PEOPLE’S LEADERS ALWAYS PROMOTED NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC UNITY

 

(Dr Monty Naicker (second from right) with Ismail Meer, M N Pather , Fatima Meer and George Singh. All these leaders paid a heavy price for fighting for a non-racial and democratic future.)

 

 By Subry Govender

 

INTRODUCTION

At a time when many South Africans in and around the city of Durban and in many other parts of the country find themselves in a state of confusion about the current socio-political and economic situation, veteran journalist, Subry Govender, in this article provides an edited input about how struggle leaders promoted a non-racial and democratic solution to the future of the country.

 

 

 

           “GOOD MEN MUST PLAN”

 

 

“When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind.
“When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.
“Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.”

 

These words of wisdom were made by the leader of the American civil rights movement, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, when campaigning for equal rights in the 1960s.
 
His words of wisdom in a way reflect the situation of many South Africans today who find themselves on the margins of society in our new “non-racial” and democratic South Africa.
They find themselves facing rising and gross unemployment, poverty, a renewed culture of racial hatred, extreme violent crime, and problems regarding their development in the economic, social and educational arenas.
Most of the people live like prisoners in their own homes.
All these issues tend to contribute to uncertainties about their future. They yearn that all these ills could be corrected as soon as possible.
The issue of a non-racial and progressive pressure group taking up the concerns of the people has come to the fore once again following the emergence of a new group, calling itself the South African National Indian Congress.
This new group has been condemned by former anti-apartheid activists who claim that there’s no need for such an organisation in our new non-racial and democratic South Africa.
During the struggles against white minority rule and domination, there were scores of leaders and activists since the early 1940s who had promoted a non-racial solution despite the apartheid situation at that time.
 

DR MONTY NAICKER EMPHASISED THE NEED FOR A UNITED FRONT

 

 

Two of the leaders I would like to mention are Dr Monty Naicker, who was president of the Natal Indian Congress and the South African Indian Congress; and Dr Kesaval Goonum, who was also a leader within the NIC.
Dr Naicker in fact first emphasized this need for a united front, when in his inaugural speech after being elected President of the NIC in 1945, said that the people of SA should form a United Front of all anti-racist and democratic forces to fight against minority rule and oppression.
According to his son, Dr Kreesan Naicker, Dr Monty Naicker had always emphasised the fact that “we were South Africans first and foremost though culturally, Indians, our struggles were with Africans and not in isolation”.
Then when the apartheid regime tried to impose the "ya baas" organisation, South African Indian Council (SAIC), on the community in 1978 and again in 1983, Dr Naicker and Dr Goonum once again emphasized the need for a non-racial and democratic future.
Dr Naicker told a mass meeting in Durban in October 1977 that the apartheid regime's move to impose the Indian Council on the people was aimed at promoting its own salvation, rather than that of the people.
He had said: "Proposals to solve any of South Africa's problems without the African people is bound to end in disaster. It is morally indefensible to exclude the African majority and we do not wish to be a party to the oppression of the majority."
 

“We are South Africans and, therefore, must enjoy full social, political, and economic rights with all South Africans." - Dr Goonum in 1977

Dr Goonum, who was one of the most dynamic women leaders at that time, also pulled no punches in warning the apartheid regime that the Indian people would play no part "in entrenching white domination and black oppression in South Africa".

"We cannot achieve true freedom in taking part in cosmetics like the Indian Council. We are South Africans and, therefore, must enjoy full social, political, and economic rights with all South Africans."
According to Dr Kreesan Naicker, his father, who would have reached 110 years this year, would welcome the establishment of a non-racial pressure organization.
“If anything, I feel we should revive the UDF and not racialise our political landscape ever again,” he said.
When analysing the current state of our socio-economical and political situation, there’s no doubt whatsoever there’s a need for an organisation such as the United Democratic Front.
Just as leaders such as Dr Monty Naicker, Dr Goonum and democratic organisations like the UDF and the NIC had shown during the apartheid era that non-racial unity was paramount in the struggles, it’s clear that 27 years into our new South Africa there’s a need for non-racial unity to promote the rights of all people. This would be of immense hope to people who are affected by poverty, unemployment, runaway violent crime, economic development problems, and the promotion of racial hatred by some political elements.
In closing I would like to quote Dr Martin Luther King once again: “Many people fear nothing more terrible than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion.
“The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will include everybody.” - Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com Dec 11 2020 

 

"DURBAN, PARK BY THE POZIE (HOME)" MOVE HIGHLIGHTS THE NEED FOR A PROGRESSIVE VOICE

 

November 25 2020

INTRODUCTION:

A new pressure group has emerged in Durban apparently to promote the concerns of people who believe they are being marginalized in the new socio-economical and political South Africa.

