MAMA VICKY: AN UNSUNG PAC HERO

 By Mokgweetsi Keikabile

Mam Vicky, an unsung struggle heroine

“We must never give up, you see giving up is worse and unforgivable after sacrificing so much, why give up? Never give up until you achieve what you were fighting for, we have not got back our land!”

The above are words spoken and evoked by one of the daughters of the stolen motherland soil of Azania who is a staunch Pan-Africanist per excellence. She has always lived and continues to breath Africanism. The revolutionary conviction that Africans must manage their affairs in Afrika without external control from imperialist, capitalist and white supremacy. To see dignity restored to an African to be able to live a life in peace and harmony never going to bed with an empty stomach or living in dehumanizing shacks because she hates oppression and exploitation and suffering so much that she joined the national liberation struggle.

Her name is Motlalepula Victoria Kgotleng. She has been a footsoldier of the PAC of Azania for decades. She was first incarcerated in 1977 under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. It was this unjust law legislated to intentionally crushed down political activists in Azania by the settler minority regime wherein they would have banished them behind bars transported from prison to prison without any trial. Whereby she spends about eighteen months mostly in solitary confinement. 

Her crime was to transport or be a courier or skip youth activists to receive military training under the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA). She had a “kombie” or taxi where she used to collect them and then drop off at the route to enter into Swaziland in their journey to Tanzania. They also used the border into Botswana through Bophuthatswana.

On 23 February 1943 marks a historic day whereby the African soil was awarded a priceless gift by the gods of revolution and specifically the Afrikan gods, a baby girl came to being, little did she know that she would spend her living days on earth pragmatically implementing: TRAIN A WOMAN! TRAIN A NATION! LIBERATE AZANIA! The motive forces who do the dirtiest work to advance the struggle is woman, even when intellectuals often omit their contribution.

The security police took her first to Protea Police and then John Vorster police station and finally to Bloemfomtein. She was tortured severely. Her arrest actually emanates from a comrade who broke under torture who spilled the beans under inhuman barbaric interrogation. This comrade was working closely with Vuyisile, an Africanist comrade, from the Cape at the time, that is how he met Mo’Afrika Vicky in their affairs in the PAC. He broke and told the security police how they used to transport young people to neighbouring countries. 

Mam Vicky had introduced herself as Dikeledi hence he had to identify her when she was in police custody. When the comrade in question in Bloemfontein came to verify that Mam Vicky was the correct person who had been arrested, he was broken after torture that he just shakes his head in desperation and defeatist mode because his face was totally discombobulate and panel-beaten viciously.  

She was married to Moffat Zungu who was also involved in the struggle in the PAC.

In the early 1970s her house was a home of students in Turfloop who used to call it “Phalase” as a way to be able to rest, refresh and re-strategies because at this time in our historical epoch students were fully conscientized to have clarity that the student struggles could not be separated from the national liberation struggle. They belonged to the Azanian school of thought. Basically her house was a military champ internally.  

Recently in 2018 firebrands and footsoldiers of student leaders such as Londeka Gumede, Ontiretse Phethu, Keorapetse Nkamane etc who were instrumental in #FeesMustFall at both respectfully University of Johannesburg and Witwatersrand University celebrated their graduations at her house. She and other Africanists brew umqhobothi so-called “traditional beer” and we organized a goat that was slaughtered in the township, the writer was part of the organizers of the initiative which included cde Zukiswa White and cde Mfundo Dlungwane amongst others which ran for three days. The graduation is a remembrance that a young adult after completing their studies in tertiary should continue to organize to advance the Azanian cultural revolution of ensuring the land returns to the dispossessed indigenous Afrikan people.  Her warmth heart to open her house as a refuge and home to activists is not ahistorical. These student leaders have all contributed their part to combat capitalist education that is commodified demanding socialist education or simply put: free education for all. 

