Another world is possible — Bob Nameng, the Soul Rebel of Kliptown

Daily Maverick

28-04-2025

Unlike many activists, Bob Nameng had never left his community, despite the ample opportunities that come to someone with his charisma and spirit. He realised that escaping poverty often meant escaping the poor, leaving people to the elements of poverty. For him, people's power was not a slogan, but a mission that could be practised every day.
'The father of Kliptown', Soweto, Bob Nameng (1 July 1970-19 April 2025), is no more. Bob died at his home, on the rutted, potholed street opposite the unguarded railway line and a few minutes' walk from the dilapidated house that was once the home of Charlotte Maxeke.
Bob Nameng was a giant, perhaps the true inheritor of the spirit and values that had animated the gathering in Kliptown Square in 1955 that drew up the Freedom Charter. Bob's full history must be recovered by a historian, and I'm sorry it didn't happen when he was alive. The little I know is that his adoptive mother was Auntie Eva Mokoka, the famous people's nurse and 'lady of the lamp' of Kliptown, and that Bob attributed his ethics and values to her presence in his life.
His other ever-present inspiration was Bob Marley, who he constantly quoted and whose life and practices he emulated, although for health reasons he stopped smoking the weed two years ago.
The last time I spoke to Bob was on Marley's 80th birthday on 6 February to discuss recording a podcast about how Marley's songs of freedom had influenced a generation of activists. I was thinking of bringing together Bob, Charles Leonard, Robert McBride and Andrew Kasrils.
Sadly, it was not to be.
Rat race
I got to know Bob properly in 2024. We were introduced because of his lifetime of community activism, particularly inspiring and uplifting children, and our shared love of Bob Marley. The first time I entered his house, on Union Avenue, it was like entering a magical grotto, adorned with murals, Bob Marley regalia, rastafarian colours and the bric-a-brac of everyday life. Bob's garage-cum-living room was an open community space, where elders and children always gathered to eat, to talk and for his weekly Sunday school.
Bob's memorial on 24 April was held at the Kliptown Youth Programme (KYP), an offshoot of Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY), the organisation Bob had created many years ago. It was packed to the rafters with community members.
KYP is itself a wonder. A compact educational campus, situated in the middle of the informal settlement, providing daily after-school lessons to nearly a thousand children from the surrounding community.
It also doubles up as a food kitchen, computer centre, library and community venue. The people who run it are alumni of the school of Nameng.
Under a banner with a picture of Bob and a slogan proclaiming 'in an abundance of water the fool is thirsty', part of the lyrics of Marley's song, Rat Race, speaker after speaker recounted how he had put them on paths to success.
I watched the rapturous dance and song of young graduates of SKY.
I felt his spirit.
I could see him in different people.
It felt like a family reunion. Bob had literally grown this community. Through a mixture of conversation, sport, inspiration, he had helped young people mired in poverty to find the riches in themselves. Preaching love. The two Bob's philosophies are that while poverty and inequality is imposed from without, it is possible to find dignity and possibility within. 'In an abundance of water the fool is thirsty' means just that.
But I also decided that the lyric is a criticism of greed: when there's enough for everyone, why do the elites manufacture scarcity by wanting to own it all themselves?
At the memorial, regardless of the surrounding poverty, indignity and squalour, a strong spirit of social cohesion and resilience pervaded the hall. One young man talked of how Bob had helped him escape his drug addiction. A young actor declared that although he has escaped the ghetto, he is still 'Proudly Kliptown.' A gogo dressed in religious robes told me how Bob had helped overcome her trauma of rape as I child. Another how she had started a foundation, 'empowered by bab Bob, named Botswalle – the Sisterhood Youth Foundation.'
I realised that the connection Bob had established with me was not unique. It was something he shared with anyone who sought his friendship or counsel.
'Never let a politician Grant you a favour He will always want to Control you forever' — Marley
For all of his adult life, Bob lived in Kliptown, but his reputation travelled much further. Occasionally, he ventured overseas, accepting invitations to give TED talks and other speeches. However, unlike many activists, Bob had never left his community, despite the ample opportunities that come to someone with his charisma and spirit. He realised that escaping poverty also means escaping the poor and leaving people alone to the elements of poverty.
For him, 'power to the people' was not a slogan, but a mission that could be practised every day.
Based on what he saw of the abandonment of the people of Kliptown by the government and the ANC, he was deeply sceptical of party politics and politicians.
Last year, in the run-up to the general election, Bob preached about the need for a new politics, based on honesty, integrity and community service. But while he was open to new parties like Change Starts Now and Rise Mzansi, he left the practice of politics and its easy rhetoric to others.
Bob lived in the community, and the community lived in Bob. As one speaker said, 'Bob didn't die, he multiplied'. In the world after Nameng, my hope is that those he knew and inspired will pick up his message and continue his quest for dignity and equality for Kliptown. DM