In order to make its mark, the group, calling itself the National Indian Congress of South Africa, has called on people to stay at home on Saturday, December 12, to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the apparent discrimination that people on the margins of society encounter in their daily lives.

The organization has called the campaign, “Durban, Park by the Pozie (home)” and for the people to flex their economic muscle by boycotting all retail outlets, malls, shopping centres, cinemas and casinos on December 12.

This action by the group has come at a time in the new non-racial and democratic South Africa when there appears  to be a great deal of disillusionment and disenchantment among a significant percentage of the people.

This latest development highlights the apparent mistake by progressive leaders in the early 1990s to allow organizations such as the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) to go out of existence following the return of the ANC to the political arena.

Veteran political journalist, Subry Govender, takes a look at the current development and draws the conclusion that the emergence of “The National Indian Congress of South Africa” is directly linked to the “political limbo” in which many people find themselves.

 

     

                                 POLITICAL LIMBO

 

Twenty-seven years into our new, non-racial and democratic South Africa, one would expect that most people will feel positive, confident, and hopeful about their situations.

But, sadly, many people who have their roots to the indentured labourers who arrived 160 years ago to work almost as slaves in the sugar cane fields of the former Natal Colony, find themselves in a “political limbo”.

The new group appears to be targeting those who are mainly resident in areas such as Chatsworth, Phoenix, Verulam, Tongaat, KwaDukuza, Merebank, Asherville and Reservoir Hills in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Umzinto, Umkomaas and Port Shepstone.

The “political limbo” in which the people find themselves in appears to be linked directly to the absence of a progressive voice that they can relate to.

Prior to April 1994, most of the people could relate to or identify with organizations such as the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and the United Democratic Front (UDF).

But many of the social, political and sporting veterans I have spoken to over the past few years told me that this lack of a progressive voice is due directly to the decision of the ANC and some activists to disband the Natal Indian Congress in the 1990s.

Most of the ANC leaders at that time felt that “we are now moving into a non-racial era” and that there was no need for the NIC.

 

 

(Retired Judge Thumba Pillay -left - with Prof Jerry Coovadia and Swaminathan Gounden)          

 

But this was rejected by no less a leader than Nelson Mandela during a meeting with ANC leaders and the NIC in Johannesburg just before the democratic elections in April 1994.

According to retired judge and long-time activist, Thumba Pillay, Mandela was of the view that that NIC was an historical organisation established by Mahatma Gandhi in 1894 and that it had played a vital role during the liberation struggles.

 

 

                             (Freedom icon Nelson Mandela)

 

 Mandela had pointed out that for historical reasons the NIC should remain because it would play a major role in promoting the new non-racial democracy and it would also be a significant progressive partner in mobilising the people of Indian-origin.

He was of the view that a decision to disband the NIC would not be in the best interests of the community and the new South Africa.

For the first decade or so, the ANC remained the first choice of most progressive forces within the Indian-origin community. But this began to take a downturn when corruption began to creep into the political scene and when  some elements began to espouse racist statements against the community over the past two decades.

The promotion of racism by some elements from at least one political party and by some elements from within the ANC have reared their ugly heads once again when most South Africans face serious socio-economic problems emanating from violent crime, unemployment, marginalisation, and inequality.

 

(Prof Fatima Meer with Advocate Ismail Mahomed, Norman Mailer and Bobby Mari) 

 

In 2008, when one of our foremost political and social activists, Professor Fatima Meer, turned 80, I made arrangements to talk to her about the disillusionment creeping into the Indian-origin community.