Mam Vicky open palm salute

In 1979 she was again arrested under the same act at Jabulani police station. It appears that her picture was taken at Sharpeville during the commemoration event of the massacre that happened on 21 March 1960 with an open palm salute and it really helped the racist Boer regime to catch. She escaped an attempted rape from a senior police officer, who on a particular day just came took his belt and pents off, Mam Vicky had no choice but to scream. They had been arrested about 12 political prisoners. Mo’Afrika Vicky informed other Africanists on this and cde Vusi was outraged to an extent of striking his bold fist to this police officer who was black who attempted to sexually molest Mam Vicky. The scars embodied from her are deep and totally devastating. At this police station she spent 7 months without any visits.

She spent some time at Besvlei police station for four months. Where prisoners were subjected to the harshest conditions. They ate dry pap which when described had worms, it was brown not white. They were handcuffed together with her husband cde Moffat from Meadowlands to this farm in Bloemfontein. Then Sotpan police station where it was so dark with no lights at all and then transferred to Standerton prison. During their arrests together as a couple her husband played a huge part emotionally and psychologically because Mam Vicky had given up and stop eating, the words “partner idla” or eat remains vivid on how she regained her strength to eat so that to live to see another day.

She was terrorized but not broken by the terror of the system as she started to accept that the police will always be her problem, she said on her second arrest, “hoe laak gaan ek bly die keer?” that meant this time how long will you keep me for behind bars?

While in prison she had no ways but to survive. Henceforth, as a political prisoner or “terrorist” as the regime called many freedom fighters, there is this exceptional incident. She was not allowed to eat with other common law prisoners so she basically had her food delivered by other prisoners, all black prisoners were not allowed to have direct contact with her. They came with food and put it down on the floor so that the white warder can open a cell to give them, while at it, birds played on it and then took them to Mo’Afrika Vicky who rejected it after just drowning a finger in it affirming that the food is cold, she said, “gaan maak die kos warm?” and concluded: “or else allow me to eat with other prisoners”. The police official threatened to slap her face, “ek is nie gestaf.” She continued: “mate jy gaan nie met my so praat” and Mo’Afrika Vicky took the threat and instead did the honour by slapping her so hard she turned red in her face (prison warder). They then called the security police. Colonel Van Der Merwe who appeared at Truth Reconciliation Commission was working there in the prison. That is a bravery that an uncompromising Pan-Africanist could outplay knowing very well that she will be tortured by the state security police later.

The police used to terrorize her so much that they came at her work as a typist at ABC downtown in Johannesburg in the 1960s. Subsequently, this led her to be fired. This is when she opened a shop of selling kotas (bunnie chows) which attracted youth and she recruited many of them to the party of land and revolution – the Pan Africanist Congress. She interacted with Khutso Seatlholo who was second-in-command to mobilizing students to boycott Afrikaans and Bantu education in 1976 together with Tsietsi Mashinini. Her branch in Meadowlands was vibrant and had many active members at the time even when the PAC was banned.

In 1977 she was selling junk foods at Meadowlands High School. After being released from prison after shortly being arrested then the school principal chased her out because she felt Mam Vicky was not selling food but politics to students.

Besides being a revolutionary she was being able to be a pillar of strength of the community. She adopted the elderly and spoiled them rottenly. Each and every year at her house she used to slaughter a cow and they would gather. Sometimes they would go to places like Sun City just on a mere vacation. This community work would run for 10 years consistently and persistently.

Mincemeat, oranges, drinks, kotas is some of the products she sold. There is this child who used to not have money at all then she adopted a project to give free lunch to students who are on the receiving end. About 30 children joined, making profit was not possible. There was this child who once said, “I won’t finish everything because I will have to eat later at home”. Not having food at home and going to school was totally demoralizing. Most of those students went to go to Wits University to pursue their further education studies.

She also used to adopt children from poor background to assist them with school material to be able to survive in a system of white domination and capitalism. When they travel trips she would assist them with material needs. Teachers used to refer students to her in poor backgrounds to help buy shoes from her hard earned money from selling kotas. Some were even accommodated at her house who were homeless. The spirit of sharing embedded in Africanism is deeply rooted in this. At some point she was cooking for students and teachers. The teachers adopted her house to be known as Maputo meaning that those who knew her where the passport to introduce new costumers.

