Keitseng worth remembering in Mandela's Gun

Chippa Legodimo | Friday May 23, 2014 12:47

 

Although the story focuses mainly on the iconic anti-apartheid hero, there could be no way such a story could be told without mentioning the brave Motswana, who sacrificed his own life for the struggle.  This courageous man offered Mandela and other guerilla fighters shelter en route to countries like Zambia and Tanzania.

This was Fish Keitseng whose house marked C42 in the impoverished location of Peleng hosted the greatest statesman of modern times.

Keitseng played a pivotal role not only in helping Mandela but the African National Congress in achieving its goal of paralysing the oppressive apartheid regime and bringing democracy to South Africa.

In fact, Fish once kept the famous Mandela’s gun safe for him when the two heroes boarded a chartered plane from Mbeya, Tanzania, according to a book by historians Jeff Ramsay and Barry Morton called Comrade Fish: Memories Of A Motswana In The ANC Underground.

“When we got on the plane Mandela gave me a big sack of bullets, a big bag.  I also took his gun and put it under my jacket,” Keitseng is quoted in the book.

There had been fears before the two men left Tanzania that Mandela could be killed on return to South Africa.  So they had to land at the Kanye airstrip after their plane changed route because of fear of ambush if they landed in Lobatse.

This is just one example of how close Keitseng and Mandela were. Keitseng indicated in the same book that the first time he saw Mandela was at the South African mines in the 1950s.  As fate would have it both were later to become prominent defiance campaign leaders.

The two men were tried during the infamous Treason Trial and interestingly both seemed comfortable during the trial.

Ironically Keitseng sought Mandela’s help after the police took his passbook when he was identified and arrested for taking part in the 1956 defiance campaign.

According to Keitseng, Mandela advised him to go to the police and the former South African president made a note to the police that read, “I lost my pass because the police took it”.

Mandela also defended and paid bail for Keitseng after the latter was nabbed for helping political prisoners escape from police custody.

On return from South Africa later in the ‘60s Keitseng continued to work for the ANC, helping those on exile move to places of safety and coordinating movements between South Africa and the north.

He recalled in the book that although he used to take care of various struggle heroes including Chris Hani, the man he took care of longer was the former ANC leader himself.

Although the two men had a long history, there are two most important days, the day Mandela surprisingly showed up at Keitseng’s house in Peleng in 1962 and 1992 just days after his release from Robben Island where he served 27 years.

On Mandela’s first day in Lobatse, Keitseng recalled that he was plastering one of the rooms of C42, which he had extended to accommodate more of the on-transit comrades.  He saw Mandela’s car stop at the gate.

“I had not been contacted by the ANC about any people coming,”  he says.

“Hey man I’m looking for you. I tried to book at Lobatse hotel, but they refused.  So I’m looking for you,” Keitseng recalled.

The days after Mandela’s arrival were interesting as both men would go up Peleng hill for training and relaxing, where they would also pick some moretologa berries.

The routine, which also included reading books by Madiba, continued until he was whisked away to Tanzania where he drummed support for the ANC and the black struggle.

On return from Tanzania Mandela was in a hurry to go back home and meet with the then ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli, so he left some of his guns and ammunition in Lobatse.

Keitseng hid the guns in a hole under his house until Joe Modise who later became minister of defence after the 1994 elections, came to fetch them.

Fish, a visionary, had bought a thatched house for 21 pounds on arrival from South Africa.  It was the same house that would be a safe haven for apartheid struggle heroes including Mandela.

It is against this background that the movie Mandela’s Gun would have been incomplete without a scene illustrating Fish’s house and the significant role it played.  It is with hope that the Peleng scenes will enrich the biopic depicting the beginning of his long walk to freedom, which had been realised by the time he died on December 5, 2013.

Indeed as the authors put it Comrade Fish’s life is worthy of remembrance.