University of Fort Hare

UNIVERSITY OF FORT HARE

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

DEGREE: MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY

THE ROLE OF MIGRANTS IN THE PAN AFRICANIST STRUGGLE FOR

LIBERATION FROM 1962 TO 1963: THE CASE OF COFIMVABA

SINDISWA CHRISTINA MWANDA

SUPERVISOR: PROF. J .B.PEIRES

2018

ABSTRACT

The perspective of South African liberation history needs to be balanced by recalling

events that might otherwise be overshadowed by the subsequent electoral

dominance of the African National Congress since 1994. This study is concerned with one such: the Cofimvaba struggles of 1962-3 which was organised by

Cofimvaba migrants under the ideology of the Pan Africanist Congress. Whereas previous historians have based their accounts mainly on trial records, this thesis strives to recover the migrants’ own perspective through intensive and detailed interviews with the surviving veterans.

It aims to provide an accurate historical account of the role played by migrant labourers, thereby correcting the historical distortions arising from overreliance on official sources to record the memories and perceptions of the struggle veterans, as exemplified by transcripts of interviews with and thereby provide some balance to the overall perspective of South African liberation history.

The thesis opens with a description of the situation on the ground in Cofimvaba and

Western Thembuland which gave rise to resistance. It continues with a discussion of the Pan-African Congress, especially in the Western Cape, the labour centre where most Cofimvaba migrants were concentrated. It proceeds to a detailed narrative of the events in Cofimvaba, more especially the battle of Ntlonze. The final chapter concludes with a critical reassessment of previous historical work, showing that the role of the migrants and the non-elite require greater appreciation and respect.

DECLARATION

I the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own original work and that I have not previously submitted it in entirety or in part at any university or other institution for a degree.

SINDISWA CHRISTINA MWANDA ------Signature

SC Mwanda 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 5

1. Western Thembuland under K.D. Matanzima 7

2. The organisational strategies of the PAC in the Western Cape. 14

3. The operations, planning and preparations to resist the rule of chiefs 37

4. Narrative of events in Cofimvaba district (1962-1963) 42

5. The Significance of the Thembuland Revolt 55

Transcript of Interview: Nontente Kamteni 63 Transcript of Interview: Mankankela Mimi 93

Bibliography 113

Acknowledgements

I owe my thanks to many people indeed.

First of all, I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor, Professor Jeff Peires whose priceless support, knowledge, supervision and guidance from preliminary to the final phases of this thesis had enabled me to develop it to a rational argument. I wish to thank him -above all- for his unsurpassed patience, time and diligence in helping me work through several versions of this thesis. I also owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for the confidence he showed in working with me.

I owe my deepest gratitude to Doctor D. S Yekela the Head of Department

(History) currently Humanities for her vast quantities of quality advice and support.

Her leadership skills, encouragement and the parental role she played when

challenges seemed to outweigh the strengths of studying at Fort Hare University.

I am indebted to my respondents who without their willingness to participate the

research would never be successful.

I am grateful to God, and to my family for their understanding and endless love

through the duration of this thesis. I wish to express appreciation to my husband who

became the dedicated research assistant throughout the research process. My

daughter Zola and her husband Gcinikaya Dlodlo deserve special mention for

welcoming me in their home when visiting the Cape archives. To my sister Kayakazi,

niece Apiwe and my lastborn Nangamso, I would like to express my heartfelt

appreciation for their help with archival research and support when I did not even

know where the archives were.

I wish to convey special thanks to the Govan Mbeki Research Centre at Fort Hare

University for the financial support which enabled me to kick start my research.

I am further grateful to the countless others who have shown interest and willingness to share sources.

Writing the thesis had been a challenging and a rewarding experience and I am extremely grateful to each person who has been part of its successful realisation.

In conclusion, it needs to be categorically stated that the people listed above are in no way responsible for the inadequacies in this text. All the mistakes to be found here are entirely my own.

Chapter 1. Western Thembuland under K.D. Matanzima

The period between the late 1940s and the early 1960s was an extremely stormy

time in the history of South Africa, as the newly elected National Party government

directed all its efforts towards consolidating the apartheid state. The subsequent oppressive legislation like Population Registration Act, Prohibition of Mixed

Marriages Act, Group Areas Act, Bantu Education, the Suppression of political

movements and the imprisonment of political leaders attempted not only to

entrench apartheid in all walks of life of the South African society but also brought

hardships to the African people. The result was an increased incidence of urban

black protests such as the Defiance Campaign of 1952, the women’s protest

movements in the 1950s, the bus boycotts in Evaton and Alexandra between 1955

and 1957, and the Sharpeville crisis to mention only a few.1

But it was in the African rural areas or reserves where the changes were worst felt.

State interference in the reserves accelerated with the appointment of Dr H.F.

Verwoerd as Minister of Native Affairs. Verwoerd, the ideologue of so-called “grand

apartheid,” sought to base his policies on a tribalistic foundation whereby the

“traditional way of life” of black people was revitalised. The ‘Bantustan’ policy sought

to assign all Africans a “homeland” according to their perceived ethnic identities as

Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho or whatever. The “separate development” of these homelands

served as a justification for the apartheid planners to label South Africa as a white

republic in which blacks did not feature as citizens. The ideology of traditionalism

1T. Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1983), pp. 139- 201.

was utilised to give the appearance that Africans were managing their own affairs

while, in reality, white government sat over the chiefs.2

The key legislation was the Bantu Authorities Act (1951) which reached the Transkei reserve in 1955. Transkei had been the scene of various attempts to establish segregated districts even before the advent of apartheid and it was the first region to be established as a Territorial Authority. In 1963, it became the first self-governing homeland or “Bantustan.” Chiefs and headmen were at the base of the administrative pyramid.3 Chiefs were used as proxy rulers and that became the

cornerstone of Bantustan policy.

The situation in Transkei was frustrating just as in all other homelands elsewhere in

South Africa. These states within states served as labour reservoirs, housing the

unemployed until their labour was needed by big white companies in South Africa

proper. The entrenchment of apartheid policies in rural areas resulted in a flood of

conflict between government and the people, and bloody reactions towards

government. The rural rebellions took place in Wietzie Hoek (later QwaQwa) in 1950,

and Zeerust (later Bophuthatswana) in 1957-1959. Similar rebellions occurred in

Transkei, first in Eastern Mpondoland (1960-1961), next in Thembuland (1962-

1963)4, which is the subject of this dissertation.

In terms of the Bantu Authorities Act, Cofimvaba district fell under the Regional

Authority of “Emigrant Thembuland,” as distinct from the Regional Authority known

as “Thembuland Proper.” The historical term “Emigrant Thembuland,” comprising St

Marks (Cofimvaba) and Xhalanga (Cala) districts, derives from the migration of four

2 Mbeki G, South Africa: The Peasants’ Revolt, (Harmondsworth: Penguin African Library, 1964), p. 37. 3 Ibid p. 40 4 Lodge, Black Politics, p.261.

Thimbu chiefs from Glen Grey district in 1865 into the region later called “Emigrant”

or Western Thembuland. The political motivation behind the division of Thembuland

into two regions was to create a political platform for Kaiser Daliwonga. Matanzima

as a Regional Paramount Chief equivalent to Sabata Dalindyebo, whom the

apartheid government designated Paramount Chief of Thembuland Proper.

K.D. Matanzima’s rise to the status of Paramount Chief had created much

controversy in Thembuland as, in terms of Thembu genealogy and tradition, he was

junior to the generally recognised Paramount Chief of all the abaThembu, namely

King Sabata Dalindyebo. Both of them were descendants of the Thembu King

Dlomo, who ruled about 1700, but Sabata was the direct descendant of Dlomo in the

Great House, while K.D.Matanzima was descended from the Right Hand house of

King Mtirara (d.1848), and therefore no higher in genealogical status than any other

chief of any other Right Hand house. According to African custom, a king is born and

not made by appointment. K.D Matanzima was privileged by the apartheid

government because he supported the establishment of Bantu Authorities, whereas

Sabata was punished because of his non-collaboration with the Bantu Authority system. King Dalindyebo, Sabata’s grandfather, had ruled over all six districts of

Thembuland. By recognising K.D. Matanzima as Paramount Chief of St Marks and

Xhalanga, as well as conceding the district of Xhorha to the Gcalekas, Sabata was left with only three districts, namely Mthatha, Engcobo and Mqanduli.

Once elevated to the position of a Paramount Chief, Matanzima expanded his support base by appointing new chiefs in districts like Xhalanga which had previously been governed by elected headmen (“detribalisation”).5 The majority of chiefs and

5 Ntsebeza L, Democracy Compromised (Pretoria: HSRC, 2006), Chapter 5.

headmen in Cofimvaba worked hand in hand to support Matanzima‘s rule, for

example Chief Velile Ndarhala of amaNdungwana, known as Zwelibanzi, who ruled

the areas of Chamama, Banzi, Hoyita, Zigudu and Sabalele. . It was habitual among

chiefs and headmen to gather together when there were rituals such as umgidi

(traditional feast). There the chiefs and headmen would descend and choose any homestead that was big enough to accommodate them. Young women would be

chosen whether married or not to go and entertain these chiefs. Mr Mpolose

Mangqangwana, one of PAC veterans, remembers how Zwelibanzi killed a man known as Qakambana for refusing to hand over his wife.6 When a case was lodged

against Zwelibanzi, K.D. chose his brother, George Matanzima, to conduct the trial.

George was forced to dismiss the case because he had to play by the rules laid

down by his older brother.

Residents of Bantustans were guided and led by traditional leaders. In Transkei

Matanzima a self-appointed spokesperson for other chiefs by virtue of his high

educational qualifications became the Prime Minister of Transkei when it gained the

so called independence in 1976. The independence was not a true one as Transkei

relied on the apartheid government economically and militarily. Honourable prime

minister was just a puppet state dictator who banned all local oppositions while he

and his supporters benefitted in buying farmlands for themselves. Although he was

advancing the policies of white government, Matanzima tried hard to convince

Transkeians that he was improving their lives by introducing compulsory education

and building schools like Matanzima Secondary in Xhalanga ,Daliwonga Senior

Secondary and Mtetuvumile Secondary in St Marks to mention only a few which

were named after his grandfathers by so doing creating fame and heritage for his

6Interview with Mr Mpolose Mangqangwana, Ezibeleni, 10 May 2013.

family7.The improvement in education did not pay off as rural people were too

uneducated to see improvements and those who were literate knew that it was an

inferior type of education .There were improvements when Ncorha and Qamata

irrigation schemes were introduced people were able to cultivate land for self-

subsistence and hunger was removed for a while8 .K.D.Matanzima never stopped

using his power to get what he wanted .He stripped King Sabatha Dalindyebo ,the

paramount chief of the abaThembu of his traditional authority and had him arrested

in 1980 because of his anti-independence stance.

Matanzima tried to make himself great among the people, seeing himself with his law

degree from Fort Hare, as well educated compared to other traditional leaders. His

Great Place, at Qamata where he was born, was the seat of the Western

Thembuland Regional Authority, which governed with an iron fist. People of

Cofimvaba were angered by the way in which he abused his power in ill-treating

people. People could not acquire individual title deeds for their land and, when land

was demarcated by Matanzima, he made sure that he allocated even more fields to himself. It was the duty of people to work for him as he was the paramount chief, there was a time table for all localities under his jurisdiction to do all the cultivation

operations failing which corporal punishment would be administered to those who

failed to carry out orders9.Few people resisted his rule as those who resisted were

cruelly beaten .K.D had a strong following among the headmen and councillors,

many of whom were his relatives.10 Those who followed and supported him were

called “Ongcothoza” while those who opposed him were called “Amadyakophu” from

7 Ntsebeza , p 125 8 Interview with Mr Phuza Dlongwana, Maya Location, 15 August 2013. 9 Interview with Mr Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga Location, Lady Frere, 21 July 2013 10 Interview with Mr Phuza Dlongwana, Maya Location, Qamata, 15 August 2013

Jacobin revolutionaries of France. The most famous watchdogs of Matanzima were

Simon Dambuza from Qamata and Memani Mandyoli of Ngcaca location. They were

responsible for torturing all migrants from Cape Town calling the ’abanqolobi‘(Militia).

Fear of being brutally punished forced many people to join “Ongcothoza”. These

factions divided people who would otherwise have lived together in harmony.

Matanzima and his team indoctrinated people in believing that Matanzima was the

only person who could reason and do good things for the people. The salute “Ah!

Daliwonga!” was shouted at the sight of Matanzima’s black car, and the councillors

would force people to shout that salute even before he could come out of the car.

