SAM MKOKELI: Like the SS Mendi, we are drowning, yet our politicians march on
The story of the vessel's demise haunts me as I watch South Africa's economic decline, as a consequence of political failings
I am a descendant of one of the men who sank with the SS Mendi in 1917. For decades it has been a story at the back of my and members of my clan's minds. The sinking of the ship is a powerful story I briefly shared with President Cyril Ramaphosa around the time he hosted then-British prime minister Theresa May in 2018. She brought with her the vessel's bell, discovered in the English Channel a year earlier.
Among the stories surrounding the SS Mendi's sinking is that of the role played by a reverend, Isaac Dyobha. As it became clear most of the men aboard would meet their deaths far from their South African homes, he rallied his compatriots and led them in a “death dance”...
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