Saturday, October 31, 2020
DR MANAS BUTHELEZI – A CLERIC AND RELIGIOUS LEADER WHO ESPOUSED BLACK THEOLOGY
In June 1983 when he was elected President of the South African Council of Churches, the Press Trust of SA Third World News Agency published an article on his life and work. The article, “Bishop Manas Buthelezi – the Black leader who espouses Black Theology is now head of the South African Council of Churches”, was circulated around the world.
It has been a long trek from the early days of being a teacher in a rural school in the province of Natal in South Africa to the powerful position of President of the anti-apartheid South African Council of Churches (SACC).
Bishop Buthelezi was born 48-years-ago in the tiny tribal village of Mahlabathini in Zululand where his first cousin, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who is the leader of the KwaZulu homeland, was also born.
Bishop Buthelezi adopted a strong progressive stance in his contributions to the cause of a non-racial and democratic South Africa.
When the school children of Soweto revolted against the inferior educational system in June 1976, Bishop Buthelezi played an invaluable role as chairman of the Black Parents’ Association.
But he is not worried. In an interview he told the
PTSA News Agency:
Monday, October 26, 2020
DR ABU BAKER ASVAT – A BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS ACTIVIST WHO WAS SHOT DEAD IN JANUARY 1989 UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
DR ABU BAKER ASVAT
One of South Africa’s prominent black consciousness activists, who was murdered under mysterious circumstances inside his surgery in Soweto on January 27 1989, left a great impact on the country’s political development.
Dr Abu Baker Asvat, known as the “people’s doctor”, was only 46-years-old when two hired hitmen entered his surgery on the pretext of seeking medical attention.
One of the men fired two shots, killing Dr Asvat instantly in front of his nurse, Mrs Albertina Sisulu, who was the wife of the jailed leader of the ANC, Walter Sisulu, at that time.
Dr Asvat, although a black consciousness activist who was in the forefront of the establishment of the Azanian Peoples’ Organisation (AZAPO), enlisted Mrs Sisulu as his nurse at a time when she was facing serious harassment at the hands of the apartheid security police.
He did not allow political differences to interfere with his humanitarian work and care for all people.
He went out of his way to ensure that Mrs Sisulu was taken care of and that she had sufficient time to visit her husband regularly on Robben Island prison.
"MY SON DIED IN MY HANDS" - MRS ALBERTINA SISULU
When Dr Asvat’s family rushed to the surgery after he was shot, Mrs Sisulu looked at the grieving family members and cried: “My son died in my hands”.
Dr Asvat was also a personal physician to Mrs Winnie Mandela, who lived nearby his surgery.
THE SON OF AN INDIAN SHOP-KEEPER
The son of a shop-keeper, who had travelled to the then Transvaal province from the state of Gujerat in India in the early 1900s, Dr Asvat studied medicine in the former East and West Pakistan (now Bangladesh and Pakistan).
After he returned to South Africa in the late 1960s, Dr Asvat set up a surgery in an informal settlement known as Mochoeneng in Soweto. He became very close to the residents and was well-known to every single family of the settlement.
BECAME INVOLVED IN BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE 1970s
While practising here in the 1970s and early 1980s, he became active in the black consciousness movement and helped in the formation of Azapo. Later he took charge of Azapo’s health programme and travelled around the country to help the rural people with their medical requirements.
It was because of this close association with the residents that the apartheid authorities started to make life difficult for him by taking steps to evict from the area.
DR ASVAT WAS PRESIDENT OF THE NON-RACIAL TRANSVAAL CRICKET BOARD
Dr Asvat, who was popularly known as Hurley, was also a keen cricketer and helped to promote non-racial cricket as a counter to the all-white South African Cricket Association. He helped to start the Transvaal Cricket Board and was its chairperson until 1980. The Transvaal Cricket Board was affiliated to the non-racial South African Cricket Board of Control (SACBOC).
It’s now 31 years since he was murdered on January 27 1989.
Although his killing was investigated and heard by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), that was established after the advent of our new South Africa in 1994, there seems to have been no justice in finding the real truth behind his thoughtless murder.
Six years earlier in 1983, the Press Trust of South Africa News Agency published an article about Dr Asvat facing the eviction orders and his efforts to continue to serve the local people of Soweto. The article was published under the headline: “Community Doctor Under Eviction Orders” on August 9 1983.