Older men were more like his personal police force, and could be called to his Great

Place whenever there was someone who was to be interrogated and punished. For

example, when in 1961 a headman was murdered in Rhwantsana in Lady Frere

district, outside of Cofimvaba, the men of Qamata gathered at the Great Place so as

to be taken by white police to attack “Amadyakophu” who had murdered the

headman.11These old men wasted no time in following out their orders as they knew that failure to obey would lead to serious thrashing, whipping and even arrest.

The abuses of Bantu Authorities and betterment schemes were general throughout the so-called Transkei, including not only Thembuland but Mpondoland as well.

One result was the well-known “Mpondo Revolt” aimed at Eastern Mpondoland.

Paramount Chief Botha Sigcawu, and described by Govan Mbeki in his famous book, The Peasants Revolt.12 In Mpondoland, as in Western Thembuland, the chiefs

and headmen were in the forefront of oppression and some important chiefs and

headmen were actually killed. After crushing the Mpondo revolt, the apartheid

11 Interview with Mr Zamiwonga Deliwe, Maya Location, Qamata, 29 September 2013. 12 See note 2 above.

government brought in the notorious law called “Proclamation 400.”This

proclamation provided for a state of emergency. This regulation included detention

without trial, the banning of virtually all meetings and the extension of the powers of

chiefs and headmen.13 Much of the resistance in Cofimvaba occurred under the

conditions imposed on Transkei by Proclamation 400.

The imposition of taxation left people in the Bantustans with no choice but to leave

their homelands and seek employment in urban industrial areas as livestock could

not be taken as a mode of tax payment14. Labour migration directed to urban centres seemed to be the only solution for people who had no other way to get money. In

Eastern Mpondoland, the migrants generally worked on the Natal sugar fields or on the mines. For historical reasons, however, labour migration in Western

Thembuland was mostly directed towards Western Cape which was a strong hold of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) which had split from ANC in 1959.In Western

Cape, the migrants encountered underground meetings of PAC members who preached their gospel throughout tthe different migrant residential areas of Cape

Town, such as Langa. We need to consider how these migrants were recruited, by whom were they recruited, and with what results. These points can only be addressed when the terms PAC and POQO have been clarified together with their aims and objectives.

13 For details of Proclamation 400, see P. Laurence, The Transkei (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1976), pp.37-8. 14 Interview with Mr Mpolose Mangqangwana, Ezibeleni, 25 June 2013.

Chapter 2: The organisational strategies of the PAC in the Western Cape.

When Cofimvaba migrants headed for the Western Cape, they hoped for a better life not knowing that they were to be met by racial segregation and harsh labour laws which confined different racial categories to separate areas and occupations. They lived as groups of homeboys in the barracks, zones and bachelor flats of Langa,

Nyanga, Paarl and elsewhere. The repression they experienced there led them, one way or another, to resistance.

The Anti-pass campaign led by the Pan Africanist Congress (henceforth PAC) in

1959 appealed to the migrants who were drifting in and out of jail due to the pass system which was the apartheid government’s method of influx control. Feeling dispossessed of their land back home, even in the urban areas they were not treated as human beings. Certainly, they needed a solution, and the PAC provided a direction to their confusion. It is therefore vital at this point to clarify the nature and the aims of the PAC, and to examine how these objectives appealed to the migrants.

The PAC was an organisation that was formed by a group of Africanists who broke away from the African National Congress in November 1959. These Africanists felt that the leadership of the oppressed majority must always come from Africans. It was the feeling that the ANC had deviated from its original policy, pursued from 1912 up to the 1950s, that precipitated the formation of the PAC.15 These Africanists felt that the ANC was too soft in its approach to the struggle against apartheid. They had no confidence in ANC, as they felt the ANC was propagating multi-racialism and were ashamed of calling themselves Africans. The multiracial alliance between the ANC,

15 C.M.Makwetu, Azania Cheated: an Autobiography [Queenstown: MX Print, 2011). Lodge, Black Politics ,48

SAIC, CPC, COD and SACTU found ideological expression in the Freedom Charter

which stated that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, “black and white” and that

all national groups shall be protected by law against insults to their race and national

pride16 essentially sanctioned one multi-national, multiracial approach of the

congress movement, which the SACP also endorsed. As Africans they aimed at government of Africa for Africans which would not guarantee minority rights.17The collaboration of the ANC with Indians, coloureds and whites raised fears that the indigenous people (blacks) would never acquire political command of their birth land.

The pressure became more distinct when the ANC recognised the Freedom Charter which the Africanist thought was conformist as it did not give enough attention to black power. With respect to the Charter, Africanists were never sure of who the oppressed and the oppressor were if the land belong to all. The incorporation of the concept of multi-racialism into African politics in the 1950s had thus been a fundamental cause of Africanist discontent and of their subsequent decision to form the PAC in 1959.

The PAC, like all other organisations, had its own aims and objectives which were outlined in its constitution.18 Of the listed aims, I will cite only those that appealed

specifically to the migrants. These objectives strived to unite and rally African people

in one National front on the basis of African nationalism and to fight for the overthrow

of white domination in South Africa while promoting Pan Africanism in terms of the

unity of all African people throughout the continent. These objectives were grounded

16 “Freedom Charter’’ adopted by the Congress of the People, 26 June 1955. Karis, T and G.M. Carter (eds), From Protest to Challenge: a Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882-1964 , 4 volumes (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1972-1977), Vol IV, Document 11, pp.205-8. 17 Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe ,opening address ,Inaugural Conference of the PAC, April 4-6 1959, Karis and Carter, Vol IV, Document 39, p.516. 18NA Box 4/1/9/180 “Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the events…at Paarl” (hereafter Snyman Commission), p.9.

on the principles of anti –racism and anti-imperialism, leading to total non-

cooperation with the oppressors.

The PAC was led by Robert Sobukwe one of South Africa’s greatest heroes in the

struggle for freedom, human rights and non-racialism. Sobukwe was one of those

leaders who encouraged self-actualisation of one’s potential. To him education was

crucial for everyone. He had a charismatic character which appealed to different

people at all levels: to the youth he was a source of inspiration, to the unemployed

peasants and workers he served as an exemplary leader19. Besides he was also a

revolutionary who symbolised the most profound aspirations of the African people of

South Africa and the continent. He had all the qualities needed in a leader being

selfless with deep love for people courage and fearless were the qualities that

attracted the masses towards his ideology and by so doing getting respect from

different people. He is remembered and honoured known as an intellectual and a

visionary and a man of the people.20Mr Kamteni remembers how he met Prof as he

was normally called being his first time to see someone who was highly educated

beyond the level of his school teachers back home. He was impressed by Robert

Sobukwe being a good orator and having a good command of IsiXhosa.Sobukwe and the national executive committee were based in Johannesburg. Sobukwe and his NEC moved all over South Africa preaching “Positive Action” in the form of an

Anti-Pass Campaign. The campaign was based on mass disobedience, destroying

passes, and moving around without them. If they were arrested, the policy was “no

bail, no defence, and no fine.” The leadership believed that such mass arrests would

paralyse the economy and so force the regime to concede the demands of the

19 Interview with Mr Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga Location, 21 July 2013. 20 Joe Thloloe, Sunday Times, Sept 2003

16 people. At this point in time, the PAC was still a legal organisation, and Sobukwe was emphatic that there should be no violence. As is well known, the regime met peaceful protest with violence, so that on 21 March 1960, peaceful demonstrators were massacred at Sharpeville. In Cape Town, protest remained peaceful, even after the massacre, when, on 30 March 1960, at least thirty thousand PAC members marched from Langa to Caledon Square Police Station in Cape Town under the leadership of Philip Kgosana, a UCT student. Peaceful as the march was, Kgosana was tricked into dismissing the crowds and coming back later for the meeting only to be arrested. Even before the massacre, Sobukwe and other leaders had already been arrested in Johannesburg.

On 31 March, the apartheid government declared a State of Emergency and on 8

April the PAC, together with the ANC, was banned and driven underground. From that time onwards, peaceful protest was no longer an option. Following Sharpeville and Langa disturbances underground political mobilisation occurred especially where the PAC had substantial support, that is, the area known as Vaal Triangle,

Pretoria, Cape Peninsula and the Boland region. In particular, Langa, Cape Town and Paarl emerged as the most dynamic centres of activity and it was here that the

PAC .supporters first identified themselves as Poqo.21When ANC and PAC were banned they resolved to move underground and to embark on a path to armed struggle to meet the increasing apartheid regime’s violence and repression.

Furthermore after the anti-pass campaign a series of laws were passed by the oppressive government and these laws turned the country into a police state. The

21 For the usage of the word “poqo” see T. Lodge “The Poqo Insurrection,, 1961-1968,” in T. Lodge (ed), Resistance and Ideology in Settler Societies (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1986), pp.179-80; T. kaPlaatjie, “The PAC’s Underground Activities,” in in South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume 2[(1970 -1980] (Pretoria: UNISA Press 2007),p.678.

banning of these organisations marked the beginning of transfer of the arena of

struggle from inside to outside South Africa’s borders .Even before the silence

period, the national officials of PAC .were discussing about the representation of the

organisation abroad.Peter Molotsi and Nana Mahomo were delegated to leave

Azania for the outside world to raise funds and set up offices throughout the

continent, the Middle East and Europe.22It was after 1960 that the national offices of

PAC conveyed messages that they needed reinforcement of cadres who would run

offices abroad .There were two categories of recruits that were needed the

graduates, undergraduates and ordinary people who would be trained as in military warfare.23

In April 1962, the General Secretary of the PAC emerged from prison with several

others. An effort to bring together various parts of the organisation into a united

structure and to link the underground movement with the leaders in exile was

initiated under Potlako Leballo’s leadership. Even though Leballo was served with a

banning order to remote area in Natal he managed to appeal to the government and

was granted permission to leave the country as he was born in Basutoland.24It was a

regular habit for members like Makwetu, who played a pivotal role in recruiting most

of the Cofimvaba migrants, to commute between Cape Town and Maseru where

Leballo was running PAC offices.25The easier route was by car or train was via

Bloemfontein. Even before the arrests and skipping the country of PAC leaders, the

programme of action was always communicated to the masses through the cell

system and underground meetings. Each and every member was aware that

22 Makwetu, p. 33 23 Ibid 24 Karis and Carter, Vol III, p.55. 25 Makwetu, p.54

freedom was to be achieved by 1963.26The PAC.s programme of action for freedom

in 1963 shared the same goals as the 1958 All African Convention, and its vision of a

continental government and a union of African states, based on an “Africanist

Socialist Democratic order” which in turn would favour the development of ‘’African

Personality.”27The largest clandestine following in the bachelor migrant centres of

the Western Cape were getting impatient with the racist government, especially

those in Langa and Paarl. The connections of the PAC exile community and

PAC/Poqo militants in South Africa were limited. The aggressive government

legislation and aggressive municipal policies triggered violence among militants

especially in Paarl.28Militants from different branches of Western Cape were getting

impatient and when visiting the regional office in Langa would expect to be ordered

to invade their nearest enemies.29The Paarl March and Langa crisis gave rise to a

series of battles fought by Cofimvaba migrants starting from Paarl and moving up to

the Eastern Cape. These migrants were Poqo members. At this stage it would be

wise to provide clarity on the names “PAC” and “Poqo.”

Poqo has most often been discussed as an extension of the PAC, as the PAC’s

armed wing or as the PAC’ re incarnated after its banning in 1960 and as a

forerunner of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army(APLA )30 Mr Kamteni an APLA

member himself argues that PAC and Poqo is one and the same thing its only that

Poqo is a Xhosa name meaning “independent “or ‘’to stand alone’ ’PAC members used to call themselves ‘’AmaAfrika Poqo’’ meaning ‘’Pure Africans “or “ Africans

alone.“Varying translations have also suggested that it meant “pure” or

26 Interview with Mr Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga, 21 July 2013 27 Manifesto of the Africanist Movement, Document 39b in Karis and Carter, Vol III ,517-524 28 Interview with Mr Mankankela Mimi, Outhay Location, 24 June 2013. 29 Makwetu,p.52. 30 Submission to the TRC, (Cape Town 1997)

“independent,” all of which referred to the movement‘s racially exclusive

nature.31Later scholars such as Brown Maaba discuss Poqo along those lines.32The interpretation of Poqo and PAC as synonymous was also suggested by the apartheid government’s Snyman Commission. This argument was further entrenched after the

PAC’s acting president, Potlako Leballo, argued at a press conference in Maseru,

Lesotho on 24 March 1963 that Snyman’s finding was correct and that Poqo and

PAC were the same organisation, and boasted that the PAC/Poqo had 15500

members and planned a revolution throughout the country in 1963.

