A Heart which Still Beats
Patrick Magebhula Hunsley, founding member and stalwart of the South African Alliance and Shack Dwellers International (SDI) died on the 4th August 2014.
Since the early 1990s, Patrick was instrumental in building community networks and local savings schemes. He negotiated with government departments, and even turned away offers when it jeopardised the needs of the community. From his home in Piesang River between the shacklands of Inanda, Durban, where the Federation built 1,431 houses between 1992 and 2000, Patrick mobilised communities across South Africa as a leader of the Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor. Since 2008/09 he served as the chairperson of the Informal Settlement Network. He built progressive partnerships with government agencies and as a special advisor to the previous minister of Human Settlements Mr. Tokyo Sexwale, served as a committee member of the Ministerial Sanitation Task Team, and presented at numerous international conferences such as World Urban Forum 7.
(Extract from ‘Know Your City’ Website)
We would visit Patrick on Sundays. His welcome was even warmer than his wide smile. Patrick was, and long after his passing still is, a catalyst for conversation, a model of mobilisation and the embodiment of empowerment. We would learn lessons from him not only about savings, but also about salvation, not only about housing, but also about Humanity.
He was the inspiration behind many hundreds of savings groups in Kwa Zulu Natal, and then nationally, and those meetings would start with an impassioned rallying cry, a call to action:
“Amandla!”…
And the response:
“Imali Nolwaz” !
Roughly translated, Power… comes through money and knowledge.
The money side seemed obvious. Get together and save – we are #stronger together. And incredibly, through these humble beginnings, people have been able to build their own houses. Bigger, better and cheaper than a standard RDP house.
Power through knowledge, however was perhaps even more important, and as these groups would gather, they would learn about each other. They would really know their neighbour, and this more than anything would build their community.
While Patrick may have initiated some of these ideas, in true Patrick style, he always handed them over to someone else – and always to a woman, and he would always explain three reasons why:
They are far better with money, and will put it to the good of their community before their personal consumption (and here he would take an imaginary swig of a large quart of beer).
They are connected, and they talk, and they know exactly why someone wasn’t at the meeting and could see through excuses as to where that five Rand went yesterday.
They are more approachable.
There are three great lessons of leadership right there.
Patrick’s isiThunzi, his Seriti, his dignified shadow of significance lives on, and that is the subject of another essay, but painted on the inside wall of his office in Piesang River near Inanada is the following inscription”
“Our lives are very short so we cannot afford to close them to others… We need to open the doors to our hearts, minds and communities, by doing this we will learn from each other, they will learn from our heart failures, We will live through their heartbeats, how will they know if we don’t let them in?”
Whilst his lungs may have stopped breathing, his heart still beats, and beats strongly.
Patrick ‘let us in’ and we are still so much the richer for his presence.
Steve
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