Leadership is natural, without politics, without white people. Black people understand that there is induna, who lords over them. As induna, I am seen as a sell-out because my stance is always anti-war.

But my word only carries weight once the police arrive. I have been in the leadership committee at the hostel since the nineties, and I have always considered myself a peacemaker and have always discouraged crime. I got here by serving in a committee, resolving conflicts, and that very same committee elected me at a later stage.

The way it works is like this: there are block chairmen for each of the six blocks here. Each block has a committee and the chairmen meet with me regularly. I have a deputy and committee members on each floor. Each floor should have six members but they dodge duty. So, it could be four or three on the floor. In another block, it could be one person. These very dodgers end up coming to us when they have problems to untangle. If you don't fuck up, you stay in leadership until the next person comes along. The others before me were induna until they took their pensions. It's that type of a deal. It's not democratic per se because it doesn't involve open elections with the entire hostel. It's tough being a leader because all you earn, in fact, are grave insults, the harshest of them coming from gunslingers. I appeal to God to stay protected.

THE RUDE AWAKENING

I was born in 1956 in a place called KwaNomoya, near Weenen, in KwaZulu-Natal.