49

Water. Clean. Water

12:51

We don't have spouses. Only

12:54

those three things. That's all. Anyone

12:58

can see when Nelson Mandela was the

13:00

i use the one who that did

13:02

this agency and they don't even abide

13:04

to they promises what they were promising

13:06

as by that same pattern that most

13:09

of feel it makes me so angry

13:11

as a citizen. Silence

13:14

and Is also Listen Know.

13:17

Cause I haven't seen any changes that the

13:19

agency as then. I usually vote

13:21

but those the I do I want. Democracy.

13:24

Means it means nothing to me.

13:28

Says Nema story reflects a much

13:30

wider truth in South Africa. Today

13:33

that. Division is now often between

13:35

the Haves and the have Nots. The

13:44

screen is the sort of clipped.

13:47

It's. A monument that was bills to

13:49

commemorate the Freedom Charter, which was adopted

13:51

by thousands of activists of all races

13:53

and Nineteen Fifty five. The document represented

13:56

the aspirations of all South Africans at

13:58

the height of the. Keep. It.

14:01

Open and Close States the people

14:03

shall devon. But. Seventy

14:05

years later, people yes feel that

14:07

the a connection to the history

14:10

of liberation is overlooked. From

14:12

on amazon so was a do

14:14

this was visited to so i

14:16

made for the skates for so

14:19

little to see him cause the

14:21

guy to. The are

14:23

now inside of the structure. It's

14:25

a towel on need from bricks

14:27

and right at the top. Is

14:29

a huge cross and you can

14:32

see some the this. And you can see

14:34

the sky. This is like

14:36

an open air museum which has.

14:39

The actual freedoms outside cells

14:41

or the weather written around

14:43

but looks like a round

14:45

table. The one that stands

14:47

out for. Mean. Of

14:51

the people, Shall doesn't have moved closer

14:53

though. There was a Unix reselling that

14:55

owns if address the or ten of

14:58

them in to jump. But now

15:00

having and looked at his

15:02

home as a township the

15:05

one thing that stands out

15:07

in terms of development pulled

15:09

apart a similar incident. Democracy

15:11

is often and museum where

15:14

we are now however ten

15:16

minutes away from here in

15:18

Orlando with the not as

15:20

extreme the Nelson Mandela Museum

15:23

which is much more developed.

15:25

The I was nowhere to go

15:28

for to ritual suicide in my

15:30

community is that is it was

15:32

isn't taking surveys moving your do

15:34

Sentosa How beautiful the Us but

15:37

none of them is been implemented

15:39

into their families. Who are we

15:41

are today for a living outside

15:43

where pigs you know we've been

15:45

existed for too long emotionally does

15:48

not have a hard is that

15:50

of prisoners of war and all

15:52

I saw this season with such

15:54

as a. What

15:56

is Thirty Years of Democracy means?

15:58

you in disk? A Jewish. Israeli

16:02

know it's useless. I don't have

16:04

a minimum of this. I've been

16:06

born into this company to today

16:08

I'm twenty nine is still seeing

16:10

the very same thing her so

16:13

I was a young men men's

16:15

had no I the ass in

16:17

all it says he said known

16:19

as soon as I called him

16:21

how to invest the so of

16:24

course by the where we are.

16:26

What's another good I was thinking

16:28

about nine thousand guerrilla. War.

16:33

started raining him. And

16:36

I and have. implied.

16:40

Museum. This

16:48

is the documentary from the Bbc

16:51

World Service. Hey,

16:57

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slows. Full terms at mintmobile.com. Lifeless Ordinary brings a

17:28

remarkable personal stories from across the

17:30

globe from people who chased they

17:32

dreams and no one knew that

17:34

it was going to travel a

17:36

bike. Even had told him that

17:38

I was riding your bike to

17:40

Egypt. Democracy bad was impossible to

17:42

people who have lived through nightmares.

17:44

Spain. In jail in Thailand I made

17:46

a promise to myself in Ny Giants

17:48

that went on hi I'm I'm gonna

17:50

volunteer somewhere. nice as ordinary in

17:52

the bbc world service will find

17:55

it wherever you get your bbc

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podcasts I'm

18:04

Nomsa Masega with The People Shall

18:06

Govern. Three decades

18:08

into democracy, this dynamic country

18:10

is facing a new reckoning.

18:13

There are completely different challenges to

18:16

the historic first democratic polls of

18:18

three decades ago. Unemployment,

18:20

crumbling public health care and

18:22

rampant corruption plague the country.

18:25

I've been speaking about this with

18:27

Tessa Dooms, an author and political

18:29

analyst. I think South Africa

18:31

at 30 and our democracy at 30 presents

18:34

an opportunity for us to not only reflect

18:36

back, I think, on the last 30 years,

18:38

but on whether or not

18:40

the last 30 years are very different

18:42

from the 30 years before that. It's

18:44

an opportunity for us to ask, have we

18:46

really broken away from our

18:49

colonial and apartheid past? And for

18:51

me, I think given the sentiments in

18:53

the country that we've seen, it's very

18:55

much clear that people don't feel like

18:58

we've fundamentally changed the architecture of

19:00

our country. There are some glaring

19:02

things that you can see about the country that are

19:04

so very similar. High levels

19:06

of inequality persist and have even

19:08

increased in the democratic era. So

19:20

one of the best examples of the service

19:22

delivery crisis that extends in all directions

19:25

is that hundreds of trained medical

19:27

doctors have been staging protests in

19:29

major cities across the country because

19:31

they can't find work. They're

19:34

demanding permanent jobs, both because

19:37

they need to live and they want

19:39

to serve. Dr.

