Ofcourse I was primarily interested in seeing the state of these
law firm offices of the ANC leaders, as well as what was contained inside them,
in contrast to the debilitated state of the R.M. Sobukwe Attorneys office in
Galeshewe.
This was especially because of the many dominant distortions that
tend to cast Sobukwe in the shadow of Mandela as had been done in 2017 by
Professor Xolela Mangcu in one published article wherein he cast Sobukwe as a
footnote to Mandela.
In a posture meant to undermine Sobukwe, Professor Mangcu had
written that: “Nelson Mandela went to Wits University to become a successful
lawyer, but he emerged out of that experience a great leader. Sobukwe too
thought he might be a lawyer someday, but history had different plans”.
According to Professor Xolela Mangcu’s footnoting exercise,
Sobukwe merely “thought he might be a lawyer someday”. But apparently, “history
had different plans”.
So the day after Sis Lu informed me about the Mandela & Tambo
Attorneys offices I grabbed my camera and met with Ras PrinceShoni Wa Ha Rabada
and we went to meet up with her for a visit to the Mandela & Tambo
Attorneys offices at Chancellor House.
When we arrived there we were all surprised to learn that we were
not allowed entry inside, the security informed us that we could only peep
through the windows from the outside and we complied.
Interestingly, the Mandela & Tambo Attorneys office at
Chancellor House stands just a few metres away from the Magistrate's Court in
central Johannesburg where Sobukwe was sentenced to three years in Prison in
1960.
Well, in comparison to the Sobukwe law firm office in Galeshewe
the Mandela & Tambo offices are still standing in good shape. Peeping through the windows and across the walls of the building
we could see some of the history related to Mandela and Tambo's days as
attorneys.
We could also see some of the archival court documents of cases
that Mandela and Tambo had been involved in, including some letters to their
respective clients. There were even pictures of both Mandela and Tambo in their
law firm offices chatting with clients and carrying some legal papers.
Mandela, Tambo and other ANC leaders are eternally memorialised
and their legacies and heritage consistently celebrated.
One can go into the national archives as well as the archives of
the Department of Justice and still find records of some cases related to
Mandela, Tambo and others.
In fact, even the recordings of Mandela during the Rivonia Trail
of 1963 (merely three years after Sobukwe's trail in 1960) can be accessed at
these archives.
There is even a full transcript of Mandela's speech/testimony
before the court at the Rivonia Trail in 1963.
Yet these people tell us there is not a shred of information on
Sobukwe's Trial in 1960.
They have even gone to extent of expunging Sobukwe's transcribed
testimony from the court records at the Department of Justice.
In Galeshewe or anywhere in this country there is not a shred of
archival materials related to Sobukwe's law firm or his practise as a lawyer.
After Sobukwe had completed his articles he was barred from
practising law or entering any courts of law except as an accused or witness,
and he had to fight that racist law to be accepted as an attorney.
After the racist regime finally accepted Sobukwe as an attorney
and granted him permission to enter their courts, nothing he said in court, nor
any of the cases he handled, could ever be reported on publicly.
Sobukwe was an outlawed lawyer. In fact there is a newspaper
report I have which reported on the arrest of a Cape Town man who was arrested
for quoting Sobukwe.
But it is of great significance that South Africa's Black woman
Judge in the Constitutional Court, Judge Yvonne Mokgoro, is just one of the
many people Sobukwe helped as an attorney in Galeshewe.
Ofcourse, Sobukwe won the court case and Yvonne Mokgoro was
released. She tells the story of how at that moment Sobukwe inspired her to
study law as a woman to fight against apartheid.
It would be interesting to talk to her and interview her about
Sobukwe.
The recordings and archival materials related to Sobukwe do exist.
In fact, when Sobukwe was incarcerated indefinitely on Robben Island he also
wrote a number of letters and books that were confiscated by the State.
He was considered enemy number one of the state so everything he
wrote and communicated was intercepted and censored to ensure that he would
never "incite" Afrikan people towards revolution again.
These materials were not destroyed as they would like us to
believe.
They are kept in secret vaults of former State security agents and
agencies, as well personal possessions of some practitioners of the law,
including certain individuals who transcribed some of Sobukwe's numerous court
cases.
The security cluster, led by the South African State Security
Agency (previously National Intelligence Agency), are part of the vulturous
conspiracy to silence Sobukwe.
Visiting the Mandela & Tambo Attorneys offices affirmed our
conviction that there is a conspiracy to silence Sobukwe beyond the grave.
The forces of evil are determined to mute the Great Son of Man.
