The Girl Who Asked Why: William Rowland interviews Hendrietta Bogopane, M.P.
Assertive, sharp-witted, outspoken; all of these words apply to Hendrietta Bogopane, South Africa's 30-year old blind parliamentarian. But there is also a softer side to this captivating woman of many parts.
Perhaps we should begin by talking about your parliamentary work and your life as a blind parliamentarian...
I think it is important to start by saying that South Africa has one of the most diverse parliaments. We have 12 disabled members of parliament in the National Assembly, with many different disabilities. It's one of our biggest successes and we have proven that it works. I think other parliaments should look forward to this and that other disabled people in their own countries should demand representation.
It's a very intimidating environment. Everything happens fast ... the working hours are extremely long ... there's no time for things like orientation or asking questions. It's hands-on and learning on the job.
You don't know from what side you're gonna wake up from tomorrow because in politics ten minutes is a long time. For a blind person it is very, very challenging. There are volumes and volumes of material and if you use Braille, at no stage are you gonna be able to catch up. You've got your order paper, questions for the President (and Deputy President), minutes, reports, legislation before parliament: nothing is read out. You get these papers every morning and you must read them so that you can begin to know what will be happening, and where you must go.
How do you cope?
I have a very experienced office manager, Ntsiki, who is also my personal assistant (PA). She has learned how to serve a blind person. She will read things before I come and circle the ones that are relevant to me, ones she thinks I need to know. She does this for me in terms of the order paper, and in terms of the questions she will scan them, or tap into the parliamentary website and print out a large print copy. I have managed to train my PA and she has become so parliamentary sensitive that she knows what is happening, when and how, and so she's become a very strong support.
Do you follow any routine, and are there any things that you do to sort yourself out for the day?
You have to come in early - so that's what I do. Parliament begins functioning at nine, but I'm usually there by seven every morning. I have to get time to go through my e-mails, before everybody arrives, before the phones start ringing. And then at eight my PA comes in, and that's the time she will go through the written things I can't read, that she can't scan, that's handwritten. Then we go through the correspondence and plan our day. There's an organised parliamentary programme that's standard for Monday to Friday. Monday is party day, Tuesday this, Wednesday that ...but I would say it's a very, very interesting environment, and very exciting to be in politics and a disabled person.
You chair one of the parliamentary committees, don't you?
Yes, I chair one of the most difficult parliamentary committees, established during the second democratic parliament - and I am very excited to be the first chair. It has one of the longest names in the history of parliament, but it is called the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Children, Youth and Disabled People. The word "joint" means it is a committee constituted by both houses of parliament, with 17 members from the National Assembly and 9 from the National Council of Provinces - one from each province - and me, that's 27 members altogether.
What are the powers of this committee?
To be very brief, it's monitoring, it's oversight. Besides the standard functions of an ordinary portfolio committee in the National Assembly or select committee in the National Council of Provinces of considering legislation, considering departmental reports, deliberating on budgets, and calling for public hearings on specific legislation or budget votes, this committee has additional powers. For instance, we have to ensure that each and every budget vote passing through parliament is child, youth, and disabled friendly. But also that legislation before any other committee of parliament is disabled, youth, and child friendly.
We have provincial powers as well. There is a direct link to the provincial legislatures so we can know what they are doing. Not only that: we actually have to ensure that legislation is going to be successfully implemented by departments in terms of what programmes they put into place. And we look at whether those programmes are intended to improve the quality of life in the sectors we represent. Over and above this, we monitor everybody that gets government funding and operates in the field of disability. We are in the process of developing guidelines on how to work with NGOs - who gets money from government, and how to monitor the use of the money.
Over and above that, we have the responsibility of ensuring that South Africa ratifies the international instruments relating to the sectors we deal with - your treaties, charters, conventions, and protocols. And not only that, we also have the responsibility of ensuring that South Africa meets its obligations with regard to particular instruments. It's a huge committee with a very, very big mandate and we have achieved quite a lot, I would say, for a three-year old committee.
Congratulations! That is certainly an achievement, also for the disability rights movement in South Africa. But now I want to go back to the early part of your career, which I think started with Disabled People South Africa (DPSA).
Ja, I would start it right as a young person, and link it. I spent my school years in a special school, first at Bartimea School for the Blind and Deaf in the Free State and then at Filadelfia Secondary School, outside Pretoria. I completed as a private candidate with an adult centre.
My life history ... I've always had this dream - because I've gone through life with lots of problems, lots of challenges; and as I was growing up I wanted to find out why? I've always been a young, assertive, disabled girl who had questions that wanted answers. Why should I be in a special school? That is where it all started, from the why's and the why nots.
When I left Filadelfia I started interacting with other organisations. NOBSA (National Organisation of the Blind in South Africa) was one of the first I came across, under the leadership of Ruth Machobane, when I had problems. Then I met DPSA and I started understanding how I can make my own dreams come true, of changing South Africa for a better place. Then I became the mother of a visually impaired child, Kealeboga, and I said I cannot have my daughter growing up like I did. The only way is to begin finding solutions to all my "why questions", to be part of the solution. So when I was doing public relations at Pretoria Technikon, when I was in my third year, I applied for this post to be the National Co-ordinator of the Disabled Women's Development Programme.
And did you complete your diploma?