She had about four passports to allow her to skip the country to go drop off the boys to Swaziland. She used to be accommodated by Pitika Ntuli at Ka-Lebamba who is now a qualified Professor. There is this particular memorable day when a young boy aged 12 managed to go to exile and Enock Zulu, Joe Mkhwanazi and Ntuli were keen for this child to go back to school. She was there to advice the young man from Zola in Soweto to get an education who refused to listen because he just said that he left school because he wanted military training. They boy refused any intervention and went on to receive military training from APLA.

Her husband fondly loved her and used to call her “partner” and most political activists who knew her adopted the name partner. He was to be incarcerated for seven years in Robben Island and was released in 1986. This happened after the notorious racist regime facilitated the secretive Bethal Trial. Zephaniah Mothopeng or Uncle Zeph was their pillar of strength to the Zungu family as they used to visit him late at night to request political advice when the matters were above them. Mo’Afrika Vicky says “Uncle Zeph never slept,” that is how much he was committed to the struggle. Mo’Afrika Moffat worked for the World Newspaper those who know it will tell you, it reported the news as it was, it was a revolutionary newspaper. The World Newspaper was eventually banned. After being released he worked at its predecessor which is Sowetan.

This family of Zungu were blessed with two beautiful girls who spend most of their childhood without their parents who were in jail. The teachers and family had to intervene and play a huge role to show love and support to the children.

With members of Karl Zimbiri Wizza Military Camp Branch in Soweto

Mam Vicky who is approaching 78 years often narrates that the PAC when it had little funds used to take care of its cadres. Because the system made it difficult for its members to operate. So the PAC once paid the fees of both her daughters by simply signing a cheque to go to Vaal Technicon and Rand Afrikaanse Universiteit where her daughters were studying.

Elizabeth Sibeko organized for Mam Vicky to go do a course in the United States around Pitts University. After completing wherein, she spends time with Mohau Pheko in New York. According to Mo’Afrika Vicky this is where Mohau did a lot of organizational work in the States because she played a huge role of fundraising and collecting clothing to the soldiers who were trained by APLA in its military champs.

At another prison she used the strategy of taking out water in the toilet to be able to communicate with other political prisoners. They would remove the water with whatever they had such a toilet paper, or blankets and then ask the other prisoner to do the same to allow them to keep sanity of having people, to communicate with. Those were the most devastating times.

She received a certificate of service from PAC in 1997. She currently has it.

The oppressive white domination system hated her so much that in 1982 she got arrested maliciously. There were no valid justifiable charges really. What transpired when they gave her a paper to write her charges as then when you were arrested then you used to be told to write charges she actually had nothing to write as she left it blank. The police were informed by an informant that she might have addressed a meeting somewhere in Mafikeng. Yet on this particular day she was in Robben Island to visit her husband. After six months behind bars and she was viciously tortured she was released. Even though she had been innocent all the time.

Gaz Ndlovu would frequent coming in and out of Azania and Joe Mkhwanazi at this time was working for Cocacola driving tracks in and around Swaziland. While arrested in 1977 the PAC Offices were closed as most comrades were arrested, the idea to go to exile vanished. She decided to make her contribution to combat colonialism, imperialism and apartheid internally within the confinements of Azania.

It is pointless to appreciate and pay a tribute to freedom fighters who have dedicated all their lives to the struggle when they are dead. Mam Vicky often reminds us that we have not got back our land and the struggle continues. She is not a veteran but a stalwart of the national liberation struggle.

A veteran is a person who believes that we are free and they are often stuck in nostalgia because to them it is only their past contribution to the struggle that matters, most have integrated into the system they dedicated their lives to cripple and destroyed, they are captured and in revolutionary terminologies are no longer within the ranks of the liberation movement.

