GRIFFITH MXENGE – RECALLING THE LIFE OF A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST WHO WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED 40 YEARS AGO TODAY ON NOVEMBER 19 1981

At a time when South Africans are caught up in a debate about the future of the non-racial and democratic South Africa that progressive organisations and leaders had fought and died for, I want to bring to life one of the activists and leaders who fought valiantly for this goal until he was brutally assassinated 40 years ago on November 19 1981. 

Struggle stalwart and human rights lawyer, Mlungusi Griffiths Mxenge, was brutally bludgeoned to death by members of the dreaded security police of the former apartheid regime on this day and his body was dumped in the township of Umlazi in Durban.

Mxenge, who was born in a village near King Williams Town in 1935, studied at the University of Fort Hare and later at the University of Natal in Durban where he obtained his law degree. 

While studying in Durban he was arrested, detained and charged with being a member of the ANC, which was banned in 1960. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment on Robben Island. After his release he continued with his studies in Durban and graduated to become a well-known anti-apartheid lawyer in the former “Grey Street” area of Durban. 

I befriended Mxenge in the early 1970s when I started work as a full-time journalist at the Daily News, situated at 85 Field Street (now Joe Slovo Street) in the city at that time. Mxenge emerged as a fearless lawyer who fought the cases of activists who were arrested and detained despite himself being harassed, detained and banned by the oppressive regime. 

He also participated in most anti-apartheid organisations, especially the Release Mandela Campaign, which was established to mobilise South Africa and the international community for the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners. 

 He also joined this correspondent and other activists such as Dr Khorshed Ginwala, Dr A E Gangat and Archie Gumede to spearhead the setting up of the alternative newspaper, Ukusa, in Durban in the early 1980s. He was married to Victoria Nonyamezelo, who was also brutally murdered by agents of the apartheid police in the drive way of her home in Umlazi in 1987. 

Griffith and Victoria Mxenge were posthumously awarded the Luthuli Award in Silver in 2006 for paying the ultimate price for “defending the rights of oppressed South Africans to exist in conditions of freedom, justice, peace and democracy”. 

 A few weeks after he was assassinated, the Press Trust of SA Third World News Agency published the following article and distributed it around the world. 

The article was published under the headline: “Black South Africa loses another civil rights fighter at the hands of right-wing thugs”. Then in a follow-up article five months after his cruel assassination, the Press Trust published another article titled: “Death of Prominent Political Attorney still a mystery”. This was published on April 19 1982. Almost a year later, the Press Trust published another article under the headline: “Griffith Mxenge – killers not brought to justice” on November 10 1982. All these articles are being re-published here to enrich the lives of the new generations about the sacrifices made by our leaders for the freedom they enjoy today. 

But this freedom appears to be under threat from some forces who only want to promote racial hatred and intolerance between the different communities. 

BLACK SOUTH AFRICA LOSES ANOTHER CIVIL RIGHTS FIGHTER AT THE HANDS OF RIGHT-WING THUGS 

 When Steven Bantu Biko died violently while in South African police custody on September 12 1977 it was one of the most tragic events in the life of the black majority in the country. But yet to the ruling minority at this time, its leaders and the establishment media he was an “unknown quantity”. 

On Thursday, November 19 1981, just five years later, another prominent personality espousing freedom aspirations, Mr Griffiths Mlungusi Mxenge, also died violently and still the ruling community and its media were ignorant of the importance of the man. 

His wife, Mrs Nonyamezel Mxenge, could not believe what she saw when she went to identify his body at a Government mortuary in Durban. Mr Mxenge was butchered. His head had been bashed in, his ears were chopped off, stomach ripped and his whole body inflicted with wounds made by a sharp instrument. 

When news of his gruesome death first became known early on Friday (November 20) morning, black leaders and the community at large were numbed into shock and disbelief. He was no ordinary man. But yet to the majority of the minority community his death was passed off as just another “black death”. The height of ignorance among most minority people is typified by the comments of three white news editors of three large newspapers in Durban. When told of his death by their reporters, the newspapers apparently asked: “Whose Mr Mxenge”. 

Although Mr Mxenge’s death is of similar significance to that of Steve Biko, he was a man who wielded tremendous influence in relevant black circles. The 46-year-old father of three young children was one of the country’s most prominent black lawyers and as such he knew the pain, suffering, aspirations and goals of the black disenfranchised people. 