This was the article that was published and circulated around the world.
COMMUNITY DOCTOR UNDER EVICTION ORDERS
August 9 1983
A tiny shack settlement in the giant dormitory township of Soweto, near Johannesburg, in South Africa has been plunged into a crisis following the Pretoria Government’s Department of African Affairs decision to expel an Indian medical doctor and the settlement’s close friend, Dr Abu Baker Asvat.
The wrangle over Dr Asvat’s presence at the Mochoeneng shack settlement in the heart of Soweto began when he received a letter from the authorities on September 13 1982.
The letter informed Dr Asvat that the authorities intended shifting all the people from the area as part of a new planning programme.
However, he was told to remain at his surgery until such time that the township manager had organised alternative accommodation for his practice.
With high hopes of staying with his close-knit community, Dr Asvat settled down to minister to his people’s needs – a job he has faithfully performed for the past 10 years.
But Dr Asvat’s hopes of staying on with his community were shattered a few days later when he received a vacation order from the township manager and the superintendent of the area.
Attached to the vacation order was a deadline – either be out of Mochoeneng by 1 August 1983 or face being physically evicted by armed police and officials through a court order.
AZAPO'S HEAD OF MEDICAL SECRETARIAT
But this unilateral action on the part of the authorities only infuriated the man who was recently elected head of the medical secretariat of the Azanian Peoples’ Organisation (AZAPO). “I will sit out the deadline. If they are determined they will use a court order and break my doors and windows and throw out my belongings onto the street,” Dr Asvat told the Press Trust of SA News Agency in an interview. Speaking about his ties with the small community, Dr Asvat said he had come to know every family in the settlement and they had also developed an extended family system. “We have all shared sorrows and happiness. To know people so closely happens once in a lifetime.”
HE WAS MORE THAN A DOCTOR TO THE COMMUNITY
Dr Asvat’s patrons have also been shattered by the news that he was being forced to move out of the area.
When approached for comment, Mrs Emily Mohloki, who has stayed in the area for 10 years, said Dr Asvat’s eviction order would hurt the community.
“If he goes we are doomed. He has been more than a doctor to us. Whether we had money or not, he treated us. He often took critically ill patients to hospital by himself.”
Dr Asvat is held in such high esteem by the community that when vandals broke into practice soon after Soweto erupted in protest in June 1976, local youngsters joined the vandals and took as much as they could from the surgery. When he re-opened the surgery the following day, a small army of youngsters carrying drugs and equipment – all the material taken from his surgery the night before – marched in and happily deposited his goods on the floor. Dr Asvat was the only doctor whose surgery escaped gutting by fire during the mass protests. Having a final word on the entire episode, Dr Asvat said the bond of brotherly relationship he has built up over the years would not be severed by the authorities. “I will always be at their beck and call, wherever they are or I will be,” a pained Dr Asvat said.
This article was published by several Indian newspapers under the headlines: "Indian doctor expelled from Soweto"; "South African move to expel Indian doctor"; "Indian doctor's presence in Soweto creates crisis"; "Decision to expel Indian doctor sparks off crisis"; and"Vacation order". Ends – Press Trust of SA Third World News Agency August 9 1983
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Sunday, October 18, 2020
BENJAMIN MOLOISE – AN ANC ACTIVIST FROM ALEXANDRIA TOWNSHIP IN JOHANNESBURG WHO WAS EXECUTED AT THE YOUNG AGE OF 30 IN OCTOBER 1985 AFTER BEING FOUND GUILTY OF THE MURDER OF AN APARTHEID SECURITY POLICEMAN IN NOVEMBER 1982
On October 18 (2020) it will be exactly 35 years
since the Pretoria regime executed a 30-year-old activist for allegedly being
involved in the murder of a security policeman.
Benjamin Moloise, also a poet and factory worker, was
hanged on October 18 1985 at the Pretoria Central Prison after being found
guilty of the murder of the security
policeman in November 1982.
He was on death row for just over two years after
being found guilty in September 1983.
The execution took place under the reign of P W Botha
despite representations by the international community that the death sentence
should be commuted. The African National Congress had informed the United
Nations and the British, United States and other countries that Moloise was not
involved in the murder of the security policeman.