After the Pass Campaigns of 1960, the leaders of PAC were arrested leaving,

however, the masses still filled with hopes of freedom. After the banning and

arrests, the leadership was taken over by committee members who had either

evaded arrest or been imprisoned for shorter periods only. These newer leaders

were formulating strategic plans for taking the struggle further; these underground

plans existed in the cells of the migrant bachelor flats. The cell system and Task

Force members who grouped themselves in groups of tens conveyed the plan of

action .This is illustrated by the death sentence imposed on James Mtutu Apleni on

8November 196333for playing a key role in planning, even though he was not

personally present at the attack itself. Apleni was one of the many Cofimvaba

31 The word Poqo is a Xhosa word expressing meaning “alone ‘or “pure “.It had been used at times in Western Cape in 1960 by PAC spokesman to describe the racially exclusive character of their organisation in contrast to the ANC ‘’s multiracial spirit .Karis and Carter, Vol II, p. 669; Lodge ,Black Politics, 241, Ka Plaatjie suggest that the word Poqo emerged when President Sobukwe asked some of the colleagues to translate Pan African Congress into Xhosa .See Ka Plaatjie ,p. 678 32Maaba B, ”The PAC‘s war against the state “, in South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume 1[(1960 -1970] 2nd edition (Pretoria: UNISA Press 2010). Maaba relies on state court cases and as well as on Lodge’s work .He also relies on the records of the confession of PAC member James Apleni given before Magistrate D.J.M.Jordaan of Cofimvaba on 19 February 1963 33GSC 1/2/1/1007: State versus Notase Albert Shweni and others, 25 February 1963Apleni was accused No 23. ,Mr Kamteni stressed that planning was done in the bachelor flats of Langa and that migrants from Cofimvaba were commanded to lead the attacks on Matanzima as they knew Cofimvaba well even the places to hide before operations and planning was done in their bachelor flats in Western Cape (Interview with Mr Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga, 21 July 2013)

migrants who joined PAC.in 1960. He was also involved in the Anti-Pass campaign of 1960.

The role of Clarence Makwetu in reorganising the PAC after the banning of the political organisations cannot be left unmentioned. Mtutu Apleni in his statement explains how Makwetu organised meetings of PAC members in the bachelor flats of

Langa in Cape Town. He stressed the importance of getting freedom as Africans and that recruitment should be done underground. The aims and objectives of the organisation were unpacked to the masses of migrants in bachelor’s flats. If there

was no planning there would have been no battles fought in Cofimvaba. The cell

system and Task Force system were responsible for co-ordinating the plans of action with the mass of supporters .Those plans were taken from committees of the PAC at various levels. Leadership structures were in place within the PAC as an organisation. Leadership was not sporadic as many scholars claimed. Makwetu was the regional chairperson of Western Cape who made it clear to the cell leaders and

Task Force leaders that they should take orders from the local committee .Local committees in turn took orders from the regional committee .The regional committee

took orders from the national committee. What must be borne in minds is that all the meetings were held at night with cell leaders going door to door writing names of those who joined and paying 2/6. Apleni was one of those cell leaders who collected monies from members.34

The hope of attaining independence by 1963 led to the masses acting towards the achievement of goals. For the migrants it meant dealing with all those who collaborated with oppressive regime. As the migrants were racially discriminated and

34 GSC 1/2/1/1007: State versus Notase Albert Shweni and others, 25 February 1963 Statement by accused James Mtutu Apleni (Exhibit “W ‘’),25 February 1963, pp. 345-351.

ill-treated in urban centres they were left with no choice but to pursue the objectives and aims of an organisation which seemed to cater for pure Africans that is

(AmaAfrika poqo).

The ideology behind this organisation was Pan Africanism based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social and political progress and aims to unify and uplift people of African descent. Underlying principles of this philosophy are African nationalism, socialism and continental unity hence you hear members time and again emphasizing I-Africa Izwe Lethu! Of the PAC‘s aims the one that appealed most to the migrants was the one that emphasized the unity of Africans so as to overthrow white domination.

The arrest of Kgosana did not mark the end of the struggle for the migrants in

Western Cape. After the call for stay away from work (Azikhwelwa) police surrounded all residential areas for migrants trying to force them to work as the economy was collapsing. The areas of Langa, Gugulethu and Nyanga East were surrounded and that made it difficult for people to enter and exit the townships and leaders were already detained facing charges of incitement. The attitude of white police toward migrants, the shooting of non-violent people triggered anger among the activists even before the anti-pass campaign35.

Many Cofimvaba migrants participated in the march on Cape Town, but in addition to

that famous event there were many other acts of resistance and oppression that

have not been noticed by most historians but are revealed by Mr Clarence Makwetu

in his autobiography, Azania Cheated. PAC leaders in Nyanga East together with

their Task Force leaders dug up trenches and covered them with tree branches in

35 Makwetu, p.44

each and every street by so doing trying to stop the armoured vehicles of the

enemy.36After the state of emergency was declared, migrants would be arrested and

detained indefinitely. In Langa that was the start of conflict as the Task Force

members fought tirelessly against those human targets who were collaborating with the white government .This is illustrated by the death of a policemen named Moyi who was dragged from the police van by a group of Poqo members who, armed only with stones and bricks, were storming police vans.37 The PAC members who were

found guilty of Moyi’s death on 31 January 1967 were migrants from Cofimvaba

namely Nontasi Albert Shweni, Jim Ngantweni, Donker Ntsabo and Serious Dodo.38

Shweni and Ntsabo were also involved in the Cofimvaba operations that led to the

Thembuland Revolt in 1962 and were among chief planners of the operations in

Langa bachelor flats. The abovementioned heroes were not the only people who

kept the spirit of the organisation burning after the banning of the organisation.

Most migrants were recruited and educated by other migrants who showed

leadership skills during that time.

Even though Cofimvaba migrants were members of PAC, they had problems with

their Paramount Chief K.D.Matanzima back home as they felt he had sold their land.

Conflict between migrants and police in the Western Cape were not restricted only to

Langa. Mbekweni location at Paarl was another stronghold of the PAC where

migrants occupied single workers hostels .The state policies during the 1950s

especially the Native Areas Act and the Group Areas Act had restructured Paarl’s

36 Ibid p47 37 Maaba, p.241. Mr Kamteni personally eye witnessed this incident. 38 Ibid, p241.

black population.39In these hostels, each barracks was divided into rooms for six

men.40There was contact between the Langa and Paarl PAC branches for example

travelling to Mbekweni at night in trucks to take part in drills.41PAC members from

Paarl would struggle. The frustrations facing Poqo members on the ground in Paarl

as well as Langa were channelled against individuals associated with the apartheid

state including informers, police officers and whites in general.42

The PAC members at Paarl had long been wanting to attack their local enemies.

Tension had been building up long before the incident of 21 November. Poqo

members at Mbekweni intended to attack African Municipal staff. When the police

were tipped off about this attack, a battle broke out on 14 April between police and about 120 Poqo members, 120 singing in the township of Mbekweni. Three policemen including the commanding officer were wounded with sticks, stones and guns.43That battle led to police raids in the location but no suspects were found even

though 162 constables were used.

The residents of Mbekweni Location near Paarl had been terrorised by a certain

location superintendent by the name of Le Roux together with his clerk of Mbekweni location named Wilson Ngcukana. Members of the PAC living in hostels of

Mbekweni resolved to attack the white suburb of Paarl in November with the aim of setting free some of their comrades who had been imprisoned in Paarl prison.44

When local Poqo members agitated around local grievances resulting from poor

administration and corrupt officials in the Mbekweni Township a revolt broke out.

39 Evidence from Apleni in state v Shweni and others (GSC 1/2/1007 on 25 /02/1963); Lodge, Black Politics, pp. 248-9. 40 Ibid, p.248. 41 Ibid, 250. 42 Maaba, pp.240-249. 43 Ibid, pp. 245-246. 44 Interview with Mr Mankankela Mimi, Outhay, 24 June 2013.

Migrants marched to the local jail while others marched to the police station in

attempt to release several members arrested on 21 November. As the marchers

moved up Paarl’s main shopping street they damaged cars, shop windows, and

burnt petrol pumps. On reaching the police station police fired at them and the

marchers scattered, Allegedly Poqo cells in Langa in Cape Town would carry out

disturbances at the same time thus preventing police re enforcements from Cape

Town.45This revolt was significant as some of the migrants accused and charged with sabotage from that revolt were imprisoned and sent to Robben island some being migrants from Cofimvaba. As some migrants were arrested immediately, others fled to Langa. Cases in point are Mankankela Mimi and Mehlo Makwetana who fled to Langa, where they became involved in the operations to fight against the

hardships and ill treatment of K.D .Matanzima, operations which culminated at

Ntlonze hill in December 1962.

Even though we can trace the origins of Thembuland revolt to the Western Cape, it

does not mean all was well back home. People in Cofimvaba were sick and tired of

the iron rule of Matanzima who used his headmen and chiefs to ill treat people. This

is illustrated by the number of resistance actions that occurred in various areas in

Western Thembuland, including Xhalanga district which is discussed by S Matoti and

L Ntsebeza in their chapter entitled “Rural Resistance in Mpondoland and

Thembuland, 1960-1963” in the important Road to Democracy series

(2010).Conditions in Xhalanga district were, however, very different to those

occurring in Cofimvaba where the chiefs and headmen danced to the tune of

Matanzima, their Paramount Chief. Therefore, in Cofimvaba district, migrant workers

were targeted by chiefs and headmen especially in Qamata and Banzi.

45 Lodge “’The Paarl insurrection”’112

Chief Velile Ndarhala (Zwelibanzi) of Banzi was the chief most loyal to K.D

Matanzima .Migrants from Banzi location had to report to Qamata when they

returned home on their annual leave to tell the paramount chief and his councillors

what was happening in CapeTown. Mr Mesile Laleni of Sabalele remembers how he

lost all his luggage at Qamata railway station because of being forced to visit the

Great Place interrogations in Qamata before heading for his home at Sabalele.46Mr

Laleni was a migrant worker in Cape Town and he lived in the bachelor quarters in

zone 16 in Langa. Even before reaching their homes, they had to get off at Qamata railway station and were taken away by councillors. Failing to obey was a serious

offence which would lead to them being hunted. Migrant activists back home utilised

the cell system that operated so well in the Western Cape. Wherever they were, they

recruited and mobilised people telling them about the oppression they were enduring

from the white regime. To get ten people was enough for recruiters to do their job

and raise awareness of the ill treatment by chiefs and headmen. Therefore, even to

be seen in groups was an offence in the eyes of the chiefs, especially after the state

of emergency. Even in cultural gatherings and religious rituals, councillors of the

chiefs would arrive uninvited to spy on people and informers would time and again

tell the chiefs the names of people involved in disobeying the chief’s rule.

It was common in Banzi in fact all the localities that fell under the jurisdiction of chief

Velile Ndarhala for people to be treated as slaves in that they had to work for the

chief. Women were forced to work and clean the chief’s palace and on days of rituals

they were forced to cook for chiefs and provide special rooms for chiefs and

headmen. What was intolerable was that people had to sacrifice their beds and

46 Interview with Mesile Laleni a member of PAC who knows the hardships at Banzi under Chief Velile Ndarhala, Sabalele location, Cofimvaba. 15 November 2016.

wives for the wellbeing of chiefs, headmen and councillors.47 That was very much

unfair to sleep on a grass mat just because your bed has been given to headmen.

The worst part was to let one’s wife go and entertain those chiefs and that was and

is against the moral values. That was not an easy decision to take, but to resist an instruction would result in torture. Mr Mesile Laleni remembers with tears how he and

a group of migrants were hunted and arrested on 28 September 1962 for holding illegal meetings with people after coming from Cape Town. He reckons that there were informers who used to be with them at meetings and afterwards tell all the news to the chiefs’ councillors. On the mentioned date, he remembers that they were

enjoying themselves drinking traditional beer when a group of men armed with sticks

assegais and knobkerries arrived in that homestead at Madakeni locality in Sabalele.

All suspects and those who worked in Cape Town were taken to Banzi, the Chief’s

Great Place. On their arrival at the chief’s place they joined a group of other suspects who were also accused of holding unlawful meetings. They were squashed

in a rondavel and brutally beaten It was the first time that people saw such a brutal

abuse where people were beaten in a closed rondavel with no place to exit and

beaten until the rondavel collapsed. That was so inhuman for the councillors to do

that. Hatred and resentment was growing among the migrants, who thought to

themselves that they needed to man up and fight for themselves. That incident

marked the start of battles in Banzi which were not fought in a clear way, where the

leaders misused their powers to collaborate with the oppressive regime. The

accused migrants were charged there and then without appearing in court. They

were charged for furthering the aims of a banned movement, namely the PAC, and

were taken straight to Cofimvaba prison where magistrate Jordaan was patiently

47 Interview with Mr Fakintupha Mangqangwana, Sabalele, 25 November 2016

27 waiting for them as he worked hand in hand with chiefs and headmen. Some of the migrants involved in incident were Makhonke Ncedo, Gundwana Ntsali, Mavanda

Giyama and Fakintupha Mangqangwana48.

