The black howler and often misunderstood klipgooier (stone thrower) and leader of BLF, Andile Mngxitama, posted this week on social media "…we come from 400 years of systemic oppression. We have all manner of pathologies and disabilities. If we don’t work and sacrifice for a future that belongs to us. We must forget..."

I couldn’t agree more with his assertion that we come from 400 years of systematic oppression and that we have all manner of pathologies and disabilities. In fact, Mngxitama’s assertion of "systematic oppression" is something discussed in detail in my book Blame Me on Apartheid. The subject of "disability" that Mngxitama touches on is also articulated by senior counsel Vuyani Ngalwana, writing a prologue to the same book, who notes that "People die, and children are born. But psychological damage that comes with systematic deprivation of the ability to think critically, to reason logically, and to make critical choices is inter-generational and therefore long-lasting."..