Three-and-half-months before his execution in October
1985, the Press Trust of SA Independent Third World News Agency published an
article about Moloise’s plight on death row while his lawyers made representations
for the commutation of his death sentence.
This article, “Guerilla waits in death row”, was
published on July 1 1985 and distributed around the world.
Two years
earlier, the Press Trust of SA News Agency also covered the execution of three
other ANC cadres on June 9 1983. They were Marcus Motaung, Jerry Mosololi and
Simon Mogoerane. They were part of a group of six ANC military cadres who had
been found guilty of undergoing military training outside the country and
returning in the early 1980s.
They were Anthony
Tsotsobe, Johannes Shabangu and David Moise. They survived the gallows after local
and international organisations campaigned for the commutation of the death
sentences of the six ANC cadres.
The Press Trust compiled articles about the campaigns
surrounding these six ANC cadres as well. The articles titled: “Mrs Mary
Mosololi – mother of condemned ANC man wins hearts”, and “Clemency Campaigns”
were written on March 23 1983 and submitted to news outlets around the world.
“GUERILLA WAITS IN DEATH ROW”
A 30-year-old poet and actor, Benjamin Moloise, has
been lingering on death row at the Pretoria Central Prison in South Africa for
the past two years.
Moloise is one of three guerrillas who are presently
waiting in death row.
The others are Clarence Lucky Payi, 20, and Sipho
Bridget Xulu, 25, who were sentenced to death in May last year (1984) for the
alleged murder of a black student, Ben Langa.
Moloise’s lawyers have appealed for clemency to State
President, Mr P W Botha, but if this fails, he will join the list of more than
20 black South African activists who have been executed since 1963, when six
members of the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were hanged
for a political murder.
Two previous attempts by Moloise’s legal
representatives to have the sentence commuted have failed.
Mr Justice H P van Dyk, who sentenced Moloise to
death for the murder of a policeman who had testified against three members of
the African National Congress (ANC), refused him leave to appeal against the
sentence. A subsequent petition to the Chief Justice was also dismissed.
Despite the magnitude of his crime, the grounds on
which his appeal for clemency are based are a stark revelation of the situation
which thousands of young blacks have faced since the black township of Soweto
in Johannesburg erupted in 1976 in an unprecedent demonstration against South
Africa’s exploitation and humiliation of blacks.
The application for clemency very simply says he was
born in Alexander township, near Johannesburg, in 1954 and became part of an
evolving township culture in which a new language of anger and bitterness was
the order of the day.
Old relationships had crumbled and those who could
were fleeing the country to continue the fight against apartheid from across
the borders.
When his close friend Marcus Motaung, a member of the
ANC, was sentenced to death for treason what little coherence was left in his
world, disappeared.
MARCUS MOTAUNG
He killed the policeman who had given evidence
against Marcus Motaung.
It was not wickedness which precipitated his crime.
His social circumstances had set him on a destination of doom.
A campaign to have his sentence commuted has been
launched by the Release Mandela Campaign.
A spokesperson for the RMC, Mr Paul David, said: “It
all depends on the mercy of the State President. Considering the fact that in
1979 four of the eight political prisoners who were sentenced to death were
reprieved, we believe that there is at least a 50-50 chance that the State will
review Moloise’s sentence.”
However, looking at the trend towards harsher
treatment of ANC sympathisers since then this appears to be an overly optimistic
view.
There has been an ominous hardening of attitudes
towards political crimes in the last 18 months. These include:
· Actions
previously regarded as offences under the Terrorism and Internal Security Acts
are increasingly being regarded as acts of high treason, carrying the death
sentence;
TWO YEARS ON DEATH ROW
Against this background
of intensifying recrimination against political dissidents it is unlikely that
Moloise will be treated sympathetically.
But given the fact that
more and more of the people appearing on charges under the Internal Security
Act are former students and pupils who left South Africa in the wake of the
Soweto uprisings in June 1976, it can only be hoped that Mr Botha will be
merciful.Two years on death row
after a life of hardships, resentment and smouldering anger is in itself a
heavy price to pay, even for an act of murder committed in a situation of
passion.