There was always tension towards those chiefs who whole- heartedly collaborated with the white regime. It is for that reason that migrants took a decision to show their discontent and fight all those that were depriving them of their freedom. The battles in Banzi reached climax when PAC members in Banzi learnt that there was a gathering of chiefs including Zwelibanzi Ndarhala were drinking beer and enjoying themselves with their concubines. The PAC men decided to storm the house where these chiefs were. In that scuffle they killed Chief Gwebindlala Gqobhoza but

Zwelibanzi escaped.49According to the plan, Chief Velile Ndarhala was the target because of his relationship with K.D.Matanzima and his rule with iron hand but he managed to escape and hid himself in the kraal between the cows .Chief Zwelibanzi adopted Matanzima’s strategy of destroying those who opposed him. The PAC members who killed chief Gqobhoza were already at home on their annual leaves and had worked in Cape Town. Mr Mesile Laleni remembers that the group that killed Gqoboza was arrested while they were already in prison in Cofimvaba and that was in October 1962.He remembers Siqwayi Mhlaba and as among the members who killed Gqoboza and was hanged in 1963.50By that time Mr Clarence Makwetu was already imprisoned with other men in Cofimvaba who were accused of furthering the aims of the banned organisation. Known as the Battle of Banzi, this battle was fought before the other operations being planned for Cofimvaba in Cape

Town were launched.

48 Interview with Mr Mesile Laleni, who was also there. Sabalele, 15 November 2016. 49 Interview with Fakintupha Mangqangwana, Sabalele, 25 November 2016 50 Interview with Mesile Laleni, Sabalele, 15 November 2016.

The majority of chiefs and headmen supported Matanzima‘s rule. Poqo targeted all

such chiefs, and the government made sure that they were protected by giving them

bodyguards and guns, Cases in point are Chief TV Nkwenkwezi, who was given an

MAB automatic pistol,51.and Chief Zwelibanzi, who was provided with three

bodyguards and ten constables after the murder of Chief Gqobhoza. Headman Teti

Nqilo’s place at Mtingwevu was burnt down. He was also a great fan and supporter

of K.D.Matanzima. Matanzima and all his chiefs remained in danger of Poqo

activists’.52 Deaths of headmen who supported K.D.Matanzima was common during

that time, Headman Jonginamba Deliwe of upper Qitsi received threatening letters

was killed in February 1963 by killers associated with Poqo, Another headman who

was killed was Ngxatwana Kusele from upper Qitsi where 19 men were arrested.53

.Headman Gungubele from Makhwababa location was also intimidated.

On 5 February 1963, Poqo members attacked a group of whites who were sleeping

at the roadside near Bashee River bridge killing five people. An immense crackdown

search was done by police on PAC followed resulting in the arrest of PAC members

who were charged with murder and some convicted and sentenced to death. This

incident shocked the world as these victims were neither the collaborators with

apartheid regime nor were they chiefs or headmen. The anger among migrants and

their wish to overthrow white domination led them to do acts of cruelty .By so doing

they were trying to bring down the oppressive government .Of the convicted men

some came from Cofimvaba, Mqanduli, Kentani and Bityi.54 It is worth noting that in

51 Maaba, p.256; NA .Box 7/1/31:1 TSM.File C13) 52 Ibid 53 Ibid 54Lodge T, “Poqo and Rural Resistance in the Transkei, 1960-1965,” Paper presented to the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, and 12 January 1978.

any war situation there can be casualties. It is with regret that the civilians were also affected.

The following martyrs of the PAC were among those who showed their resistance to white oppressive regime at Bashee River Bridge: Mtalatala Xhego, Tembeni

Swelindawo, Light Mangukana, Wedudu Nokulila and Nqaba Memani. Surprisingly repatriations of other martyrs from Baziya location Umtata were done in February

2017.At least families have closed that chapter after a long painful wait.

Not all chiefs were targets. The meeting chaired in Langa by Albert Shweni just before the Ntlonze campaign resolved that Paramount Chief Sabata should be spared “because he is on our side and we all admire him a lot for the stand he takes.”55 Headman Magcobe Ntabankulu of Nququ kept switching sides and

became an active supporter of Poqo, so much so that some of the fugitives from

Ntlonze hid in his house.56 Even headman Nomalugwexana of Hoyita resisted

Matanzima’s rule, for which he was referred to as one of the amaDyakophu and demoted .On the day of his demotion, one hundred and twenty horsemen were seen galloping to Hoyita with a jeep with Cofimvaba Magistrate D.J.M. Jordan.57 A new

headman by the name of Mkhululi Nomalugwexana was appointed, but unfortunately

for oNgcothoza, they did not know that Mkhululi was already a PAC member from

Cape Town. Another case was headman Bhaji of Ntshingeni, who had been a

watchman in Cape Town. Bhaji refused to capture people who were acting against

Matanzima, and told Matanzima that he was not a policeman. Because of this, he

was sent back to Cape Town where he resumed his previous job.

55 Quoted Maaba in SADET, I, p251. 56 Ibid (cited from NA, Box 9/1/44:1/COF, File C4/2 letter from the Bantu Affairs Commissioner /magistrate. D.J.M.Jordan to the chief Bantu Affairs Commissioner at Umtata 11 March 1963. 57 Interview with Mr Mpolose Mangqangwana, Ezibeleni, 10 May 2013.

In the Western Cape, the majority of PAC followers were migrants, unlike in

Sharpeville and Pretoria where the PAC followers came from permanently urbanised

sections. In the Western Cape, where many migrants lived under the oppressive rule

of the white government, were many vibrant strongholds of the PAC. There were different branches and regional offices as well in the Western Cape.Branches included Nyanga, Paarl, Malmesbury, Guguletu and Langa. Migrants in Paarl reported time and again to Langa PAC branch for meetings and way forward in many cases. Branches had their local leaders but leaders differed from branch to branch.

Even when migrants escaped from the Paarl Revolt they fled to Langa, a branch where Clarence Makwetu was the secretary of the organization. The leadership of

Langa was shocked to hear what had happened in Paarl. The Thembuland revolt, though not fully recognised by many scholars, can be traced back from activities of migrants who participated in the anti-pass campaign in Paarl and Langa. That campaign saw police shooting unarmed protestors against the pass laws in

Sharpeville and on that same day another shooting occurred in the township of

Langa. The conclusion can be drawn, that Thembuland revolt is closely related to the revolts that occurred in Paarl, Langa and Sharpeville where violations led to detentions, torture and trials that followed the banning and deportations of individual activists. Western Cape saw political conflict from the activities of PAC/Poqo, a feature shared with Eastern Cape in this case Cofimvaba. In all the above mentioned incidents migrants were fighting for their human rights. The harsh actions of security forces towards peaceful marchers served as the trigger for attacks on people seen as collaborators both in urban and rural areas during that time.

PAC activists did what they could but one wonders precisely how they organised to steer political activities under the Pan Africanist Congress. The answer is that

migrants ‘ living conditions, though horrible in themselves, provided favourable

situation for PAC to recruit and organise energetic young men who saw it fit to join

an organisation that seemed to fight for people who had been deprived of their

humanity.

According to Mr Nontente Kamteni, underground consultation sessions were the

best recruitment strategies in the Langa hostels at a time when all political

organisations were legally banned. It was the duty of the Task Force to ensure that

each Task Force cell had ten members and a leader .This Task Force was made up

of young men between the ages of 16 and 35 .Their duty was to eradicate

collaborators and during private meetings to be on the lookout for police .The use of

these security forces indicates that the process of recruitment was vigorous and

forceful. This is illustrated by the trial case of Ngcongolo and others where Mr July

Waliti Mlolwana witnessed as having joined PAC by force as he was threatened to

be killed by men who wore skipper hats in their meetings.58Even though it seemed

vigorous some members joined voluntarily.

Generally, people think that political affairs are for the learned but the message of the PAC was simple and straight commending people to join an organisation that caters for everyone. If an organisation catered for everyone there were communication strategies for all the diverse membership. It was shocking to hear my informants, illiterate as they are, clearly stating the aims and objectives of PAC. Mr

Kamteni Nontente proudly told me that a coding system was used for communication among PAC members. Hard work of leaders and learned members created conducive conditions for migrants to join this organisation by translating literature

58 Trial record 1/2/997 (9 VOLUME 1 1963)

into the isiXhosa language. Like all organisations PAC had its own salute when greeting members “Izwe Lethu “ and others would reply “I Afrika”.To members the hand used when saluting when turned down represented the map of Africa.

The leadership was taken over by members of the committee who had either

evaded the police or been imprisoned for shorter periods. Members had

underground recruitment strategies whereby they went door to door to the bachelor’s

flats after hours. They were concerned with getting three members who would in turn recruit their threes. A joining fee of twenty five cents was needed to help leaders to move from one place to another preaching the gospel of the organisations. These migrants lived as groups of homeboys mainly relatives or according to clans. Clans

provided surety and support to those who were new to urban life. Elders gave

guidance to the youth about the living conditions in these bachelors’ flats and

because they already knew the segregation and labour problems it was easy for

those who were already members of the PAC to recruit members easily. Mr

Nontente Kamteni remembers how Mr Qhaphuza Buyaphi organised him by

reminding him about how black people were robbed of their land as far back as the

arrival of Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape in 1652.Qhaphuza Buyaphi was one of the

cell leaders who was responsible for recruiting new members and he was mentioned

in the evidence made by Mtutu Apleni. During the Cofimvaba operations he was already at home on leave but he never forgot the job of a cell leader to recruit wherever he met people. As per Apleni s evidence, Qhaphuza was always updated by Apleni through letters. Letter writing was another form of communication from

Western Cape to Cofimvaba. Mr Phuza Dlongwana cites it clearly when he told me that it was easy to recruit young illiterate men who were used to faction fights as boys. These young men grew up knowing that fighting and assertiveness towards

33 your enemy determines bravery and one has to fight for what is due to him.

According to Mr Dlongwana who worked in Cape Town, the right time to recruit was during evenings while they were having their supper. The interesting part is that as long one was black not white he had to live in areas designated for blacks in this case the bachelors’ flats regardless of their educational standards. Mr Dlongwana regarded himself as educated as he had passed his Junior Certificate in Healdtown with K.D. Matanzima’s son, Mthetho.He states with sadness how he used to visit his homeboys in the barracks and got them eating samp and beans (Umngqusho) in one dish maybe a group of five or ten men .In his own barrack he used to eat tomato and onion (bisto) and bread. He saw himself as better than others but because he wanted to preach the gospel of PAC. He used to take a spoon and eat with them in that same dish. He would start by asking them questions as to why they were there in Cape Town without their wives. He would raise the rule of chiefs in Transkei and quickly in their minds they would think of K.D Matanzima as their chief back home who ruled with an iron hand. He would link the problem of Trust and rehabilitation back home with pass problems and labour problems in Cape Town. Then they saw the ill treatment they were getting from the white government. After that he would ask them to join an organisation that caters for people who were oppressed, that is,”

Umbutho waMafrika Poqo” (an organisation for pure Africans).

Recruitment strategies differed from person to person. Others joined voluntarily but the majority was recruited by relatives and homeboys who lived together in cells of the bachelor flat. Recruitment took place in private homes and in football clubs. At times migrants would conduct make-believe funerals and had a chance to preach the gospel of the organisation next to the grave.

Other members of the organisation used the anti-pass campaign of 1959 where

everybody has seen how the protest went campaigning against the carrying of

passes. According to Mr Nontente it was easier to recruit after 1959, as everyone

has seen the crisis brought by the pass laws and PAC was the only active

organisations in that campaign. What attracted most migrants was the pass problem

and the hope for raised wages. Mr Gudlindlu who worked in Paarl had friends from

Cofimvaba who he met in Johannesburg. When he met them in Paarl he never knew that his friends were members of this organisation and even his friends never knew that he himself was a member as recruitment was done secretly. He

was recruited by his brother in law who lived in Langa, a stronghold of the Pan

Africanist Congress. Mr Qhaphuza Buyaphi, who never resided in Langa flats, was recruited by organisers who used to stand at the train station in Retreat as he never lived in Langa flats. He remembers Mr Magwentshu, a student at UCT, who was always with groups of people at the station. Out of curiosity Mr Buyaphi listened to him, after which he was privileged to meet the then National Executive members of the PAC, Sobukhwe, and Leballo who clarified the oppression imposed on Africans by whites. So Mr Qhaphuza felt he had no choice but to join the organisation.59

Migrants moved from Western Cape to Transkei when they were on leave.