At this time South Africans were observing our 15^th year of our new democracy and she was concerned about the lack of interest in the political affairs of the country by most people of Indian-origin.

She was very candid in her view that the Natal Indian Congress should not have been disbanded and that NIC leaders should have listened to Mandela for the organisation to have remained.

She, therefore, was of the view that the Natal Indian Congress should be revived.

This is what she had said 12 years ago: “The Natal Indian Congress should be revived because it has a very rich history. You don’t want to miss out on that history. You want to build on that history, so revive the Congress. It is a pity that it was disbanded at all.”

Professor Meer told me in that interview that it was a major tragedy that some ANC people forced leaders of the NIC to disband the organisation just before the democratic elections in 1994. She had written to President Thabo Mbeki in 1999 about this grave mistake.

“You see the Indians had a very strong organisation in the Natal Indian Congress and I wrote to Mr Mbeki in 1999, pointing out that it has been a tragedy that the ANC had asked the NIC to be disbanded.

“It was an organisation that stood by the ANC at all times. Now the ANC had made the biggest mistake, I pointed out to Mr Mbeki, by saying you don’t need the NIC, you can belong to the ANC. But the reality is that we first have to mobilise ourselves.  

“Politically, as a political party, the ANC is fine and totally acceptable but to organise the Indian people, the people need an organisation.”

Professor Meer told me that she was deeply disappointed that in view of the absence of a progressive organisation like the NIC, the ANC after 1994 had chosen to associate itself with reactionary and opportunistic elements within the Indian-origin community.

“The ANC deluded itself into thinking that some opportunistic elements represented the Indian-origin people. I pointed out to Mr Mbeki that the ANC should deal with an organised group of people who have principles and programmes that are akin to the ANC, instead of going around piece meal, picking up people who have money. I pointed out that the NIC should be revived because of its history and its role in the liberation struggle.”

Professor Meer passed on two years later on March 12 2010 at a time when there was a full debate about her call for the revival of the NIC.

 

               POLITICAL WILDERNESS IN 2020 

 

Fast forward to 2020, many people once again say that they find themselves in the social and political wilderness because of all the racist tendencies emerging within political parties. The future of this community that played a crucial role in the social, political, economical and sporting struggles is indeed an emotional talking point.

The mere co-option of “Indian” members will not be sufficient.

The ANC leaders and its progressive partners within the community must take another look about how they could make the community members feel they are full South Africans and not citizens of another, distant, distant country. They must be made to feel that they don’t have to put up with the kind of marginalisation, racism and discrimination that their forefathers and mothers suffered prior to the establishment of our non-racial democracy 27 years ago.

Most of the people are third, fourth, fifth and sixth generation South Africans and they should not be made to feel that they are “foreigners” in their own country. Ends (subrygovender@gmail.com)  – Nov 25 2020

RADIO DOCUMENTARY ON THE LIFE OF GRIFFITH MXENGE PRODUCED IN 2008

 

In June 2008, I produced a radio documentary on his life as part of my Rich History series. This radio documentary was produced at a time when a major controversy erupted between the ANC and the IFP about whether the Mangosuthu Highway in Umlazi should be changed to Griffith Mxenge highway.

(Subry Audio 7)

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<source src="https://sites.google.com/site/subryaudio11/home/subryaudio11/Tamil%20Love%20song%202%20Oct%2025%202020.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1"></source> 

If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element 

</audio>

<embed height="0" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=podcast-link" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320" wmode="transparent"></embed><br />

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DESPAIR, ANXIETY AND SHEER HOPELESSNES HAS GRIPPED MANY, MANY PEOPLE IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS IN AND AROUND DURBAN

 

 

A climate of despair, anxiety and sheer hopelessness has gripped many, many people in a number of residential areas in and around Durban.

The loss of jobs and retrenchments during and after the start of the Corona Virus lockdown in March (2020) have seriously affected the lives of thousands of previously productive people.

I witnessed this really very sad state of affairs and development when on Friday (Nov 20 2020) I visited the Longberry area of Phoenix, north of Durban, to visit my father’s sister.  

A short distance away from my aunty’s home is a shopping centre where hundreds of people were lined up in two queues on the side of one of the roads.