Mr Botha surely cannot afford to stretch the rapidly increasing divide between black and white any further. Ends – Press Trust of SA Independent Third World News Agency July 1 1985
SAVE THE ANC SIX
Two years earlier South
African religious and political leaders and organisations had embarked on a
campaign to save the lives of six ANC cadres who had been sentenced to death
for their involvement in the military struggles against the apartheid regime.
We published this
article under the headline: “Clemency Campaign” and another, “Mrs Mary Mosololi
– mother of condemned ANC cadre wins hearts” to highlight the situation of the freedom
fighters on death row.
CLEMENCY CAMPAIGN
March 23 1983
A nation-wide campaign
has been launched in South Africa for the repeal of the death sentences imposed
on six members of the banned African National Congress (ANC).
The six men are Anthony
Tsotsobe, Johannes Shabangu, David Moise, Simon Mogoerane, Jerry Mosololi and
Marcus Motaung.
The clemency campaign is
being undertaken by the Diakonia Council of Churches in Durban; South African
Catholic Bishops Conference; South African Council of Churches; and
organisations such as the Black Sash pressure groups.
All the organisations
are jointly circulating a petition throughout South Africa calling on people to
plead for clemency for the six ANC freedom fighters.
A spokesperson for the
Committee circulating the petition throughout South Africa, Mr Paddy Kearney, told
the Press Trust News Agency that the use of capital punishment in South Africa
was generally excessive.
“South Africa has
commuted death sentences in the past when last year it repealed the death
sentences against three other ANC members. Also when it came to power in 1948,
the National Party freed a condemned man who sided with the Nazis against the
British in World War 2,” he said.
Mr Kearney called on the
world community to also pressurise the Pretoria regime to commute the death
sentences of the six condemned men. – ends (Press Trust of SA March 23 1983)
MRS MARY MOSOLOLI – MOTHER OF CONDEMNED ANC CADRE WINS HEARTS
March 23 1983
Mrs Mary Mosololi, the
mother of Jerry Mosololi – the banned ANC cadre who has been sentenced to death
- , reduced those attending a protest meeting in Durban recently to tears when
she said that her son and his fellow five condemned colleagues instilled
courage in her and assured her that freedom was certain.
Mrs Mosololi, a
middle-aged Johannesburg domestic servant, evoked this emotion when she
addressed a Sharpeville commemoration service in Durban on Sunday, March 20.
She was among several
top leaders who recalled the shooting of more than 55 Africans by the South
African police in 1960.
ARCHIE GUMEDE AND PAUL DAVID
The others were Mr
Archie Gumede, president of the Release Mandela Committee; Mr Paul David,
secretary of the RMC; Ms Jenny Noel, a local activist and community leader; and
the Rev. Christian Xundu of Durban.
In her address, Mrs
Mosololi told the more than 500 people that she was very upset and depressed
when her son and his colleagues were condemned to death by the Pretoria regime.
“The thought of losing
my son to the gallows overwhelmed me. But when I went to visit the boys on
death row in Pretoria they only gave me courage. One look at my son and his
colleagues made me wonder as to what I was grieving for.
“They made me wonder
whether I should grieving or whether I should be kneeling in gratitude to God
for having mothered such a child.
“The looks of pride,
courage, self-assurance and the knowledge that they were dying for a just cause
in the name of all oppressed people in South Africa made me marvel at them and
re-affirm in my own life that our cause is certain of victory.
“I too, if need be, am
prepared to die for our struggle.”
ARCHIE GUMEDE IN TEARS
When she had finished,
Mr Gumede, who was the chairman of the protest meeting, broke down in tears and
he was followed by the rest of the people on stage and in the audience.
It was one of the rare
meetings that ever drew emotional response from reporters covering the meeting.
This incident, however, has not been reported in the white-controlled mass media in the country. – ends PTSA News Agency (March 23 1983)
Friday, October 16, 2020
BLACK WEDNESDAY – OCTOBER 19 1977 WHEN MEDIA FREEDOM WAS CRUSHED IN SOUTH AFRICA
October 19 2020
(Some of the struggle journalists who contributed to media freedom and freedom in general in South Africa in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s)
By Subry Govender
Forty-three
years ago today, October 19 1977, South Africa witnessed what became known as “Black
Wednesday”.