Whereas, a stalwart is an activist who has served, suffered and sacrificed so much that they are still actively engaged in the struggle to this day. Their hearts and minds are invested in destroying a capitalist exploitive South Africa for a non-exploitive and non-racial socialist Azania to rise. They have never been divorced from the struggle even in their old age because they hate to see Afrika auctioned to land criminals from Europe, the dispossessor and colonial invaders who have now recruited their neocolonialists lackeys who have black faces to maintain their hegemony. 

 
Mokgweetsi Keikabile is the chairperson of PASMA Ibika and student at Walter Sisulu University reading for Information Communication and Technology. He writes on his personal capacity. 

SOBUKWE COURT TRIAL - REGINA VS R.M. SOBUKWE & OTHERS: CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

By Thando Sipuye

MAGISTRATES COURT, REGIONAL DIVISION OF SOUTH TRANSVAAL

HELD AT JOHANNESBURG BEFORE MR. J. DE K. DU PLESSIS.

CASE. NO. L.173/60. DATE: 04/April/1960.

LIST OF ACCUSED:

1. Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe

2. Kitchener Leballo (Potlako)

3. Jacob Nyaosa

4. Zephania Mothopeng

5. Selby Ngendana. (Themba)

6. Lennox Mlonzi

7. Rosette Ndziba

8. John Walaza

9. Daniel Khunou

10. Wellington Rangaka

11. Josias Madzunya

12. Solomon Matkopa

13. Zacharia Mtunzi

14. Abram Mogale

15. Abe Kgare

16. James Thamae

17. Johannes Phashe

18. Lucas Matlou

19. George Ndhlovu

20. Joshua Machaba

21. George Siwisa

22. Lancelot Makgoti

23. John Makgete

CHARGE: As per Charge Sheet Attached.

PLEA: All The Accused Refuse To Plead.

FOR THE CROWN: Mr. J. Robinson

FOR 'THE DEEENCE: All The Accused - In Person.

TRANSCRIBERS: Mesdames: McKenzie, Kuhn, Sykes & Vos.

INTERPRETER: Douglas Rasmen.

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Now, on the 19th and 20th of March this press conference that you had just prior to the 21st of March, what date was that, was that the Friday the l8th. And this press conference, to which press did you actually… with which reporters of which newspapers did you have this conference?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: I’m not sure really, almost all of them. Practically, all of them.

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Can you recall whether subsequent to that you noticed whether it did appear in the papers?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: I Beg your pardon?

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Did you notice subsequent to the press conference that it did in fact appear in the papers?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: In the ’’Vaderland” it appeared on the same day.

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Do you recall seeing it in the Golden City Post on the 20th, 1 think that is the Sunday?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: I think I did, I wouldn’t recall. I think in the Sunday Times also on the 20th there was some comment on it, together with Madzunya’s letter.

COURT RESUMES

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Now tell me, is it also one of the aims and objects shall I say of the Pan-Africanist' Congress, for complete freedom in 1963?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: Correct.

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Now, can you tell me whether it is an actual fact - rules or advice - which had been given to the Pan-Africanist Congress leaders that they should destroy all original or signed documents?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: I beg your pardon?

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Is it a rule applied by the Pan-Africanist Congress that they should destroy all original documents bearing signatures of leader's and so on?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: No.

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Has that been given has that advice however been given to them?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: I beg your pardon?

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Have they in fact ever been advised to do so, however?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: No, what they were' advised .to do was to make sure that personal correspondence did not come into their files, because what we want to face is a charge concerned with the movement, not personal opinions of Individuals.

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): Now tell me, when you say you decided that did you sort of convey it to the members of the Executive, the various Executives, was it done by circular or was it done by way of .an address, can you perhaps recall?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: It was conveyed to members of the National Working Committee by myself, I think.

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): I’ll tell you why, because amongst the documents found, I think in your house or your office, they found one here marked No, 1. Of Exhibit “AH”, i.e. page 1-10-5, if you turn this page it starts: “Last Warning Alert.’ and then it’s the 10th May l959, and this contained certain advice which was given, namely that all documents containing the private correspondence of or with leaders, Committee members, should be consistently destroyed or, where such correspondence is of historical or theoretical importance, reduced into type, omitting the signature of names, must be filed in a place of safety whilst originals are destroyed without delay. Actually your answer you gave a few moments ago I think is also contained in here?