He carried out his legal work with his wife, Nonyamezel, who is also an attorney, from offices in the “Grey Street” area of Durban. Mr Mxenge, a member of the African National Congress before it was banned in 1960, graduated as a lawyer from the University of Natal in 1975 after being released from Robben Island a few years earlier. He served three years on the notorious island after being found guilty of alleged ANC activities. 

On his release in the early 1970s he was prohibited from continuing with his law studies because of a banning order. But when he started his practice, he became one of the most sought after political civil rights lawyers in South Africa. He travelled widely to represent political activists throughout the country. He was initiated into the cruel world of political trials when he was the instructing attorney for the widow of Joseph Mdluli, the ANC member who died while in detention on March 19 1976. Although he was the family’s lawyer, Mr Mxenge was detained on March 27 and held without trial for 103 days. 

Thereafter he was the instructing attorney in many political trials in the various centres of South Africa, especially in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and Johannesburg. He was also the attorney for the family of Mapetla Mohapi, the secretary general of the South African Students Organisation (SASO), who died while in police custody in Port Elizabeth on July 15 1976. Early in 1980, he represented Chief Sabata Dalindeybo, the Paramount Chief of the Tembus in the Transkei who was found guilty of making disparaging statements against Transkei’s so-called independence and Chief Kaizer Matanzima. Chief Dalindeybo has now skipped the country and has joined the ANC in exile. 

More recently Mr Mxenge was actively involved in the Anti-SAIC campaigns of the Natal Indian Congress; Anti-Republic Committee which was established to protest against the 25th anniversary of the apartheid republic. He was also a founder member of the new black newspaper, Ukuza, which was started by the banned journalist, Mr Marimuthu Subramoney; and of the Release Mandela Committee. Early this year when about 11 South Africans were killed in a South African Defence Force raid on ANC houses in Matola in Mozambique, Mr Mxenge attempted to get their bodies to their families in South Africa. 

But when this failed he made all the arrangements for the families of the dead men to travel to Maputo for the funeral that was addressed by the president of the ANC, Mr Oliver Tambo, and the president of Mozambique, Mr Samora Machel. 

The president of the Release Mandela Committee, Mr Archie Gumede, said there was no doubt whatsoever that Mr Mxenge was a victim of “political assassination”. “We are deeply perturbed and shocked that a man who contributed so much to the cause of the black people should be so brutally assassinated. They can kill thousands of Mxenges but they will still not kill the black people’s quest for liberation,” he said. 

        (Mr Archie Gumede)

                                                           (Mr M J Naidoo)

The vice-president of the Natal Indian Congress, Mr M J Naidoo, said that Mr Mxenge   would not want the black people to mourn his death but to continue with the struggles. “His death has not been in vain. The struggle for which Griffith contributed so much will be eventually won by the democratic-loving people of this country,” said Mr Naidoo. Ends – Press Trust of SA Third World News Agency November 27 1981

GRUESOME MURDER OF PROMINENT POLITICAL ATTORNEY STILL A MYSTERY 

April 19 1982 

More than five months after the brutal murder of one of South Africa’s most prominent black political attorneys, Mr Griffith Mxenge, there is still no visible sign that the Pretoria police are doing anything about it. 

Mr Mxenge, 47, was assassinated on the night of November 19 1981 after he had left his Durban office to return home in the African township of Umlazi. A former member of the banned African National Congress (ANC) and a former Robben Island prisoner, Mr Mxenge played a significant role in defending political activists and in the general community life of the black people. 

Just before his killing he was one of the kingpins in the campaign against the elections that were held for the first time for South Africa’s people of Indian-origin. The campaign proved a major success when only about eight percent of the people turned out at the polls. His death was mourned by the entire black community and some progressive whites and all of them knew that he was the victim of the country’s notorious security police. 

The black people, at that time, called on the authorities to institute urgent investigations to apprehend the murderers. But now, more than five months after the brutal murder, no positive effort has been made to uncover the mystery behind the killing. The Minister of Police, Mr Louis Le Grange, could only say that a murder docket was opened and the police were investigating. He reacted after the Washington-based American Lawyers for Civil Rights contacted Mr Le Grange and asked for a detailed report on the investigation and the circumstances of Mr Mxenge’s death. 

Mrs Victoria Nonyamezelo Mxenge, wife of the assassinated attorney, told the Press Trust News Agency that she was concerned over the progress of the investigation into her husband’s murder. She said she was basing her concerns on the fact that the police had only asked her for a statement three months after the brutal murder. 