19:41

Taylor. Hi. Thank you so much

19:43

for meeting up with me. I

19:45

met up with one of the young doctors

19:47

who was born in 1993, the

19:49

year before our democratic transition. I'm

19:52

Dr. Mumtaz Emmer and Thomas. People

19:55

call me Dr. Taz. I'm a medical

19:57

doctor by profession, but also a health

19:59

activist. and a teenage pregnancy

20:01

prevention advocate. Dr. Tez

20:04

is the first graduate in her family.

20:06

She's surviving on freelance work outside of

20:08

the medical fraternity. It's very disheartening because

20:10

you grow up thinking, I'm going to

20:13

be a doctor, I can serve my

20:15

people. And then you're faced with the

20:17

reality that says, yes, you're a doctor,

20:19

but you can't serve your people. They

20:24

have been numerous protests by

20:27

unemployed doctors. What

20:29

is the feeling around this

20:31

issue with your other

20:33

unemployed colleagues? I feel like everyone's

20:35

spotted with hope. If

20:38

we make enough noise, people will listen. Now

20:41

the hope has been eliminated.

20:45

Now we have unemployed doctors sitting

20:47

at home disgruntled, feeling

20:50

unappreciated, and

20:53

that's pretty much the air that

20:55

everyone finds themselves in, because it's

20:58

April now. And

21:00

since January, people have been applying

21:02

for jobs, protesting, but yet we

21:04

still have hundreds of unemployed doctors.

21:06

What does 30 years of democracy

21:08

mean to you in this

21:11

current situation? I love that question.

21:13

So 30 years of democracy for me

21:16

has afforded me the

21:18

opportunity to be a

21:21

colored female medical doctor and

21:23

the first generation medical doctor in my

21:25

family. However, on the flip side, it's

21:28

also highlighted a very sad reality in

21:31

South Africa. The

21:34

people of South Africa are in dire

21:36

need of healthcare, yet

21:38

we have a collapsing healthcare

21:40

system, and that's why

21:43

we have 800 unemployed doctors. So

21:45

30 years of democracy in South Africa,

21:47

what that means for me is being

21:51

robbed of opportunity and hope that

21:53

was once promised to us. Political

22:01

violence in the years right before the

22:03

1994 vote almost derailed our transition to

22:11

democracy. Deadly

22:13

fighting that characterized the end of

22:16

white minority rule erupted in townships

22:18

outside of Johannesburg and in other

22:20

parts of the country. Supporters

22:23

of the Inghat al-Fridam party, egged

22:25

on by white extremists, unleashed

22:28

horrific violence to disrupt negotiations

22:30

for a peaceful end to

22:32

apartheid. Supporters

22:34

of the ANC retaliated and

22:36

thousands lost their lives. The

22:39

two sides clashed because the IFP

22:41

chose to cooperate with the racist

22:44

regime in exchange for infrastructure development

22:46

and other benefits like service delivery

22:48

and education for the Zulu nation,

22:51

while the ANC engaged in the arms

22:53

struggle. I'm

22:57

now standing in front of a granite

23:00

memorial which

23:02

bears the names of 688 victims of the violence

23:06

that took place here. Thirty

23:09

years after the guns have been silenced

23:12

and the killings stopped, families of

23:14

those who perished in the conflict visit

23:17

the monument to remember their loved ones.

23:20

Many of the people here carry

23:22

those scars. And some

23:25

of the people who

23:27

visit this monument in

23:29

towards a township are

23:31

those who fought in

23:33

the 1990s. I

23:45

met men who risked their lives for

23:47

the ANC during South Africa's fractured transition

23:50

over 30 years ago. Dumsani

23:52

Kumando is one of them. He

23:54

showed me some of the old battlegrounds. This

24:00

is Kumalo Street and it was

24:03

No Man's Land back then. Basically,

24:05

yes, there was nothing. Quiet.

24:08

You could hardly see a bed or anything or

24:10

a dog or anything. What would happen

24:13

if someone attempted to cross the road? Definitely.

24:16

You were risking being shot by the snipers from

24:18

the hostel or risking being

24:20

shot by our people from here because we don't

24:22

know who you are. Once you

24:24

cross here, you are just, like

24:26

we say, in No Man's Land. Either

24:29

this group or that group can

24:31

kill you. Either of them can kill you. But

24:33

you were young back then. What was

24:35

going through your mind at that time? I

24:38

mean, you're in the middle of a war, essentially. In

24:42

the beginning of it was fear, of

24:44

course. Everyone

24:46

was afraid. You were afraid of dying.

24:48

First it was confusion, then fear

24:51

and the desperation to survive.