Yes - no, regarding the question of any case that follows must be on the oh yes, paragraph 1 there says: “If ever P.A.C. is arraigned before the Courts of the oppressors it should then be charged with its real policy, its open public declarations by which the leaders and membership are pledged to rise and form?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: Correct

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE): I think that is the answer which you gave a few moments ago. You say this particular document; do you perhaps recall it now that we’ve referred to it?

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: I recorded those myself.

BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (TO ACCUSED NO. 1, ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE Yes, were these words advice which you gave to the Executives of the planning.

ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE: The part concerning those two that you’ve read, yes.

JUDGEMENT BY THE JUDGE MR. J. de K. DU PLESSIS: In all the circumstances set out above, the Crown has clearly proved that all the accused, except only accused .Nos. 8, 20, 22 and 23, took part in the conspiracy set out in the charge. There is a strong suspicion that accused Nos. 8 and 22 also participated but the Crown has not pressed for conviction in their cases and in the circumstances outlined they are given the benefit of the doubt. The only evidence that they were members of the Witwatersrand Regional Executive is that of accused No. 1 who has also stated that Regional Committees were not advised of the nature of the campaign. It is not clear what the functions of that body were. There is no other evidence that they took part in the incitement. There is no evidence at all that the two members, Nos. 20 and 23 participated in any way. Accused Nos. 8., 20, 22 and 23 are accordingly found NOT GUILTY and DISCHARGED. I would ask them-to keep their seats in the meantime.

In regard to the remaining accused, there is no doubt that the Crown has proved that they are GUILTY of the main charge. I find them GUILTY on the main charge in respect of inciting pass-carrying Natives to commit the offence of contravening section 15 sub-section (1) paragraph (a) of Act 67 of 1952.

SENTENCE BY THE JUDGE MR. J. de K. DU PLESSIS: Your, offence is a serious one. Apart from the fact-that Parliament has enacted very heavy penalties, namely, a maximum of a fine of £500 or imprisonment for 5 years or both for persons who incite other persons to commit offences by way of protest against existing Laws etc. the nature of the offence you incited the Native people to commit, coupled with the manner in which the campaign was to be carried out, was potentially far reaching in its consequences, particularly on the Rand with its large Native population and vast Native Labour force.

Not only was it your object to flood the gaols with the impressionable masses of the Native people, but in that manner you intended-to paralyse trade and industry and so undermine the economy of the country in order to compel the Government to change its Laws. Whether a Law is unjust or is considered unjust or not, the Law, of the land must be obeyed.

The harm done by you, both politically and economically, is difficult of accurate assessment. This Court must accordingly impose, adequate sentences, not only as a punishment to you but as a deterrent to others who may be similarly minded.

I have already set out the manner in which each of you participated in this offence. This has weighed with this Court in assessing the sentence to be passed on each of you.

As far as No. 1 Accused is concerned, I must also take into account that in terms of , paragraph (f) of exhibit 'BD' issued by the National-Working Committee i.e. the pamphlet 'Calling the Nation', no one can call this campaign off but he as National President. This does not appear to have been done 5 on the contrary exhibit 'BG' has been produced here being the note handed to Accused No. 4 in the Police cells at Marshall Square by a visitor to the effect that the campaign is being continued.

In all the circumstances Accused No. 1 will be sentenced to THREE YEARS IMPRISONMENT.

Accused .Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5 - all members of the National 'Working Committee responsible for giving effect to the National Conference resolutions in this campaign, are each sentenced to TWO (2) YEARS IMPRISONMENT.

I have carefully considered the parts played by the remaining Accused Nos. 6, 7, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 21 and find it would be unjust to differentiate between them as far as sentence is concerned. Each of them has played his part in inciting the masses in terms of the Pan Africanist Congress plan to ensure the success of the campaign. Each of these Accused will be sentenced to EIGHTEEN (18) MONTHS IMPRISONMENT.

