
When I ran the Bracelet Program, I didn't know that Lizo had a wife and daughter. I came across that information just this week in South Africa. It mentioned that the wife, Pina Ncata, lived in Gugulethu, a township outside of Cape Town, but that was in 1989. Yesterday, I decided to Google "Pina Ncata" and I found several articles about her selling newspapers in the basement of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Mall in Cape Town. It also said she is there 7 days a week, all day. As I am in Cape Town, I decided to try and find her. But what would I say? Wouldn't it seem odd to her? How would she react? The Waterfront Mall is an enormous place; would I even be able to find her? I decided I had to at least try. After visiting Jetty #1 (the original disembarkation point to go to Robben Island - that's another whole tory), I entered the V & A Mall. I knew I had to go downstairs to the very bottom of the Mall, near an exist to the parking garage. There are several exists to parking garages, but I thought I would start at one end of the mall and work my way to the other end. As I headed down the final set of escalators, I saw a woman sitting on the ledge right next to the exit selling papers and magazines. Could this be her? At the first place I tried? I walked up to her and asked if she was Pina Ncata. She smiled and said, "Yes". I introduced myself and tried to explain how I knew her name and why I wanted to talk with her. I looked directly at her and said, "You were Lizo Ngqungwana's wife." She looked at me with disbelief because Lizo was killed in a car accident about 16 years ago. I was getting choked up and overcome with emotion because I couldn't believe that I actually found her. She said, "Don't make me cry." I fought back the tears and explained about the bracelet program and that I wanted to put the documents and materials from the program online so that the former prisoners and this part of history would never be forgotten. I didn't have a bracelet with Lizo's name on it, but I gave her one with Raymond Mhlaba's name, and the Information Booklet from the program. We talked a long time. It was a little difficult to understand her because she was in a terrible car accident in 1990 and was in a coma for 2 1/2 months. When she finally came out of the coma, she couldn't walk or speak. Although she can now, her speech is still effected and it is difficult to understand her. But we found a way to communicate. She even was able to reach her daughter by phone and I had a chance to speak with her. Pina Ncata has a powerful spirit and is a beautiful person. She has survived so much tragedy in her life; her husband being sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island, her having permanent brain damage from the accident, Lizo dying ironically from a car accident only 7 or 8 years after he was released, the death of her son, etc. Incredibly, she remains positive and greets everyone with a smile and a "Thank you for being you." I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to meet Pina Ncata.