It
was the day when the extreme and further erosion of human rights and the
imposition of dictatorial policies were carried out by the former apartheid
regime to silence and oppress the freedom of the media.
It was the darkest day in the history of journalism in the country when the main black newspapers at that time, World and Weekend World, were banned and ordered to cease publication along with Pro Veritate, a publication of the Christian Institute; and when editors and journalists were either banned, detained or interrogated and had their homes and offices raided and searched.
The
action against the media, ordered by the infamous Minister of Justice, Jimmy
Kruger, was carried out in conjunction with the banning of 18 anti-apartheid
interest groups, civic, student, religious and media organisations; and banning
and detention of their leaders and officials.
Kruger
and the State President at that time, Dr Nico Diederichs, signed the banning
proclamations.
With
the stroke of a pen, the then apartheid regime had removed two newspapers that
had played a crucial role in keeping the people informed.
Mr
Kruger just over a month earlier had described black consciousness leader,
Steve Biko's death in detention as: "It leaves me cold".
The
notorious security police or "special branch" of the time carried out
systematic raids against journalists, newspaper offices and other publications
in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban and other cities
and towns around the country.
(Struggle journalists attending a UBJ conference at Wentworth, Durban in early 1977 before it was banned on October 19 1977)
In
Johannesburg, security policemen arrested Mr Percy Qoboza, Editor of the World
and Weekend World, at his offices at about mid-day, only a few minutes before
he was due to hold a Press conference about the banning of his newspapers. He
was taken to the then John Vorster Square police headquarters. Mr Qoboza was
subequently issued with a five-year banning order. His deputy and news editor,
Aggrey Klaaste, was also detained and locked up.
The
Editor of Pro Veritate, Cedric Maysom, was also detained and issued with a
banning and restriction order.
The
security police in Johannesburg also carried out raids and searched the homes
and offices of other journalists and organisations such as the Union of Black
Journalists(UBJ), which was one of the 18 organisations banned. They also
arrested and detained a number of journalists, including Joe Thloloe, one of
the veterans of the struggle.
In
East London, the security police raided the offices of the Daily Dispatch and
served its editor, Donald Woods, with a five-year banning order; and searched
homes of some of his reporters, including Miss Thenjiwe Mntintso, who later
skipped the country to go into exile because of harassment and
intimidation.
(Zwelike Sisulu, Juby Mayet and other comrades marching in 1977)
In
Durban, the security police raided and searched the homes of Dennis Pather, who
later became editor of the Daily News; and this correspondent.
When
representations were subsequently made to Mr Kruger for the release of detained
journalists, he unapologetically responded by saying that the detentions were
not meant to intimidate the Press and that his Government had good reasons to
detain the journalists.
The
clampdown against the media on October 19 1977 had an ironic twist two weeks
later when it was reported that the Government was planning to print postage
stamps to celebrate 150 years of Press Freedom in South Africa.
A
Durban lawyer who was national chairman of the then Progressive Federal Party,
Ray Swart, launched a blistering attack against the National Party Government
for talking of Press Freedom at a time when it was conducting one of the
ruthless campaigns to suppress the media.
(Struggle journalists Philip Mthimkulu and other colleagues at a UBJ meeting early in 1977 in Durban)
In
an interview on October 28 1977, Mr Swart, a strong critic of the apartheid
regime, told me in an interview that he was impressed that the Government
should want to commemorate Press Freedom but he would be more impressed if it gave
greater indication of what it considered Press freedom to be.
He
had said: "It seems strange that they intend doing this after having just
banned three newspapers, incarcerated one editor and banned another. I find it
difficult to reconcile the actions of the Government. I suggest the stamps they
intend issuing to commemorate Press Freedom should have the faces of Mr Qoboza
and Mr Woods."
Of
course, the Government of the day did not take up Mr Swart's recommendation and
despite his, the country and world-wide condemnations of the action against the
newspapers, editors and journalists, the apartheid regime continued with its
clampdown and suppression of the media much more forcefully.
Over
the next 13 years the apartheid regime continued with their repressive actions
of banning and detaining journalists. Some of the journalists who paid the
price included Nat Serache, Isaac Moroe, Duma Ndlovu, Mateu Nonyane, Juby Mayet,
Mono Badela, Don Mattera, Enoch Duma, Mathatha Tseudu, Zwelakhe Sisulu, this
correspondent, Joe Thloloe and Phil Mthimkulu.