Judge M.J. De K. Du Plessis

(REGIONAL MAGISTRATE)

TRANSCRIBERS CERTIFICATE

We, the undersigned, hereby, certify that the aforegoing is, to the best of our ability, a true and correct transcript of the original evidence recorded by means of a mechanical recorder in the case of REGINA versus R. SOBUKWE & OTHERS.

SIGNED:

W. Vos; A. Sykes; Z.G. Kuhn; A. Mackenzie; and R. van der Merwe.

(TRANSCRIBERS)

It is crystal clear from the court documents of Sobukwe’s trial in 1960 that Sobukwe in fact held a Press Conference on the 18th March 1960, at which all the major South Africa media houses were present.

It is also crystal clear from these same documents that the Sobukwe’s trial, “Regina versus Sobukwe & Others”, was “recorded by means of a mechanical recorder” by court transcribers namely: W. Vos; A. Sykes; Z.G. Kuhn; A. Mackenzie; and R. van der Merwe.

So three primary questions arise here:

1. Where the hell are Sobukwe’s tapes from the South African media (Vaderland, Sunday Times et all)?

2. Where the hell are the Sobukwe tapes from the Department of Justice?

3. Where the hell are W. Vos; A. Sykes; Z.G. Kuhn; A. Mackenzie; and R. van der Merwe today?

We shall not rest until Sobukwe’s voice is heard, from Cape to Cairo, Morocco to Madagascar.

Sobukwe shall never be silenced forever!

Children of Afrika - A Poem by Thando Sipuye

"Children of Afrika", more than just a poem by Thando Sipuye, is a war-horn, a sounding and warning call to Black Afrikan people the world over to remember their past and to never forget their historical experience of the Maafa (Black Holocaust) and to know who that European invaders are still their historical enemies. The poem/war-horn reminds Black people that all the experiences of their Ancestors who died under brutal and ruthless circumstances are encoded in their genetic memory and collective consciousness.

MANDELA & TAMBO ATTORNEYS: THE CONSPIRACY TO SILENCE SOBUKWE

By Thando Sipuye

Late last year we began having conversations about Prof. Mangaliso Sobukwe and the law and one day Sis Luleka Slu Flatela called me informing me she had located the offices of Mandela & Tambo Attorneys in Johannesburg CBD.

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.

But Sobukwe shall never be silenced!

Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe Tribute Lecture

Speech Delivered by Mo'Afrika Ellen Mothopeng

Mo'Afrika Ellen Mothopeng, Former President of AWO

Below is the full speech delivered at the inaugural Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe Tribute Lecture held at the Mofolo Arts Centre in Soweto on the 12th August 2017. The Tribute Lecture was organized by the Blackhouse Kollective in partnership with the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust.

Read the full speech here:

Speech Delivered at the inaugural Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe Tribute Lecture

Erasing Black Women From Herstory: June 16 Students' Uprising & The Erasure Of Women

By Thando Sipuye

Last week Friday marked 41 years since the Soweto Students’ Uprising that took place on the 16^th June 1976, a day that ushered a decisive turning point in the liberation struggle in Azania (SA).

Today the day is a celebrated national holiday re-branded as ‘Youth Day’, a day in which contributions of young people in the liberation project are usually evoked and celebrated. In fact, the whole month of June has become christened as ‘Youth Month’.

But, there are serious distortions and misrepresentations of historical facts in the dominant public narratives around the 1976 Students’ Uprising. One of most critical of these distortions is the persistent subtle projection of that uprising as the somewhat exclusive initiative of young men, to the complete exclusion and erasure of the invaluable contributions and sacrifices of young women of that time.

Very often, when June 16 is discussed or commemorated, the painful experiences, sacrifices and contributions of the young Black women of the 1976 generation in the fight against the white supremacist education are largely downplayed (mentioned in passing), or completely erased and silenced.