It was about 11:30am.

I went along to the shopping centre to check the situation. I asked one of the people why were they waiting in two long lines on the side of the road.

“We are waiting here to register for our UIF money,” one middle-aged man told me. He declined to give me his name for fear of being victimised by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

He worked for a construction company for 10 years and after the lockdown was introduced in March (2020) he was retrenched.

He had applied for his UIF funds in August but to date he has not received any payments despite visiting the UIF office several times.

“We are having a difficult time because I have not been earning any wages since March this year,” he said.

After making further inquiries, I was told that the some of the people in the two lines had come from far afield as KwaDukuza, to the north, and Sydenham-Asherville in Durban. Most of the people had been waiting in the two queues from early as 2:30am in the hope that they would be attended to before the UIF officials close the office at 4pm.

Most of the people were wearing masks according to the Covid-19 regulations. But, unfortunately, they were not maintaining any social distance whatsoever.

“Only 10 people are attended to in the office and they take about two to three hours to finish,” said one person, who has been waiting since 3am.

“We don’t know why do they take so long to attend to the people. It must either be the computers are not working or the officials are not competent enough to do their jobs,” he said.

Another desperate person in the queue was a lady in her early 60s. She had been working for a travel company for more than 40 years but she was asked to take early retirement in March after the lockdown was introduced.

She had applied for her unemployment funds in April but to date her application has not been finalised yet.

“I don’t know what is going on? I have been waiting here since early this morning but they only attend to 10 people at a time. The other day I waited for the whole day without being attended to,” said the seriously concerned woman.

“What is more tragic is that I have not yet received my pension payments from my company.”

From my conversations with several other people it is clear that people who have lost their jobs since the start of the lockdown in March are finding it very difficult to pay their bills and to “put food on the table” for their families.

“We are suffering and I don’t know when the situation is going to improve for the people,” said one young man.

Hopelessness and despair seems to have gripped the people on the margins of society. It’s hoped that President Cyril Ramaphosa and other leaders from the ruling party will step out of their plush offices and palaces and visit the marginalised areas to see the situation for themselves.

What’s tragic is that there are no government social workers visiting these desperate families and to provide assistance for them? Only non-government organisations such as the Gift of the Givers are providing food parcels for desperate families at this time.

The latest gross unemployment situation is having a serious impact on the social lives of the people. Ramaphosa and his “people’s government” must ensure that conducive conditions are created for the economy to grow so that people could find jobs to feed their families. Unfavourable labour laws and runaway violent crime will only deter business leaders to invest in our economy.

Ramaphosa must decide either to have favourable labour laws for business people to continue to invest in the economy or rising unemployment where the country’s new democracy is threatened? – ends subrygovender@gmail.com Nov 20 2020  

GRIFFITH MXENGE – RECALLING THE LIFE OF A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST WHO WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED 43 YEARS AGO TODAY ON NOVEMBER 19 1981

 

GRIFFITH MXENGE – RECALLING THE LIFE OF A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST WHO WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED 43 YEARS AGO TODAY ON NOVEMBER 19 1981

 

 

 By Subry Govender

On November 19 2020 it will be 43 years since the brutal and callous murder of struggle stalwart and human rights lawyer, Mlungusi Griffiths Mxenge, by members of the dreaded security police of the former apartheid regime.
He was bludgeoned to death on November 19 1981 and his body was found in Umlazi, 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 two 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 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.

 

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 white minority, its leaders and the establishment media he was an “unknown quantity”.
On Thursday, November 19 1981, just five years later, another prominent personality espousing black aspirations, Mr Griffiths Mlungusi Mxenge, also died violently and still the white 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 white community his death was passed off as just another “black death”. The height of ignorance among most white 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”.

                           

(Griffith Mxenge with his wife, Victoria)

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 25^th anniversary of the white 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.
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.

                      ADVOCATE PIUS LANGA

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.

                           POLICE FAILED

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

i).   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;

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

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

iv).  To check the mileage on the car, which was almost new, when they found it; and

v).    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 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 that they are not too keen to find them. Ends – November 10 1982 Press Trust of SA Third World News Agency.