MTHIMKULU
ZWELIKE SISULU
MATHATHA TSEUDU
LESLIE XINWA
RASHID SERIA
NAT SERACHE
ISAAC MOROE
DUMA NDLOVU
DON MATTERA
SUBRY GOVENDER
MATEU NONYANE
JUBY MAYET AND PHILIP MTHIMKULU
JOE THLOLOE
But
despite some of the most stringent regulations and harassment and intimidation
of media practitioners over the next 13 years, most journalists never gave up
and used October 19 to continue with the struggles for Press Freedom.
They
realised their dream of Press Freedom when the ANC and other organisations were
unbanned and when Mr Nelson Mandela and other leaders were released in February
1990.
But
the new democratic regime also tried to stymie the media when in 2012 it
attempted to introduce new measures to force journalists to be compliant and to
“toe the line”. But the ANC Government dropped its plans after strong
condemnation by editors, journalists and society in general.
The
non-government organisations informed the ANC that if it tried to suppress the
media then it would actually be suppressing the freedom and democracy that was
attained through a great deal of sacrifice by most people, including
journalists.
Despite
the turn around by the ANC, today, eight years later, politicians are still
trying to intimidate journalists and editors. A group of politicians, who
believe the media is carrying out a vendetta against them, have embarked on a
warpath against media houses and journalists they don’t agree with.
One
politician, who has been exposed of gaining from millions of rand that were
stolen from a bank, made this dastardly statement: “kick the dog until the
owner comes out”.
He
accused some journalists of being the “Ramaphosa Defence Force”.
What
this politician, his fellow officials and others must understand is that we
have a free media and a free society in South Africa today because of the role
played by journalists during the apartheid era. Journalists under the wing of
the Union of Black Journalists (UBJ), the Media Workers Association of SA
(MWASA) and the Association of Democratic Journalists (ADJ) and other black and
white media people stood up against the apartheid regime in the course of their
work.
The
politicians of today must realise that if they continue with campaigns against
journalists who report factually and truthfully, then they would only
eventually destroy the democracy we had all fought for.
Our
first President, Nelson Mandela, acknowledged after his release in February 1990
that if it had not been for brave journalists, he would still be in prison.
“I
want to thank all of you for standing up for freedom and democracy and it is
because of your brave stance that I am free today,” he told a press conference
in Cape Town soon after his release.
He
then went onto call on journalists to continue with their courageous work and
to hold the present generation of politicians accountable.
It
seems that some of the new politicians believe that they are above the law and
that they want to operate in our new democracy without being called on to answer
for their misdeeds and theft of billions of taxpayers’ money.
No journalist worth his salt will allow himself or herself to be pushed around or intimidated by politicians. – ends Subry Govender Oct 19 2020
Monday, October 12, 2020
Ottawa - Historical photo
While researching through my files I found this historical photo of some of the stalwarts of our little village of Ottawa, north of Durban.
This photo was taken in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
Some of the people I recognise are Patern, Prasu, Adam, Aboo, Soobry, and Mohan. There are a number of young boys who I find difficult to identify.
Friday, October 2, 2020
1985 TREASON TRIAL OF LEADERS OF UNITED DEMOCRATIC FRONT /NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS / RELEASE MANDELA COMMITTEE BROUGHT BACK MEMORIES OF THE 1956 TREASON TRIAL AGAINST NELSON MANDELA AND 155 OTHER POLITICAL LEADERS AND ACTIVISTS
Some of the UDF leaders (front row (from l to r) -George Sewpersadh, M J Naidoo, Archie Gumede, Mewa Ramgobin, and standing (third from right) Paul David who were charged with High Treason in 1985)
By Subry Govender
On October 6 next month (2020), it would be 36 years since leaders of
the United Democratic Front (UDF), Natal Indian Congress (NIC), Release
Mandela Committee (RMC) and other progressive organisations were arrested and charged with High Treason.