Technology during that time was not advanced as it is today, so they communicated with letters and in person when on leave. Some of these migrants would offer to sell grain for men back home only to find that they were recruiting that person. Social functions served as centres for recruitment. Once recruited they were taught and steered to be ready for operations that tried to fight the oppressor and those who were collaborators.

59 Interview with Mr Qhapuza Buyaphi, Ntlakwefolo Location, Qamata, 3 July 2013.

What needs to be done is to unfold the planning of their activities which led to their imprisonment in the notorious political prison in Robben Island, what acts of sabotage they committed under what circumstances. The situation of these migrants in labour centres and back home needs scrutiny so as to be able to draw valid conclusions about what they did.

Harsh and stringent legislation regarding influx control in labour centres, brutality, ill-

treatment and abuse of migrants back home made them realise that freedom from

authorities was needed. Collaborator elements who worked with the apartheid

government were targets of the oppressed migrants. Planning of their activities

warrants attention.

Chapter 3. The operations, planning and preparations to resist the rule of chiefs.

Towards the end of 1961, PAC Membership at Langa flats and zones consisted mainly of migrants from Transkei. They flocked to Western Cape searching for greener pastures and running away from the dictatorship of K.D. Matanzima who was the first traditional chief to obtain self-governing status in 1963. The living conditions in these bachelor‘s flats were unbearable, overcrowded and unhealthy.

They were not different from a matchbox. They were divided into one sitting and dining room also used for meetings and six smaller bedrooms each with two bunks for people living in that room.60

Influx control meant that in order for migrants to stay in the hostels they had to be

legal residents of Cape Town with a valid reference book which had to be signed by

the employer every month as evidence of the bearer’s employment and residential

statusi.The effects of this act forced the migrants to join the PAC masses that

marched during the anti-pass campaign of 1960. Not all those migrants had those

hated dompas (reference books), there were illegal aliens who dodged and ran away

from police every now and then. They used to stay in the forest running from the

random raids that were a problem. These aliens used to discuss their misery and

plight and asking themselves when Poqo was launching. They were getting impatient

about the slowness of Poqo in taking the struggle to the next level. The launching of

the anti-pass campaign led to the arrest of Robert Sobukwe and his associates who

were charged with incitement. Before the arrests national and local leaders had

60 Wilson and A. Mafeje, Langa: a study of Social groups in an African Township (Cape Town: Oxford, 1963).

37 predicted a free country with free society by the year 1963. According to the resolutions taken at the national conference of PAC in Johannesburg in 1959 it was agreed that all men had to go to jail under the slogan ’’no defence, no bail, no fine ‘’ so there was no hope of them coming out any soon. The leadership vacuum caused by the arrests of leaders after the anti-pass campaign led to the problem of unattainable promises of freedom by 1963. The migrant membership from men single quarters was militant enough to take the struggle to the next level. That was aggravated by the living conditions under which they lived.

To be in urban centres was not different from the ill-treatment of these migrants back home. Paramount Chief K.D.Matanzima was linked to misery brought by the white regime. Poqo members believed that he had to be killed as he gave migrants no rest during their annual visits home. He and his watchdogs assaulted and interrogated migrants from Cape Town, asking them what Poqo was doing in Cape Town.

Matanzima’s acceptance of betterment and other developments such as the irrigation schemes in Cofimvaba made migrants to feel that their land was sold to

Europeans. Migrants felt robbed of their land having nowhere to enjoy their freedom and rights in their own country. It is not surprising that they joined organizations of

Africans which promised to fight for everyone. Not all migrants were anti-

Matanzima‘s rule, others were spies who lived and stayed with migrants in traditional beer spots during weekends. These spies used to keep tabs on those of his subjects referred to as “Amadyakophu” as in the Jacobins of the French revolution. This term

‘’Amadyakophu’’ was used mostly to people who do not support Matanzima as their chief. Misery and plight was also experienced by the people of neighbouring locations of Qamata, like Bilatye where Amadyakophu were cruelly beaten, their houses burnt, land taken and people deported to Zweledinga under the Ciskeian

government because of Matanzima.

Planning of the operations was not a difficult task as migrants lived in groups of

homeboys from one magisterial district or rural village or location under one

headman.61Even with Cofimvaba migrants it was easy for them to organize anything.

As homeboys they were used to sharing news from home through letters and from those who came back from their leaves. Coming from the same district they had a common understanding of the situation back home. Planning was done by those senior men, PAC leaders who saw it wise to organize all local men around Qamata in particular and in Cofimvaba in general to arm up to their teeth and head for

Qamata to attack and murder K.D Matanzima and the headmen who followed

Matanzima’s orders. These headmen used to demand from the people sheep and

traditional beer to cater for chief’s visits to various localities. To refuse the orders

would lead to torture and ill treatment.

The objective of the Ntlonze operation was to use those recruited men to reinforce

the PAC members back home so as to have an enormous army for the attack for the

notorious Qamata Great Place. One case in point is that of Mr. Mehlo Makwetana

who sent his sister to call all Poqo men and show them the way to Ntlonze hills,

where the first group had landed.62Mr. Makwetana fled from Paarl revolt and arrived

in Langa, where he was met with the news that all Poqo members were leaving for

Xhosaland to attack chiefs and collaborators and all those who stood on their way.

There was no chance of refusing to join whatever activity that was in progress, as

groups of men with pangas went from hostel to hostel forcing people to join Poqo.

Residents were asked the simple question, “Ningakuthi na okanye ningaku

61 Wilson.N.and A Mafeje, Langa a study of Social groups in an African Township(Cape Town,1953)S p1 62 Confession of Mehlo Makwetana.GSC 1/2/1/1007: State vs Notase Albert Shweni and others, 25 Feb. 1963.

Velevutha?”63No one would risk his life, as it was clear that failure to join would lead

to death. The same harsh recruiting strategies applied to the groups of men who

were organized for the operations to be done in Cofimvaba. Fearing for their safety,

men would agree to the directives given in meetings that were held at night in the

zones. Even those who had no money were provided by those who had more. It was

emphatically stated that if one had no weapon he would get one at the end of the

journey. Tickets were to be taken from different stations to avoid suspicion on the

part of Europeans. They were also told not to carry any luggage with them. They

therefore wore just their overalls, but underneath these overalls they hid their

ammunition. Before and during night meetings, traditional immunization was done by

a traditional healer.64Apleni was never involved in the immunization of cadres,his

main job was the collection of funds for the journey that is why migrants were told to

be prepared for the journey even if they had no money.

Africans like all other people have deep rooted norms, values and cultural beliefs.

For them one has to be protected from enemies. Even in this case they knew that there were traditional healers who specialized in war matters. It is because of this that they consulted a healer by the name of Siyothula from Qumbu who used to get his medicines from Nigeria. A paraffin tin was cut at the centre, then made into a washing basin .Men were told to wash then cut on their foreheads and a black powder was rubbed into the cuts. This was done so that bullets do not penetrate.65

The motive was to make them strong when faced with the enemy. Not all migrants

met this healer who washed them with a certain medicine and made incisions on

their foreheads and behind the ears. Leaders had the guts of doctoring newly

63 Are you with us or are you with Verwoerd? 64 Interview with Mr Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga Location 21 July 2013. 65 Confession of Siwatula Dyasi.GSC 1/2/1/1007: State vs Notase Albert Shweni and others, 25 February 1963

recruited men in preparing them for the operations.66Whenever they held meetings

leaders would ask the newcomers to remain behind so that they could be treated

and asked those who had weapons to hand them to them for doctoring as well but

there was no one who handed in a weapon. Mr. Nontente Kamteni recalls the instructions given to him and his group by the traditional healer. They were told never to turn their backs to the enemy. They were told that whenever the enemy would attack or some other thing wrong was about to happen, mist would appear or rain will fall or a wild animal will appear next to them. These symbols according to him did appear in their journey67. Besides the health precautions of the migrants,

strategic plans were in place.

66 Ibid 67 Interview with Mr N Kamteni, 21 July 2013.

Chapter 4: Narrative of events in Cofimvaba district (1962-1963)

The plan of action was planned in such a way that three groups of armed men were to leave Cape Town on different dates, beginning from 9 December 1962 and continuing at two-day intervals. The overall plan was to attack and kill Matanzima and destroy his property, and thereafter go to Cofimvaba prison to release Poqo members that were kept there. Matanzima was unpopular among people as he acted as a buffer between the people and the white regime. In the minds of the migrants,

Matanzima was associated with the hated apartheid regime which violated their rights in their own country.

The first group of thirty men under the leadership of Albert Shweni left on 9

December 1962. Shweni, who stayed in Langa Zone 12, was a migrant from Nququ administrative area in Cofimvaba. He first showed his leadership qualities in the

Langa single men’ s quarters where he hosted meetings in his room, trying to explain to the migrants the reasons for their poor living conditions, both in the urban centres and back home. As a leader, he managed to smuggle a gun from one of the masses who were underground followers of the organisation. Shweni was a Task Force

Leader in terms of the organization’s decision to organize its members in groups of ten men, the tenth one being the Task Force Leader. The aim of forming task forces in this way was to minimise the risk from traitors, so that possible traitors might know only the ten members of their group, not all the members of the organisation Shweni had been one of the Task Force leaders who led the PAC members march to

Caledon Square during the anti-pass campaign.68 In the scuffle between migrants

68Interview with Mr Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga Location, 21 July 2013

and police who raided bachelor flats in Langa, Shweni was among those who

participated in the killing of Sergeant Michael Livele Moyi.69 His leadership

qualities are illustrated by the intensity of the judgment laid against him by the

apartheid regime during this trial.

Shweni instructed his homeboys to arm to the teeth as they were trying to correct

what the chiefs were doing wrong back home. He strongly felt the need to revenge the ill-treatment of Cofimvaba migrants at Qamata Great Place for no other reason than that they were coming from Cape Town, a known stronghold of the PAC. The group consisted of men who knew Qamata well, mostly veterans of the Paarl revolt.

Cases in point are Mehlo Makwetana, Mankankela Mimi, Velaphi Tafeni and Obey

Giyama70. All of them knew the local politics of Cofimvaba well, and they also knew

the members of the organization who were already at home on their annual leaves.

The plan was to camp at Ntlonze hill next to Mngqanga location so as to hide in the

caves there while recruiting reinforcements and waiting for the second and third

groups who were scheduled to entrain on 11 and 13 December respectively.

The Shweni group moved swiftly as planned and reached Queenstown on Monday

10 December, and proceeded to Lady Frere by bus getting off near the Indwe River

from where they walked to Ntlonze Mountains near Matanzima’s Great Place. As

leader, Shweni directed some men to Queenstown to guide those coming later and

lead them to Ntlonze, while the other Poqo members were occupied mobilising

those members that were already at home, for example on their annual leaves at

their homes. As members of the organization, they knew they had a responsibility to

recruit wherever they may be. One such recruit was the late Mgwaja Miso from

69 Maaba, p.255. 70 Interview with Mr Mankankela Mimi, Outhay Location, 24 June 2013.

Tsakana, who was among those who were sentenced to Robben Island. Bonisile

Beseti was another PAC member who was already at home as far back as May

1961, before the three groups moved from Western Cape to Transkei.71 He was

from Mtshanyana administrative area near Nququ, and was so active in preaching

the PAC gospel that he managed to recruit to the PAC about eighty villagers from

Mtshanyana who had previously been staunch supporters of their chief, asking for

the subscription fee of 25 cents.72 Qamata members of Poqo also joined the group at

Ntlonze forest where planning was to be finalized.

While the first group was still planning, and waiting for the next group to arrive, they saw men and five boys coming up the mountain. They tried to convince these to join them but they refused and the Poqo men started chasing them away. After that the

Poqo members returned to their hideout on the mountain.73 According to Mimi

Mankankela, Qamata Great Place had already heard rumours that certain migrants

were around and no longer in Cape Town. On their arrival day when they boarded

the bus to Lady Frere, they were seen by local people who told others that they were

around, and it was thought strange that they had never arrived at their rural homes.