It is as though June 16 was the sole initiative of the prominent male students like Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Sethloho only (and of course,  the first boy victim, Zolile Hector Peterson); as though no Black women were involved at all in the planning meetings and the subsequent protest on that fateful day and weeks after.

  

The names and identities of young women rarely appear even when victims of that June 16 massacre are evoked in public dialogues, intellectual discourse or media reports. These Black women are continuously rendered invisible by the entire system; they simply don’t exist, they are not regarded as worthy subjects of his-story.

For example, there are many female students who were shot and killed at various places around Chaiwelo when the Uprising began at Nghungunyane Secondary School, whose identities remain a mystery till this day. Other examples are two specific women from Dlamini whose involvement in the June 16 Uprising resulted in their lifetime confinement to wheelchairs.

On the 17^th June 1976 a young Black girl, Hermina Leroke, was shot dead in Diepkloof after she and her peers had seen a helicopter and ran. Her companions and friends witnessed her killing by the police. Her name, like many other young women who died, is unknown.

Even when pictures of the June 16 events are shown on any public platforms, the selective gendering of the images used is quite apparent. In the media, in academia and in political spaces the historic images used to tell the story are those with largely male students.

Images of the June 16 uprising with young Black women leading in front, carrying placards with revolutionary messages alongside the male students, defiant against military and police armoury, and leading in front during the marches, are rarely published or used.

Consequently, the only stories that are told are those of the brave young men of that generation; those of the many brave, but nameless, young women don’t matter much in our national consciousness and memory.

Take Sam Nzima’s famous image of Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying Zolile Peterson’s dead body for example. In the same frame on that image is a clearly emotional Antionnette Sithole. But she bears little significance, she is afforded no historic currency at all besides being known as the sister of the dead boy carried by Makhubu whose whereabouts are today unknown. She is cast either an ahistorical or unhistorical object in the enterprise of historical manufacture. Nothing is said about the fact that she was a young woman who had made a conscious decision, like many others, to protest on that day. We simply know her as ‘Hector’s sister’.

The subtle consensus constructed through this distorted version of and approach to history is that June 16 was, firstly, conceived by men and led by men only; secondly, an exclusive initiative by students only; and thirdly, a one day event which changed the course of history.

Stories and experiences of less known people, particularly women, involved in June 16 are generally disregarded and undermined. There are numerous Black women, little known of because they were not in leadership positions or did not appear on photographer’s frames, whose involvement, contributions and experiences during the Uprising were significantly profound.

Even the only woman who was an executive member of the Soweto Students’ Representative Council (SSRC) and General Secretary of the South African Student Movement (SASM) that planned and organized the June 16 Uprising, Sibongile Mkhabela, is least spoken about and less known. Her contributions to and sacrifices for the liberation project are unknown to today’s youth.

And she is not an exception.

Think of the silenced broader influences of women like Winnie Motlalepula Kgware who worked very closely with the students as a teacher and had an influential role in the launch of the South African Students' Organisation (SASO), later becoming the President of Black People’s Convention (BPC), an umbrella body of the Black Consciousness Movement. Mama Kgware’s name, the first woman to be elected as president of a political organization in South Africa, never appears on any public platforms in this country.

There are many Black women who were directly involved in the June 16 Uprising, like Dikeledi Motswene who was a grade 9 pupil at Ithute Senior Secondary in 1976, Priscilla Msesenyane who was a grade 4 pupil at St Matthews Roman Catholic School, Naledi Kedi Motsau who was a grade 12 pupil at Naledi High School and Martha Matthews who was a grade 12 pupil at Kelekitso Senior Secondary, whose stories never get registered on our collective national memory and consciousness.

Other residents and Black people of Soweto who were directly or indirectly involved and affected by the 1976 Students’ Uprising, like community activists, parents, officials, shop owners, nurses, doctors and teachers like Nozipho Joyce Mxakathi (now Diseko) also disappear completely from our memory when the story is narrated.