Those in
the dock were Archie Gumede, Isaac Ngcobo, Mewa Ramgobin, Curtis Nkondo, Sisa
Njikelana, Aubrey Mokoena, Sam Kikine, M J Naidoo, Mrs Albertina Sisulu, Essop
Jassat, Cassim Salojee, George Sewpersadh, Paul David, Frank Chikane and
Thozamile Gqweta. A month earlier on September 13 1984, six of them - Mr Archie
Gumede, who was president of the UDF, Mewa Ramgobin, Paul David, George
Sewpersadh, M J Naidoo, Billy Nair, and Sam Kikine – sought refuge at the
British Consulate, which was situated in a building at the corner of the former
Smith and Field streets in Durban at that time. When they left the Consulate
after a month, Gumede, Ramgobin, Paul David, George Sewpersadh and M J Naidoo
were re-arrested on October 6 1984 on charges of High Treason. Defended by
Ismail Mahomed, who later became the Chief Justice of South Africa after the
dawn of freedom in 1994, the 16 treason trialists were acquitted on December 15
1985. In January 1985 before the treason trial began at the High Court in the
city of Pietermaritzburg, the Press Trust of SA Independent Third World News
Agency published an article about the actions of the Pretoria regime and
submitted it to India and other parts of the world. The article, published under
the headline “South African regime girds its loins for marathon treason trial”,
drew comparisons between the Treason Trial in 1956-1961 when Nelson Mandela and
155 other freedom fighters were charged with high treason and the 1984-1985
treason trial. The article highlighted the repression suffered by Mandela and
his fellow colleagues and analysed that just as Mandela and his final 29
comrades were found not guilty and acquitted, the same situation would prevail
with Archie Gumede, Mewa Ramgobin and their 14 other treason trialists.
SOUTH
AFRICAN REGIME GIRDS ITS LOINS FOR MARATHON TREASON TRIAL
When the president of the United Democratic Front, Archie Gumede, appears in a South African court on charges of High Treason, bitter memories of the marathon 1956-1961 treason trial will come flooding back to him. For in 1956 he and 155 others faced similar charges – all because they campaigned for the abolition of apartheid. Five years later, after considerable disruption of their family and work lives, all were set free.
Now it seems as if the wheel has turned a full circle and Pretoria is at it again. Many leading anti-apartheid campaigners believe the government is now resorting to the same tactics it used in 1956 to stifle opposition – tactics which failed miserably.
They feel the latest attempt by the Government to remove Mr Gumede and seven other UDF officials from the community is a move designed to crush all opposition to its apartheid policies. The observers claim that this is a fundamental error of judgement on the part of the white Pretoria regime. They are of the view that not only does the state have a slim chance of convicting the UDF leaders but their removal from active political life will not put a damper on the campaign to destroy apartheid.
(Nelson Mandela)
The foundations for the 1956-1961
treason trial, like the upcoming treason trial, must be traced to the increasing
opposition to white rule. In the 1950s resistance to white minority National
Party (NP) rule heightened when the oppressed black majority saw that the white
rulers had no intention of granting them meaningful participation in the
political and economic life of the country. From 1950 onwards their protests
continually grew in strength.
(Walter Sisulu)
The “Defiance Campaign” in 1952 enjoyed massive
support from people of all racial groups. But the thousands who flagrantly
courted arrest by disobeying apartheid laws eventually called off the campaign
when Pretoria used violent tactics to quell their protests. While using naked
repression to suppress discontent, the Pretoria regime at the same time laid the
legal foundations to harass the leaders of the liberation movement. Laws such as
the Suppression of Communist Act and the Riotous Assemblies Act all placed
restrictions on the freedom of movement and association of many of the country’s
progressive leaders.
(Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo in Johannesburg in the early 1990s)
The laws were aimed at making the liberation movement tread
the fine line between legality and illegality. But neither these legal
impediments nor state violence could guarantee that the white rulers would
remain in power. It soon became clear to the Pretoria regime that the dynamic
leadership of the Congress Alliance – comprising the African National Congress
(ANC), the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), the South African
Indian Congress (SAIC), the South African Coloured Peoples’ Congress (SACPO) and
the South African Congress of Democrats (COD) – was ultimately responsible for
mobilising into action the frustrations of the black majority. It soon realised
that something had to be done about them.