It must be remembered that many elderly men in Qamata were Matanzima’s

councillors, and that they even used to take their own sons to the Great Place to be

interrogated and tortured to tell the chief what they were doing in Cape Town. In this

case too, it might have happened that certain individuals had alerted the chief and

his bodyguards. The Poqo plan never materialized as the presence of strangers on

Ntlonze Mountain was noted by Matanzima’s supporters who called the white police

71 Maaba, p.255 72 Ibid 73 GSC 1/2/1/1007: State versus Notase Albert Shweni and others, 25 February 1963. Confession of Mehlo Makwetana.

to defend their chief, the greatest ally of the white regime.

At about an hour before noon on 12 December, a group of men from Ntlonze

location climbed up the hill to ask the Poqo members what they were doing there.

The Poqo members heard a shot, prompting them to charge the villagers with sticks,

pangas, assegais and axes. They believed that they had been bullet proofed by the

traditional healer, they had confidence in their leaders and their cause, and they

fought with tireless determination against people who had the full support of the

policemen who came to defend Matanzima. The police opened fire and killed some

of the Poqo members but there were casualties also on the side of the police, who

turned and ran when charged by another Poqo group. Altogether, seven Poqo

members were killed while three policemen were injured.74 The freedom fighters

who fell at Ntlonze were Manana Mtutu, Polisa Tina, Manyadu Moti, Tshonisile John

Sikeyi, Nyanisile Dela, Danile Mntuyedwa and Wellington Nongqina Jada These

migrants paid for the freedom of Africa through their blood, sweat and tears .The evil

apartheid system and the puppet chiefs had never imagined that illiterate migrants

dispossessed of their rights would challenge the oppressive regime .After the police

had gone, the Poqo members retreated and dispersed. The Ntlonze shooting must

never be overlooked in the history of resistance. These unsung martyrs had tried to

free themselves from the chains of oppression by challenging the rule of the chiefs.

After the confrontation at Ntlonze, the mood in Cofimvaba district remained tense.

Ongcothoza, the supporters of Matanzima, raided even social gatherings, helping

police to identify all those who had cuts in their foreheads as Poqo. After the battle,

on 4 January 1963, Matanzima had instructed headman Ben Mgweba to locate and

74 1/COF Box 9/1/44 FileC/4/2 letter from the magistrate/Bantu/Affairs commissioner in Cofimvaba to chief Bantu Affairs commissioner in Umtata 18 December 1962

arrest the fugitives especially their leader, Albert Shweni.75 Mgweba was reinforced

by Zwedala and Ntabankulu, neighbouring headmen who likewise danced to the tune of their Paramount Chief. They organized impis of two hundred men to search the area around Sifolweni Mountain on the boundary between Cofimvaba and

Cala.76 Fearing for their own safety, these people opted to hunt their African

brothers for prosecution by the Chief Magistrate at the will of Matanzima. The

criterion of checking cuts on migrants’ foreheads was not decisive evidence, as such

cuts are a normal component of general African beliefs, immunising oneself against

evil spirits.

Some Poqo members handed themselves in, while others were taken by their

fathers to the chief’s palace. A large number were arrested in and around Lanti

administrative area.77 . High ranking police officers held a meeting at Qamata

Great Place, after which suspects were arrested on the basis of the identification

marks that were made on their foreheads and on the back of their necks.

Matanzima supporters loaded in big yellow trucks rallied at the Great Place,

prepared to fight whoever tried to kill their honourable chief. They were singing

‘’Libambe Sajini libambe lingatshoni sifuna abantu’ (Hold the sun, Sergeant, let it not

disappear while we are hunting for the people). In this case, they were referring to the Poqo members they were hunting, those with marks on their foreheads. They were armed with sticks, pangas, axes and even guns .Poqo members were arrested in all the nearby administrative areas, including Lanti, which falls under Lady Frere district. Some PAC cadres handed themselves in, including Mimi Mankankela,

Ndozi Tyhulu and Phuthumile Mlamli. Arrested cadres were taken to Matanzima’s

75 Maaba, p.254. 76 Ibid 77 Ibid, p.253.

homestead for interrogation after which they were handed over to the police. Those

who handed themselves in were reprimanded for joining an unlawful organization

and were told to search for their leaders. What irritated Matanzima was that he knew

their fathers were loyal to him, but that the sons seem acted against the will of their parents. Shweni and Bonisile Beseti, were in the hands of police two days later, after

Matanzima had authorized their arrests. The strategy of appointing Task Force

Leaders made it difficult to know all the members of the organization. Even this

Beseti was not known to all the Poqo members, yet the evidence given at Cofimvaba

Court on 11 January reveals him as a leader who had recruited many people in

Cofimvaba78.

What happened to the group that was supposed to join the first one at Ntlonze? Had

this been the digital era, the first group would surely have managed to communicate

alert the other groups and organise a change of plan. Instead, it was only the chiefs

and the security forces who had the capacity to organize raids and put an end to any

plot being formulated by the Cape Town-based migrants. The migrants,

unfortunately, did not have access to technological communication, and so lost

control of the situation.

One of the cadres who had been captured at Ntlonze informed the police of the

groups that were still on the way from Cape Town. It was then that the police in

Queenstown were alerted. When the train carrying the second Poqo group arrived in

Queenstown on the morning of 13 December 1962, the passengers were asked to

line up on the platform while police searched for weapons. When an axe was found

on one of the migrants, a battle broke out between the police and the Poqo

78 1/COF Box 9 /1//44 File C/12 confession made by Bonisile Beseti in Cofimvaba before magistrate DJM Jordan 11 January 1983

members. Their leader was Banakele Ngcongolo who was born and bred at Ntlonze,

and knew the hardships suffered by the people of Cofimvaba especially around

Qamata. When the first police shots were heard, Ngcongolo spoke, “Singamadoda

siyaphela “response was ‘’we are looking at you’”79 (Sijonge kuwe).He came forward

from the end of the line, taking command and calling “’kobo!’ meaning “at them!” and he himself was the first to strike a policeman. Shots were fired, men fell, and others ran towards the mountains of Lady Frere. The bloody exchange led to the death of

Sergeant Maritz and seven Poqo members.80 Among the cadres who fought in

Queenstown were Mtutu Apleni, Notimba Bozwana, Nontente Kamteni and

Phumelela Sakawuli to mention a few. Several policemen were injured and some

Poqo cadres were arrested while others fled.

Phumelela Sakawuli a strategic planner of the group from Magwala and Nontente

Kamteni from Mngqanga were among those who escaped from the station with the

intention of reaching Qamata as planned. Nontente Kamteni was trained in the use

of pangas, explosives and firearms and later became an APLA member. During the

station battle, he was injured in his hand. The escaped cadres moved towards

Gqebenya administrative area as if they were going to Lady Frere. But walking on

foot from Queenstown to Cofimvaba proved to be no easy task. They hid in the

bushes under bad weather conditions which had been predicted by the traditional healer back in Cape Town. Hunger led them to milk goats for survival.81 The next day they moved to Rhodana. Hungry and tired, they approached a homestead and asked for a place to sleep, lying when asked where they were from .They told the people there that they had come from a traditional healer .The family was surprised

79 Confession of Toyi Kamteni trial records 1/2/1997 9 vol 1 (1963) 80 Maaba, p.253. 81 Interview with Mr, Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga Location, 21 July 2013.

because they looked too young to go for such issues, but gave them a hut to sleep

in . When they undressed for the night, they took their weapons out from under their

overalls, not knowing that early in the morning a young woman would come in to

make them tea. When she arrived, she was shocked to see the pangas and quickly

alerted her father in law. Phumelela Sakawuli woke everyone up and insisted that

they move on in case their weapons had raised suspicion82. They moved forward but

could not get very far before the local men rounded them and called the police from

Bolotwa. Within twenty minutes sixteen police vans arrived.

The PAC cadres were tortured and arrested and taken back to Queenstown. By this time they had scattered, some were arrested at Rwantsana while others were caught

in Tsolokazi. Seemingly news had spread that some of the armed men had escaped

from the battle at Queenstown station. They never reached the planned destination

as they were arrested by police. An identification parade was held at which to

identify the culprits. Toyi Kamteni, the brother of Nontente Kamteni, managed to reach his home. When Toyi told his father what had happened his father took him to the Great Place, where he was shown the bodies of those who had fallen. He joined all the others who had been arrested, and they were interrogated and told their reasons for joining PAC.

That was not the end. The third group left Cape Town on 13 December. By this time, the apartheid security forces had been alerted to monitor all trains moving from

Cape Town towards Queenstown. These cadres knew nothing of the fate of those groups who had departed earlier. Their train was stopped outside Beaufort West,

82 Ibid.

where seven of them were arrested for having dangerous weapons.83 At Stormberg, the train was stopped again, more weapons were discovered and others arrested.

One member of the third group from Cofimvaba, Mack Skweyiya, who threw his panga out of the train window, managed to pass through Queenstown and reach his home in Cofimvaba. Unfortunately, the local headman arrested him and handed him over to Matanzima’s bodyguards.84These right hand men knew their job, assault and torturing was the order of the day.

Not all chiefs were targets. The meeting chaired in Langa by Albert Shweni just before the Ntlonze campaign resolved that Paramount Chief Sabata should be spared “because he is on our side and we all admire him a lot for the stand he takes.”85 Headman Magcobe Ntabankulu of Nququ kept switching sides and

became an active supporter of Poqo, so much so that some of the fugitives from

Ntlonze hid in his house.86 Even headman Nomalungwexana of Hoyita resisted

Matanzima’s rule, for which he was referred to as one of the amaDyakophu and demoted. On the day of his demotion, one hundred and twenty horsemen were seen galloping to Hoyita with a jeep with Cofimvaba Magistrate D.J.M. Jordan.87 A new

headman by the name of Mkhululi Nomalungwexana was appointed, but

unfortunately for oNgcothoza, they did not know that Mkhululi was already a PAC

member from Cape Town. Another case was headman Bhaji of Ntshingeni, who had

been a watchman in Cape Town. Bhaji refused to capture people who were acting

against Matanzima, and told Matanzima that he was not a policeman. Because of

that, he was sent back to Cape Town where he resumed his previous job.

83 Maaba, p253. 84 Ibid 85 Maaba, p.251. 86 Ibid (cited from NA, Box 9/1/44:1COF, File C4/2 letter from the Bantu Affairs Commissioner /magistrate. D.J.M.Jordan to the chief Bantu Affairs Commissioner at Umtata 11 March 1963. 87 Interview with Mr Mangqangwana Mpolose , Ezibeleni 10 May 2013

Armed operations of PAC .originated from Western Cape Paarl and Langa. These migrants represented an organization which was the first to form a military wing

(Poqo/APLA) to launch an armed struggle on 11 September 1961.88The revolutionary actions of Cofimvaba PAC, members changed the situation in the whole of South Africa having gained the courage from the urban bachelor flats in

Western Cape.

These incidents of Ntlonze and the battle of Banzi and other activities that took place in the present day Cofimvaba against the apartheid policies administered by chiefs have been collectively known as the Thembuland Revolt. Some scholars have claimed that these revolts were sporadic, but a question to be addressed is whether this revolt differed from those better-known revolts which occurred in Mpondoland and elsewhere? Behind these Cofimvaba disturbances there was one only nationalist movement involved, namely the PAC. The rule of chiefs under the apartheid regime is part of the history of South Africa in which the migrants played a prominent role in the struggle for liberation. What happened in the above mentioned battles is nothing less than their contribution to the history of the liberation struggle in which people died fighting for their rights as Africans oppressed by the white regime which used chiefs to tow the line for the government. Some cadres who were found guilty in their involvement in Queenstown, Ntlonze and Banzi confrontations received prison sentences ranging from one to twenty years. Most of them were charged with sabotage. Like all freedom fighters, they were imprisoned on Robbén Island in the

Western Cape. The PAC battles at Paarl, Ntlonze, and Queenstown against apartheid regime urgently need to be related to the younger generation if one

88 Pheko M, The hidden side of South African Politics(Tokoloho Development Association, 2009).P27

seriously wishes to rectify the one-sided history which attributes liberation to one

party only. According to Pheko (2009) between 1962 and 1964 alone, two hundred and two guerrillas of PAC were sentenced to death.89From Cofimvaba we can

mention Khathazekile Philaphi, Siqwayi Mhlaba, Mbizo May, Goli Sonamntu, Polisa

Tina. From the Ntlonze confrontation, the men sentenced to deathwere Manana

Mtuta,Nyanisile Dela,Manyhadu Moti, Tshonisile Skevi,Daniel Nongqina, Wellington

Jada and Qebelele Makasa.Even from the Queenstown operation there men like

Mtutu Apleni,Nothimba Bozwana and Bonakele Ngcongolo who were sentenced to

death.