Durban advocate Mr Pius Langa, who was the last person to see him alive on the night of November 19, said he was also disturbed at the slow progress because he had not yet been asked for a statement. Referring to the Minister’s statement that the police were investigating, Mr Langa said: “It is an understatement to say that the investigation is incomplete because we believe it has hardly begun. The police have not yet asked me for a statement.” The chairman of the Release Mandela Committee, Mr Archie Gumede, said he was not surprised at the attitude of the authorities because Mr Mxenge was a strong opponent of the apartheid system and, therefore, was not their friend. Ends – April 19 1982 Press Trust of SA Third World News Agency 

GRIFFITH MXENGE – KILLERS NOT BROUGHT TO JUSTICE 

November 10 1982 

Nearly a year after the gruesome assassination of one South Africa’s most prominent political trials lawyers and former top member of the African National Congress (ANC), Mr Griffith Mxenge, the mystery of his death has not yet been solved. 

Mr Mxenge, aged 46 at the time of his untimely death, was brutally murdered on November 19 last year at a time when the political opposition against the racist Pretoria regime was gaining momentum. Using knives, the murderers were not just content to take away his life. 

But in unbridled savagery, they mutilated his body with more than 30 stab wounds, slashed off his left ear, punctured his nose, ripped his stomach and slit his throat. When news of his gruesome death spread throughout the country the black people and their progressive white friends immediately blamed a “hit squad” of the apartheid regime for his assassination. 

The delay and the shoddy manner in which the authorities went about setting up an inquest hearing also sparked suspicions that something was amiss. 

The inquest hearing, which is still in progress, has so far revealed that the police had failed: 

• To interview possible eye-witnesses who may have seen Mr Mxenge leaving Victoria Street in Durban where he was last seen alive by his friend and colleague, Advocate Pius Langa, at about 7pm on November 19 1981. Other people who saw him at that time included shop owners, people living in flats above the street and the security guard at Damjee Centre where Mr Mxenge had his law office;

 • To take a written statement from Mr Langa until April 5 (1982); 

• To see whether the number plates on Mr Mxenge’s car found burned out near Swaziland border had been changed;

 • To check the mileage on the car, which was almost new, when they found it; and • To speak to motorists who had gone through the nearby border post around the time Mr Mxenge’s car was found burning – at about mid-day on Monday, November 23 (1981). 

The shoddiness of the police investigation was also exposed by the advocate appearing for the Mxenge family when he said the man who found the body and a shirt Mr Mxenge was wearing had gone missing. When his widow, Mrs Victoria Mxenge, gave evidence she discounted stories put out by the authorities that her husband was killed by the ANC. 

She said she had received messages of condolences from the ANC, including a long telex message from its President, Mr Oliver Tambo. “My husband had no enemies,” she said, “except those people opposed to his political ideas and those who detested that he was involved in political cases and that he was a fighter for the underdog.”

 Born in King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape in 1936 into a peasant family, Mr Mxenge joined the ANC since the mid-1950s when he was a student at the University of Fort Hare. He served three years on Robben Island prison after being found guilty of being a member of the ANC after it was banned in 1960. On completion of his sentence, he was placed under banning orders and, until he was assassinated in 1981, he had to contend with continual persecution at the hands of the security police. 

But this did not deter him from his role as a campaigner for human rights for all citizens in South Africa. 

As a lawyer he played his full part in defending many people charged under various laws by the Pretoria authorities. In addition to this role, he also participated in active politics outside the courts in the fight against apartheid. At the time of his senseless death, he was an executive member of the Release Mandela Campaign and also a leading member of the Anti-SAIC Committee, which had been established to ask the people of Indian-origin not to vote in the elections for the Indian Council last year. The Anti-SAIC campaign was a huge success with only about eight percent of those who had cared to register as voters actually cast their ballots. 

He also played a leading role in trying to get the bodies of the 11 South Africans who were killed by a Pretoria commando raid at an ANC refugee house in Matola in Mozambique. 

And when this failed, he did everything in his power to get the families of the dead men to travel to Maputo for the funeral. Although he was continually inundated with death threats, he did not pay much attention to them until an incident two days before his gruesome death. Two of his favourite pet dogs were found dead – probably poisoned – at his house in Umlazi. He felt uncomfortable about the incident and told his wife that he was not happy at all about it. And almost as if his discomfort about his dogs was a premonition about his own impending death, Mr Mxenge was found brutally butchered by unknown assassins. 

Now, almost a year after his death, the South African Police have not yet found the murderers – and all the signs are that they are not too keen to find them. Ends – November 10 1982 Press Trust of SA Third World News Agency.