Another serious limitation of the way memory about June 16 is reconstructed today is the lack of detail about the subsequent arrests, tortures and killings that occurred days and months after that initial day; right up to the trial of the Soweto 11 who were accused of sedition for planning and organizing the student protest in 1976.

For days, weeks and months after June 16 the Black community was under siege and terrorized by blood-thirsty police whose mandate was to capture or kill student leaders. In the book, ‘Soweto 16 June 1976: Personal Accounts Of The Uprising’, Martha Matthews who took part in the June 16 protests is quoted as having said “the following day it was worse because these boers were now following people inside their yards. We could not go out. We could not go buy in shops… The boers’ cars were patrolling, and they were driving very slow, very slow. I am telling you, if you want to die just get outside the house… They could even shoot a toddler as young as six years”.

Then there are stories of those that died on June 16; none speaks for the dead as history is reconstructed and told. The contestations over the lifeless bodies of those killed that ensued between the State, their families and communities are muted and unknown.

One person who tells this story is Thomas Ntuli who was a grade 8 student in 1976. In the above-mentioned book he reveals that “the victims of June 16, and the days thereafter, would not be buried like the other dead. Their bodies did not belong to their families. They were contested between the State, the families and the community. Community members wanted to inscribe the bodies with messages for the ‘the struggle’. The State, however, demanded that the burial should not be political”.

This parochial approach to history also minimizes the scale of the viciousness, violence and brutality of the racist apartheid regime. The extent to which, not only the students, but the entire Black community and families were affected by the June 16 Uprising becomes obscured and blurred.

Stories of home invasions at night, police threats, beatings, sexual harassment, interrogations and torture of many women, mostly mothers, grandmothers and aunts of students, are downplayed and mentioned in passing at least, or completely erased at worst.

This obfuscates the stories and experiences of many ordinary Black people, women especially. It inscribes glorified men as the sole-supreme actors and only agents of history, projecting women as mere insignificant shadows, passive, without any agency. This is epistemic violence against Black women.

It is, in fact, the traditional modus operandi of the elite that record history to erase and silence the voices women and ordinary people. The euro-patriarchal elitist approach, not only to the writing of history but also in the honouring of struggle icons, erases the memories and experiences, and silences the stories and contributions of ordinary Black women, women activist and women intellectuals.

We must understand that this approach to history is fundamentally rooted in eurocentric ethos. Mohau Pheko writes somewhere that “almost every canonized western philosopher is on record as viewing women as inferior, incompetent, or disqualified epistemic or moral agents”. Indeed, European scholars and philosophers like Aristotle, upon whose ideas today’s democracy is built, were misogynist.

Aristotle believed women were inferior to men. For example, in his work ‘Politics’, Aristotle writes that “as regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject”. And in ‘Xenophon’s Symposium’, Socrates also asserts that woman’s nature is not wise and inferior to men’s.

In his book, ‘Homosexuality & The Effeminization Of Afrikan Males’, Dr Mwalimu Baruti also reveals that “beginning with the fathers of stolen European philosophy, not only were women seen as unfit for the love of men, but they were also judged as innately inferior and of less social, political, economic, religious and, therefore, cultural significance and value”.

So ultimately, histories constructed in euro-patriarchal societies called ‘democracies’ today, shaped and informed by the dominant eurocentric culture that permeates every fabric of our being and social existence, must innately eliminate women. These histories must advertently erase, silence and debase women; her story does not qualify as history.

In this way, violence against women, misogyny and patriarchy are perpetually institutionalized through this erasure of the memory and contributions of women in socio-economic and political revolutions. Liberation struggles, we are made to believe, are the products and field of elite ‘great’ men only; as a result, history, therefore, must necessarily continue to be a male-dominated theatre.

So, as we honour the memory and commemorate the sacrifices of the youth on 1976, we must understand that the June 16 generation were heterogeneous and diverse in many respects. We must acknowledge the critical role played by young Black women in that Students’ Uprising. Their contributions must be equally remembered, evoked and celebrated. Otherwise, we continue to institutionalize violence against women through their erasure from national memory and our collective consciousness.