Twenty-two men captured at Ntlonze were put on trial before Judge A.J. Cloete at

the Grahamstown Supreme Court.90 Albert Shweni, the acknowledged leader, was

given twenty years, all the others except James Mtutu Apleni, were given fifteen years. Apleni was sentenced to death, although he was the only accused who was not physically present at Ntlonze. This sentence raises questions. In his evidence, state witness Mato gives a good picture of the role which Apleni played in the

Ntlonze venture91. He had no military function at all. He did not select individuals nor

did he plan the operations in Cofimvaba though he must surely have been fully

aware of such as a leader. For this reason, the attitude of the judge, in condemning

Apleni to death is surely nothing short of a judicial murder. For him to say that Apleni set up the crime of sabotage and that without Apleni, it was unlikely that the other accused would have participated, is ridiculous. The operation was not led by Apleni as an individual but was initiated by PAC as an organisation. My personal view is

89 Ibid, Page 27 90 The trial record is preserved in the Cape Archives as GSC1/2/1/1007 state vs Nontase Shweni, 25 February 1963. 91 Ibid

that the judge was motivated by a wish to pronounce a death sentence on somebody

and Apleni was the candidate.

Apleni seemingly was exposed to various committees in the bachelors flats. From his

statement, it seems that, at some point, he was a member of “special committee “or

the Glen Grey committee independent of PAC .Maybe he was trying to shield PAC or

he was trying to justify his assertion that he knew nothing about Ntlonze operation.

He was on trial, after all he was obliged to cover himself as much as possible

including misleading statements. Be the case as it was he was never directly

involved in the battlefield in any way but only did his job as treasurer, and, as such, a

death sentence was unpredicted especially when there were people who were

directly involved in the operations but were given prison sentences only.

The heavy sentences imposed on the accused by the apartheid state indicate the seriousness of the battles between that government and the migrants. If the situation was so immoral how can the role played by migrants of Cofimvaba be underestimated? These migrants were members of the national liberation movement, which was the first organization to have its leaders imprisoned to life imprisonment in Robben Island. Cases in point are Jafta Masemola, Philemon Jefu, Samuel Chibane and John Nkosi. These PAC members were the first to be imprisoned to life imprisonment on Robben Island since Langalibalele was imprisoned since 1874 for resisting British colonial rule.92 Even the so-called saint of the struggle, Rholihlahla Mandela, arrived later than the PAC members. The suffering and frustration caused by the apartheid regime can never be completely forgotten. Is it worthy of the ANC government to reject other political prisoners of that time? Were they not all freedom fighters? The time for correcting the distortions is now. This is the time to balance the perspective of South African liberation history by recalling events which might otherwise be historically overshadowed by the subsequent electoral dominance of the African National Congress. Sporadic as their

92 Ibid

actions may have been, the fact of the matter is that they were dispossessed of their land, oppressed in their own country and by rising up in revolt; they were fighting for their rights.

On their release from Robben Island, the migrants thought that the storm was over but that was not the case .Deportations and banishments were the order of the day. Paramount Chief Matanzima saw these culprits as dangerously influential to other people, and thought it therefore a good idea to relocate them to areas where they were not known to the local residents. Mr Clarence Makwetu was banned to Nyandeni in Libode.The banning order was signed by K.D.Matanzima and his brother George Matanzima who were then President and Prime Minister.

Mr. Kamteni was deported to Donga location in Lady Frere yet he was born and bred at Mngqanga location.Mr. Mehlo Makwetana was deported to Ncorha leaving his home at Jara location, Mr. Makulana Bengu one of the cadres who were in the group which fought in Queenstown station was deported from Qamata to Rhwantsana location K.D.Matanzima ruled with an iron hand and could not accommodate those who were his opponents .Even people who were in the neighbouring areas of Cofimvaba like those at Bilatye location under Lady Frere district were ill-treated by this leader and when they resisted his rule they were deported to Zweledinga in Ciskei.

It would be both wise and just to appreciate the activities of Cofimvaba migrants by comparison with the other revolts that occurred nationally throughout the country at that time. The impact of their activities on the community and to the nation at large warrants attention.

Chapter 5: The Significance of the Thembuland Revolt

Although the Thembuland Rebellion has been generally recognized by a few

scholars, historical accounts have depended largely on the trial records, and have

been written by historians lacking personal insight into either the migrant culture or

the Pan African Congress. This revolt has featured in the work of historians like

Lodge, Crais and Maaba but all these scholars used the archival sources that tend to paint a picture that corresponded with the voices of those in power while those of the weak are stifled. In their work they did touch on the Thembuland resistance but this study is the first to have systematically interviewed those veterans who were directly involved in the revolt. As such I have tried to supply some insight into how these non-elite illiterate migrants generated a precious impact to the liberation struggle.

Lodge and Crais have pointed out that the Thembuland rebellion was an articulation of the grievances of the poorest section of the community, more especially rehabilitation.93 Poor as they may have been, they were affected by the oppressive

laws of the time. One must however question whether apartheid policies affected

only the poor, or whether they did not equally affect the entire black population who

were treated as foreigners in their own country of birth. Lodge further seems

reluctant to draw conclusions as to the role of migrants in the liberation struggle. He

ignores the fact that these Cofimvaba migrants condemned by apartheid regime

were sentenced to Robben Island, the institution where political prisoners were kept.

The very fact that they were imprisoned there surely tells us that they were freedom

93Lodge, Black Politics, pp. 283-288; C. Crais, The Politics of Evil: Magic, State Power and Political Imagination in South Africa (Cambridge 2002), pp.209-212.

fighters arrested under the political organisation, the Pan-Africanist Congress which

was and is still a national political organisation.

To Lodge, the main cause of the revolt was the Bantu Authorities and Trust rehabilitation. He dismissed this uprising as irrational, spontaneous and ineffective but there is something about this event, migrants condemned by the apartheid regime were sentenced to Robben Island, the institution where political prisoners were kept. Were those migrants not freedom fighters? Lodge stresses that unlike

Mpondoland revolt, Thembuland resistance lacked structure and coherence as there was no clear strategy and a list of demands. Be that as it may, migrants were very prominent in providing a continuing link between town and country. People at home were continually mobilized by migrants from the urban centres where they worked.

Communication strategies kept migrants in the urban centres aware of what happening back home .Planning done in the urban centres of the Western Cape was implemented in the rural areas of Cofimvaba. The revolt was led by migrants who worked in the Western Cape and when on their annual leaves preached the gospel of the PAC. The issue of the land, for which they were fighting, should not be underestimated, nor should their political organization, the Pan African Congress, which was and is still a national political organization just like others which fought for liberation. The dominant ideology thesis promoting the sophisticated and elite section while excluding the more contentious layers seems highly applicable to the historiography of the Thembuland rebellion. I disagree with Lodge when he stresses the lack of coherence, structure and strategy by pointing to the list of grievances as the migrants planned their operations and mission in the bachelor flats of Langa to perform their activities back home. Even though their grievances were never tabulated, they knew that they were robbed by the oppressors through their chief

56 who worked hand in hand with the government officials. Moreover, the case of

Cofimvaba was totally more extreme than that of the other traditional jurisdictions in the former Transkei. Thus it is no wonder the migrants’ attitude to their paramount chief, K.D. Matanzima, was totally different. Even so, not all paramount chiefs or headmen were the targets of the resistance only those like Matanzima who were supporters of the Bantustan policy. These migrants planned their mission and operations for resistance. Planning cannot be clearly understood by all. The communication strategies and coding system known to the activists was not understood by everyone as they operated underground. The trial records cannot properly reflect the intensity and structure of their revolt. Even though Lodge is reluctant to align migrant actions with the struggle for liberation he acknowledges migrants as prominent and sees the link between town and country life. This is illustrated in the communications between migrants in urban areas and those back home, for example in their attempts to reinforce their fighters at Ntlonze itself. This was possible because of the communication strategies that were thoroughly planned in advance.

To Crais, the Thembuland revolt was closer to the spirit of the rural areas. He sees the ANC as too “bourgeois” and too urban to appeal too much to rural people. It was therefore not able to harness the anger and ongoing rural struggles. While this is an interesting perspective, I fail to understand how Crais sees Thembuland revolt as not explicable in terms of oppression alone. The emergence of PAC provided direction to the masses of Africans who were oppressed in the Western Cape urban areas.

Crais has a view that rural Africans employed witchcraft beliefs as an idiom with which to create a space where the state could be portrayed as illegitimate and

evil.94But the role of witchcraft cannot easily be understood in the same way by

different people, as diverse people have different interpretations on how to attach meaning to cultural beliefs. To Crais, migrants used magic as a means to try and rid

themselves of what they found socially unhealthy or ‘’ evil.’’ He therefore argues that

Matanzima, in acting as a buffer zone between Africans and the apartheid regime,

was seen as a witch and that whites were seen as not oppressors but as literally evil.

What is clear to me is that Crais has a misconception of how the belief system of

Africans in general, and migrants in particular, works. He bases his argument on the incisions and black powder that was used by migrants in preparation for their operations. He claims that “Poqo elaborated a vision of violence as a purifying force” though in African culture violence had never been directly linked to the rooting out of evil. Not all the incisions seen on the migrants were done specifically for the purpose of the operations. Such Incisions were also made back home as part of cultural beliefs and protection against”impundulu [lightning bird]. “It is regrettable that not all words in the isiXhosa language can be clearly matched with words in other languages such as English. Crais might have heard stories of violence related to witchcraft, but these never applied in Western Thembuland. What prompted migrants to take action was very obviously the coercive and brutal way in which opponents of the paramount chief were treated. In isiXhosa they say “Intaka ibethwa netyholo[a bird is beaten in its own bush],” roughly equivalent to the English expression, “falling into a trap of one’s own making.” That was exactly the case with the attack on

Matanzima.

It may be true that in other parts of the Eastern Cape, people suspected of witchcraft

94 Crais, pp.213-216.

may be killed, but in Thembuland violence was never linked with witchcraft. In the

minds of the migrants, Matanzima was distinguished by his link to the apartheid

regime; it was only because ofhis application of apartheid policies that caused the

migrants to opt for harsh steps. The spirit of self-reliance and self-defence awakened

during the PAC campaigns in Langa and the Western Cape inspired them with the

bravery to perform whatever activity might free them from oppression and abuse.

The migrants’ belief systems, culture and rituals accustomed them to seeking protection against evil spirits whenever they were not feeling well or going to a new place, or doing anything that one was not sure of. Crais was convinced that migrants saw violence as something necessary and positive but the protection rituals they engaged are no evidence of this.

The failure of most scholars to recognize Cofimvaba resistance is partly rectified in

B.B.Maaba ‘s excellent chapter on ‘The PAC’s war against the state,1960-1963 ‘ and

I must acknowledge Maaba for giving better information on the activities of PAC. .He gives details of a number of different actions that took place in the Western Cape and Thembuland. He agrees with Lodge about the importance of migrants and the lack of overall strategy of fighting their battles. Compared to the Mpondoland revolt,

both feel that the Thembuland revolt was more haphazard and sporadic. Maaba put

more emphasis on polarization of rural areas. To him the hatred of K.D.Matanzima

was not merely theoretical in terms of national politics, but was based on his active

harassment of migrants and suspected Poqo sympathizers. Matanzima could not

stand any form of opposition. The brutality and coercive way in which migrants from

Western Cape were treated by Matanzima with support of government caused much

hatred among people in general and the migrants in particular.

From the moment that the PAC broke away, the ANC never recognized it as a

legitimate organization that can successfully fight for liberation. Strategies used by

PAC were totally different from those used by ANC. Even during the actual Poqo revolt, described in these pages, the ANC disrespectfully regarded the migrants’ attempts as misguided and hopeless. It argued that even though their deeds were heroic they lacked training. This is illustrated in the pamphlets distributed by ANC in the townships, “Freedom fighters must be trained. Ten men well trained and organized can often without fuss do the job that 200 men, heroic but badly led, would bungle.”95On the contrary, credit must be given to the migrants, working

underground and deprived of their imprisoned leaders, who nevertheless managed

to keep the spirit of struggle alive with self-made weapons. They never lost focus on

the national aim of liberation by 1963.Unskilled as they were, these migrants tried

their utmost to bring the apartheid government to its knees and that the voice of the

voiceless should be heard.

The origins of the Thembuland revolt can be traced back to the Paarl revolt and the

bachelor’s flats of Langa where the migrants’ living conditions were intolerable. The

banning of the PAC as a political organization which seemed to provide direction to migrants forced them to operate underground under the name of Poqo, giving the

false impression that Poqo was different from the PAC. Fugitives from the Paarl march landed in Langa, which served as the PAC’s regional office, only to be

confronted with harsh realities and blunt instructions. Leaders like Makwetu, Shweni

and Apleni were left with no choice but to further the aims that were set out before

the arrests and the State of Emergency. The cell system of recruitment under the

leadership of the Task Force made it difficult for the masses to know who the leaders

95 Quoted in Maaba, p.269

60 were as each leader headed small groups of ten.