24:53

They taught those people to

24:55

even take up their arms and fight. In

24:59

a quiet spot, we sat and

25:01

chatted about his reflections 30 years

25:03

on. Did

25:06

you say it was worth it, being

25:08

part of it, being one of the

25:10

commanders? It was worth it. We

25:13

do have got this far with

25:15

democracy if we didn't stand up

25:17

and fight. Definitely not because

25:20

the apartheid government was rich. They

25:22

had all the means,

25:24

the money, the machinery and everything.

25:26

So they wouldn't have let

25:29

it go easy like that. Would

25:31

you say this is the freedom you fought for?

25:34

I would say yes, it's the freedom that you fought

25:36

for. Maybe

25:39

it's because I'm coming from the older generation.

25:42

Because now you can't just go out

25:44

simply because a white person can spit

25:46

on me and clap me as you

25:48

wish or insult me or do

25:51

whatever you wish. That's a big

25:53

score which at that time was difficult. But

25:57

in terms of the governance itself,

26:02

We had made a lot of mistakes.

26:05

Like I'm saying, every day we

26:07

hear things about the looting of funds,

26:10

the corruption, other people

26:12

enriching themselves for getting up on their

26:14

muscles. If we could

26:16

just handle that, I

26:18

think we'll have a democracy that one

26:20

was fighting for. But every

26:23

democracy or every nation grows from somewhere.

26:25

We are still growing. We are still

26:27

a very young democracy. 30

26:30

years, if you look at it, 30 years is not

26:32

a very long time. The apartheid government

26:35

was in power for 48 years. We

26:37

have moved. We've got a lot of gains. The

26:40

government is trying to bring services to the people.

26:43

We're trying to move. With

26:51

upcoming elections on 29 May,

26:54

South Africa is counting gains of the

26:56

last 30 years. With

26:59

many asking what the next three decades

27:01

hold for the rainbow nation. But

27:03

many are also thinking about whether

27:05

they want to participate in democracy

27:08

at all. Here's Tessa Dooms again.

27:11

If you are raising our family at

27:13

the age of 30, all you've

27:15

known is a democracy. But

27:18

you probably are sitting in a situation where

27:20

you don't have adequate access to services, where

27:22

you don't have a job, or you don't

27:24

have many prospects in your life. But

27:27

when those young people see it, like a young

27:29

man in Malaysia said to us two years ago,

27:31

that really stayed with me. He

27:34

said, we're not voting because we get a vote,

27:36

but they get a democracy. Somebody

27:38

else is getting a democracy, and young

27:40

people feel like they've been sold or

27:42

dead. And so we're getting

27:44

to a point where many young people

27:46

are disillusioned, not with one

27:48

or two political parties, not with voting,

27:51

but with the democratic project. And I

27:53

think that's the greatest indictment on our

27:55

first 30 years. since

28:00

1994, many South

28:03

Africans still believe in the power of

28:05

the ballot box. Remember

28:07

Dr. Tez, who said she was at risk

28:09

of losing hope? She told

28:11

me that for her there's one thing

28:13

that can restore it. Will

28:15

you be voting? Of course. Like

28:20

I said, I feel that we have been

28:23

robbed of hope, but

28:25

voting is the

28:27

one thing that can

28:29

recreate a sense of hope amongst

28:31

us as South Africans. Voting

28:34

was the one thing that installed hope into South

28:36

Africa and it

28:38

can still be that one thing that

28:40

installs hope back into South Africa. 30

28:49

years on from the day that gave

28:51

me hope when black South Africans voted

28:53

for the first time, I've been thinking

28:55

a lot about that opening clause of

28:57

the Freedom Charter, the demand

29:00

that the people shall govern. It's

29:02

the heart of what a democracy is, but

29:06

democracy doesn't deliver on its

29:08

own. Nelson Mandela

29:10

once asked the question, what

29:13

is it that we can and must

29:15

do to ensure that democracy, peace

29:17

and prosperity reign everywhere? It's

29:20

a question that's as important for South

29:23

Africa today as it was then. Thanks

29:33

for listening to this episode of the

29:35

documentary. I'm Nomsa Masego.

29:38

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30:19

The mountains are what keeps me

30:21

motivated in love. It's where we

30:23

get to ask ourselves who we

30:25

are and who we want to become.

30:28

At the turn of this century, five

30:30

mountaineers set out on individual missions to

30:33

become the first woman to scale all

30:35

14 of the world's 8,000ers, 14 mountains, all

30:39

above 8,000 meters. It

30:41

was about pitting themselves against nature rather

30:43

than each other. They knew only one

30:46

of them would succeed. But whether

30:48

they liked it or not, it would come to be

30:50

seen as a race. Five women vying

30:52

against each other. The media needed

30:55

to find some competition, and they

30:57

find it. A race with deadly

30:59

consequences. We are just not designed

31:01

to live in this environment. Getting

31:04

down alive was my only goal

31:06

in that situation. Amazing Sports Stories

31:08

from the BBC World Service tells

31:10

their story in Chasing Mountains.

31:12

Every step was an achievement.

31:15

Search for Amazing Sports Stories wherever you

31:17

get your BBC podcasts.

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