I have a national diploma, a B-Tech and an Honours degree, specialising in media relations, public relations, and communications.
The Disabled Women's Development Programme - tell us about that.
I had to start the programme from nothing. I had to mobilise women and fit disabled women's issues into the political agenda, with the establishment of the Gender Commission. I was fresh from school and it was my first job, and I had to learn on the job. I grew a lot from that and that experience led me into politics and into parliament, where I am now, because I had to debate disabled women's issues with the ANC Women's League and with the IFP Women's Brigade. Parliament was dealing with a lot of legislation and I had to develop position papers, do research, and monitor. I had to interpret the economy to women and I had to understand what the global village means to disabled women.
It awarded me the opportunity to be everywhere. It gave me a chance to develop my listening skills, because I had to sit down and listen to women with different disabilities - quadriplegics, physical disability, deaf, blind. I spent time with them, asking them questions, so that I could represent them well. And that laid a very strong foundation for me in politics.
And then I established what we call the Escom Disabled Women Achiever Awards. I must say this project is quite successful and still doing well. It has really become a carrot for disabled women. Every year they look forward to being on stage, receiving the prizes, being on television. It opens a whole lot of doors for the winners.
You are also an AIDS activist. Could you speak to us about that passion of yours?
As I indicated ... I've been a young girl who always had lots of questions. So amongst the questions I had was the issue of HIV and AIDS. When HIV/AIDS started becoming a problem in South Africa and women gathered to talk about HIV and Aids, then I asked: are disabled women represented? I went through the documentation and I analyzed the messages and strategies, and I started saying, this does not accommodate disabled women! Then in 1997, when preparations were being made to launch the Partnership Against HIV and Aids under the then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, I took the initiative to influence the partnership to ensure that disabled people would be included; and that led to me becoming the first disability sector representative in the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC).
Disabled people, women and men, are more vulnerable because of their disability. They're likely not to get the information, they're likely not to access the workshops. 'Cause we do have a disability culture - if I may use the word - the messages are totally irrelevant, the messages are not disabled friendly. But also in terms of South Africa being in Africa: in the African Continent women are not in control of what happens in the bedroom. In African culture, where women have no say in relation to sex and sexuality - that then impacts on their disability. They are women and they don't have power, but they are also disabled. There is no self-esteem and it makes it totally impossible that they are going to negotiate the use of a condom.
Some people seem to think that to have sex with a disabled woman can cure their AIDS. Is there really such a belief?
Yes, there is. It's the rumour that having sex with a virgin cures your HIV; and because disabled women are regarded as asexual, then, automatically, they are virgins - because nobody is expected to be having sex with them. Yes, the rumour is very strong and it puts disabled women at much higher risk.
Amongst all your activities you also find time to run a business?
Yes, I am a junior partner in a public relations, events management, and community development company, Makwetla and Associates. We opted not to change the name because it was one of the first black companies in South Africa, founded by Angie Makwetla in 1992, and I came in as a partner in 1999. Angie believes I will add value as a younger woman, with the dynamics of change in public relations and events management. We have now added the components of research and community development - these are our four main streams. And we've brought in very strongly the issue of disability, to make all our programmes, all our projects, disabled friendly. It's part of our standard contract.
Have you been able to penetrate the private sector?
Yes, our clients are mainly private sector. We're handling amongst our accounts the Sowetan Newspaper, through its Nation Building Programme - there are 18 nation building projects. Escom is one of our biggest clients, and we are dealing with Transnet, Telkom, and Anglo American.
We offer a full package. We are dealing with their image as companies and we are handling their social responsibility. We communicate what they offer ... we go out and look for projects for them ... we run workshops ... we do research. If Transnet has 8 or 10 million Rands for social spending, they channel it through the Makwetla account and we agree with them what projects they are going to sponsor. We will disburse the monies and monitor whether those projects are doing what they are supposed to be doing. We do a needs assessment; if they need capacity, we will organise that capacity.
We also do a lot of awards. The biggest one that everybody associates with us is the Community Builder of the Year. We've celebrated our 13th anniversary running that one. Then there's the Young Communicator and there's the Escom Disabled Women Achiever Awards. And now we will be doing TWIB - Technology for Women in Business, which is our first project with a government department (Minerals and Energy).
And what about Hendrietta the person, the woman? What do you do in your own time, when you are not rushing around in parliament or elsewhere?
I love reading, and I read everything I can lay my hands on - braille, tape, and print. When I am driving, then I listen to tapes. I read braille mostly in bed when I just want to switch the light off before I go to sleep. I use my spectacles for print, and the books I fall in love with I send to be enlarged, so I can read them over and over again. My star being a fish, I am a spiritual person; I love reading motivational books which keep me going. My favourite author is Iyanla Vanzant - a woman, US based.
And will there be a life after parliament?
Definitely! I am an ambitious young girl. Anybody who follows horoscopes knows that a Pisces loves dreaming, fantasising about all sorts of things. I dreamed of a beautiful house, and I've managed to achieve that. I drive my dream car, a Landrover 4x4.
I have two beautiful girls. And I always wanted to get married one day, which I know may seem strange, but marriage is part of my plans. I will be getting married on the 2nd of November. We have gone through our traditional wedding already, 'cause he's paid the lobola. We'll have the western part in November.
So it's a very exciting life.
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