SOUTH AFRICA: FORGING A NATION : SOUTH AFRICA: A TALE OF SIX FAMILIES : FAMILY PORTRAIT / THE MOLEKANES

Stephen, 73, retired furniture factory worker

Johannes, 46, truck dispatcher

Ellen, 40, ANC finance official

Sibido, 38, union organizer

Ivy, 34, salesclerk

Rapu, 33, ANC candidate for Parliament

Joseph, 29, unemployed warehouseman

Miriam, 26, mother of three

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Home: Soweto

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Politics: Most members support African National Congress.

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Background: Stephen moved to Soweto in the 1940s from Orange Free State.

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Stephen Molekane: “I wish Mary (his wife, who died in 1991) had lived to see the new South Africa. It won’t be the answer to all our problems--no way, man, no way--but it is the start. Our family has played its part, that I can say. It cost us, this struggle, but it was a struggle for our children and grandchildren and their grandchildren.”