(Ahmed Kathrada)
The country’s burgeoning security
police were called in. Their brief? To monitor the activities of leading
officials of the Congress Alliance. Members of the security police attended
numerous meetings of the Congress Alliance, taking notes, photographs and the
names and addresses of those who attended them. Then, during September 1955,
Pretoria acted. Detectives raided the offices of the Congress as well as the
houses of individuals. The security police had warrants authorising them to
search for evidence “as to the commission of the offences of High Treason or
sedition”.
(Dr Yusuf Dadoo, leader of the South African Indian Congress, with Walter Sisulu (left) and another leader of the Congress Alliance)
Thousands of documents were confiscated during the raids. Before dawn on December 5 1956 security police, bearing warrants authorising them to arrest the people accused of high treason charges, once again swooped on the homes of over 140 activists – a total of 156 leaders and activists were arrested. Among the leaders taken into custody were Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada (all presently serving life sentences on Robben Island and other prisons); Oliver Tambo (ANC president in exile); Albert Luthuli (the then president-general of the ANC and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate); and Billy Nair (recently released after serving 20 years on Robben Island and one of the six leaders involved in the sit-in at the British consulate offices in Durban in 1984).
(Dr Monty Naicker, leader of the Natal Indian Congress, addressing a protest meeting during the heightened period of struggle against apartheid in the 1960s)
All the accused were then transported to Johannesburg. At the first session of the preparatory examination, arguments for bail began. But even then, apartheid laws dominated the proceedings. The State asked for 1 000 pounds bail for whites and 500 pounds for blacks. However, the magistrate fixed the bail, after protracted legal argument, at 250 pounds for whites, 100 pounds for Indians and fifty pounds for “coloureds” and Africans.
Their release on bail was subject to certain conditions, which were:
• That all had to surrender their passports,
• All had to report to the police at a set time twice a week,
• All had to undertake not to communicate with state witnesses, and
• None would address any political gatherings.
(Thousands of people attending a protest meeting in Johannesburg in the 1950s)
While the defence and the state argued of bail, large demonstrations outside the makeshift court erupted into violence when the police opened fire on the protestors. In the clashes more than 20 people were wounded by gunshots. In the preparatory examinations, the state prosecutor revealed that the authorities intended to prove that the 156 accused had conspired to use violent means to overthrow the South African Government and replace it with a “Marxist-Leninist” state.
The defence team argued it intended to show the trial had been fabricated by the State so that “it could silence the ideas held by the accused and the thousands whom they represented – ideas which sought equal opportunity for all and freedom of thought”. The Defence team then went onto show that the State had instituted the case in order to see how far it could go to stifle “legitimate” criticism of the government. During the nine-month preparatory hearing the State dropped the charges against 61 of the accused – 95 remained in the dock.
When the State formally laid charges, it was clear to all why the white rulers had introduced repressive anti-communist legislation in the early 1950s. The main charge was High Treason – the State alleged the accused “had joined in the conspiracy to disturb and impair the existence or the security of the government by committing hostile acts and encouraging others to do so.” The State viewed the “Congress of the People” and the “Freedom Charter” drawn up in 1955 as hostile acts.
The prosecutor alleged the accused intended to overthrow the government by a campaign of “hindering, harassing and obstructing the government until it could no longer function”. Two alternative charges under the Suppression of Communism Act were also levelled against Mandela and his co-accused. However, when the trial proper opened in Pretoria in August 1958 the defence team managed to quash the alternative charges.
By April 1959 the defence team secured the withdrawal of all charges against a further 65 people – 30 remained. Despite the absence of some of the country’s most able political leaders, opposition to apartheid intensified. In March 1960, 69 peaceful demonstrators were mowed down by the police in the African township of Sharpeville. The protest was organised by the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In order to deal with the rising tide of resistance, the apartheid regime declared a state of emergency and banned the ANC and the PAC. During the state of emergency, the remaining 30 accused were detained by the security police and were only freed on bail four months later in August 1960.
The trial finally ended on March 29 1961 when the 30 leaders were acquitted and discharged. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Rumpff, said the State had failed to prove the accused were communists or that they supported the violent overthrow of the government. For five years the people’s leaders vegetated – they were virtually forced to give up their jobs, their normal family lives came to an end and they dropped out of political activism. And for what? To be eventually found not guilty.