The Thembuland revolt was seen as a small event compared to other popular struggles but, limited in scope as it was, it emanated from the national political organization and the gross human rights violations which followed the Sharpeville massacre of 21 March 1960.This was followed by massive demonstrations at the police stations in Langa Township, Cape Town where Cofimvaba migrants were fully involved. It was then that they were met by police forces that attacked them with tear gas and batons.96

Planning was instrumental before the anti –pass campaign of 21 March 1960 where plans were made to leave pass books behind and head to police stations. After these peaceful marches, planning still prevailed but after the leaders were arrested, it became very difficult for the masses and that resulted in spontaneous leadership.

Having been exposed to such situations they were brave enough to fight the injustices of chiefs back home .It must be borne in mind that not all chiefs were targets of these rural struggles on those who worked hand in hand with the white regime. Even though most scholars are reluctant to acknowledge the role of the

Thembuland revolt in the struggle for liberation, there is something significant about this event. Cofimvaba PAC members were among the first political prisoners to be locked up on Robben Island.97Moreover the migrant struggle against oppression was the pioneer of armed struggle which eventually removed the apartheid regime.

Those migrants followed the Africanist beliefs through their national political organization, the PAC, which can best be understood as parallel to the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya which, in its campaign to overthrow the British colonial

96 Ibid, p. 246 97 Interview with Mr Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga Location, 21 July 2013.

61 government, was likewise violent towards the white settlers. The situation in South

Africa under these migrants was to try and overthrow white domination.The allies of the white government, that is the chiefs, were inevitably affected as they were closer to the people and thereby exercised their authority in favour of the government policies of the apartheid regime.

The Thembuland resistance must not be underestimated as Africanists like Clarence

Makwetu co-founder of PAC come from Cofimvaba and played an instrumental part in advancing the aims and objectives of the PAC. He was the role model of the migrants who at some point tried to free him from the chains of Cofimvaba prison

.Determination and advancement of the objectives of a banned political organization by the non-elite group of people made a mark in the history of South Africa, and by being locked up in the notorious Robben Island where they were the first political prisoners even before the comrades of the ANC. They are indeed the unsung heroes of the struggle and their deeds must be made known and taught to the youth for future generations. The principal lesson to be learnt from their struggle is that regardless of level of academic education, a truly committed person will always find a way to stand up for his or her right.

TRANSCRIPTS FROM INTERVIEWS

Interview Transcript

Name : Nontente Kamteni

Contact : 0792209979

Locality : Ndonga Location Lady Frere

Researcher : Sindiswa Mwanda

Contact : 0735747625

SM : Sindiswa Mwanda, The researcher.

NK : Nontente Kamteni

SM: I am Sindiswa Mwanda a History teacher from Gando Junior Secondary School.

I am also a Master’s Degree student at Fort Hare.I am conducting a research on the

role of migrants in the struggle for liberation under the Pan Africanist Congress, the

case of Cofimvaba. I would like to ask you some questions about your background,

your working life, the challenges you have encountered in your life, your political life,

achievements and problems you have faced.

NK: I am Nontente Kamnteni, the son of Mose and Nothobile Kamnteni at Mngqanga

Location in Cofimvaba, Nothobile was born from Dantile family. I was born on 28

August in 1936.I am a nephew to Dantile family. I grew up in Mngqanga up to the

age of eighteen years.

SM: Did you go to school?

NK: Yes, I did my schooling at Ntlonze under the principal ship of Mr. Dantile where I

passed STD 2.

SM: How did you people gain living?

NK: Through farming, that is, stock and crop farming we gained a living.

SM: Had you ever worked?

NK: Yes’

SM: Why because you said you could live on farming? What forced you?

NK: I followed my age group boys who were working and on their return they were so beautiful and I was the only boy in my location who was still at home. I followed them.

SM: Where did you proceed to?

NK: To Cape Town.

SM: Did you have any relatives in Cape Town?

NK: Yes, my brother and uncles were there.

SM: Who was ruling then in your locality?

NK: We had Chief K.D Matanzima.

SM: What kind of chief was he?

NK: He was so self-centred, can you believe that all locations in Qamata had to work in his fields. There was a time table for the locations to do cultivation operations for him.

SM: Who monitored this process?

NK: His right hand men .Even if one had donkeys he had to go and plant using them

.There was no time to cultivate ours. Automatically all men were councillors.

Headmen had itinerary for the operation. I left for Cape Town in 1956.

SM: With whom did you live in Cape Town?

NK: I lived with my uncles in Fish Hoek. They took me to my elder brother who took

me to a man that was selling wood. I worked with that man.I sold wood and coal at

Heathfield. For a small chopped piece of wood we charged fifty cents and these

woods were collected from Retreat.

SM: Now that you were no longer living with your homeboys were you having same problems experienced by your homeboys in bachelor flats?

NK: Yes, but I had a solution to that.

SM: What was it?

NK: My uncles had bought me a grey short and shirt so when the Boers ask for pass

I would be in full uniform and they would just pass next to me thinking that I was a school boy. Always when I heard somebody shouting" KUBOMVU" (ITS RED) I

would get to my school uniform.

SM: Is it still 1956?

NK: Yes.

SM: How were your ways of communication with people back home?

NK: Through letter writing and sending people who were taking their leaves and went

back home.

SM: When did you come home?

NK: In 1957 when I enjoyed my boyhood.

SM: Were you still working for the chiefs even though you were an older boy?

NK: Oh yes, nothing has changed but there was an introduction of tractors. The chief realized that the work was too much it needed some tractors.

SM: At least it was better then, as you were no longer using oxen.

NK: No! No! No! , It was worse, when you talk of work per day it was better but talk of the man holding a cultivator behind a tractor who had to go at a faster pace, it was more of slavery. That happened from 1957 to 1959.I was to and from work in these years.

SM: Were you political minded then?

KN: Yes, I met Ben Nontuse Mtshofeni and William Buyaphi and Mbuyiselo Hani in

1959 who politicized me.

SM: Were you still leaving in Retreat by this time?

KN: No I was in zone 12 no 31 and then I was working in Epping in a steel company.

I had already got a pass book. I got a dompas at Salt River to get a pass that allowed to work in Western Cape.

SM: How did you meet your organizers, that is, Mtshofeni, Buyaphi and Hani?

KN: Through visits Ben Mtshofeni lived with my brother in the same bachelor hostel

.When I visited my brother I met him. After work Mtshofeni used to call us in a round table and politicize us mostly about PAC.

SM: What did he say about this PAC?

KN: When telling us, he would tell us that the country was our land as such it belonged to us but there was a problem as we were not treated with dignity in our country. He told that our country was taken by the whites some time ago yet it was our forefather’s land. We therefore had to reclaim it.He traced the problem as far back, from the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in 1652.

SM: Oh! KN: Yes, by the look of things as we speak we are not going straight to PAC we are going to ANC SM: How? I thought you were talking the PAC language. KN: The first African organization was the African National Congress, the emergence of PAC was because of the conflict among the ANC.

SM: Did they tell you when this PAC emerged?

KN: Yes they told me that PAC emerged after the conference that was held in

Kliptown in 1955.In that conference the ANC youth was divided because there were people who believed that Africa was for all the people who live in it .The worst part of it was that it seemed as if both black and white people were oppressed. The question that arose from the youth that was pro African nationalism s was who was the oppressor? That question was never clarified and the debate arose because of that. One side which favoured African nationalism grew and they quoted Robert

Sobukwe as the founder member in 1959.In that conference Congress of Democrats and the SACP joined .The problem occurred because there was this new document which accommodated the oppressors as well .Questions were asked from the then president Chief Nkosi Albert Luthuli about the origin of that document.

SM: Mh

KN: The answer was I do not know where it comes from but it is good. During that time all were ANC youth. It was during this time that the youth was starting to move from passive resistance against unjust laws of Apartheid. During the second session after break the Sobukwe group was denied entrance as they were seen as delaying progress of the conference hence they were against the chatter.

SM: Who denied them entrance?

KN: The Africans in the conference .The group that had been denied entrance decided to write a letter to be submitted in a meeting to be held in Orlando telling them that they were going to establish a new political party that would operate according to the 1912 ANC constitution following the 1949 program of action. That group was not with the people that believed that black and white are oppressed.

SM: So all that you are telling me is the story you have been told by Mtshofeni and the group around the tables of bachelors’ hostels?

KN: Yes, they were clarifying why PAC was formed.

SM: What did this story encouraged you to do?

KN: It forced us to join the organization because we saw that we were robbed of our land as far back as 1652.According to the plan of action before the conference it was unanimously agreed that whenever they were arrested for showing resistance there would be no bail, no fine, and no defence but because of the inclusion of SACP and

Democrats in the organization they were bailed out as these organizations had money.

SM: Mh

KN: Some Africans agreed to be bailed out as they were not all politically matured.

Bear in mind that the program of action was no bail, no fine no defence. The reason

for the program of action was to restore and reclaim the motherland. The group with

Potlako Leballo, Madzunya and Mothopheng Zeph decided to form PAC leaving

behind the group with Mandela, Oliver Tambo and others.

SM: Mh

KN: The group that was left behind followed multiracialism multiplied. While those

who left followed Pan Africanism POQO that means UBU AFRIKA POQO (Pure Pan

Africanism)

SM: Kindly elaborate on what you mean about this Pan Africanism?

KN: According to the ANC group each race group would be represented in

parliament that is why PAC group saw it as multiracialism (in Xhosa that is Ubuzwe

buzwe) To the PAC African nationalism was the ideal principle .The group saw

themselves as the sons of the soil, Africa.

SM: Who are you referring to when you talk of Africanism? How would you like this country to be ruled?

KN: PAC maintain and believes that Africa is for Africans, Africans for Humanity and

Humanity for God.

SM: Mh

KN: That is our slogan. Eli lilizwe lama Afrika amaAfrika ngawoluntu uluntu

lolukaThixo.

SM: Does the African refer to the South Africans that we are?

KN: No, we refer to the whole of Africa from Cape to Cairo, from Morocco to

Madagascar. The show of the right hand by PAC symbolizes the map of Africa. At the same time it symbolizes the five aims of the PAC.

SM: What are these aims of PAC?

KN: We had five aims but until we were arrested we knew two of the five aims .The first one was to unite Africans under the banner of Pan Africanism, we will rally and unite Africans. The second one was to fight and overthrow white domination; the third one was to establish government that will be ruled by Africans to promote the spiritual needs of individuals. Fourthly to unite the continent Africa under one united states. Lastly to promote and project African personality. To promote the African dignity because Africa is rich but at the same time poor because of the oppressors.

SM: Did you get all this information from the Mtshofeni and the followers?

KN: Yes we got it from them and we were campaigning with them in all the bachelor hostels and it was easy because we were still young boys.

SM: How did you politicize others?

KN: We went door to door after hours at night going from hostel to hostel because during the day we were at work. We told people that we were the organization for

Africans (AmaAfrika Poqo) and we were fighting for the freedom of Africans those who were willing joined voluntarily.

SM: Was the government aware of your movement?

KN: The government did not notice anything during our campaigning time. The only problem we were facing was the Pass problem. Those who were working were

prepared to pay fine for those who were arrested for Pass books.

SM: Do you reckon that the Pass system was also one of the oppressive measures?

KN: Oh, yes!

SM: Were you only operating at night?

.KN: No, even during the day if you meet people but our target was to talk to three people per day. We left a message to the three that each had to organize three so that when we meet them next time we would be meeting nine people. Out of fifteen people there could be a tribunal and there after a branch could be formed.

SM: This tribunal could come out of the fifteen people?

KN: No, it would come out of three people, one would be the chairman, the other would be the secretary and the third one would be the treasurer. The joining fee was

2 and 6 (25 cents) the money would be divided among the national, regional and the branch offices .National and regional would each get six pence. Those were the funds that were used to launch branches in various areas. Delegates would use these funds for travelling costs.

SM: Mh, how was the following?

KN :It was increasing at times we would even have visitors from national offices

,Such people would tell us more about this organization .Most of the time they would come with Mr. Makwetu.

SM: Who is Mr. Makwetu?

KN: Mr. Makwetu was the provincial chairperson of Western Cape from, Cape Town to De Aar. Members of the National Executive were moving around South Africa with

Mr. Mangaliso Sobukwe (Prof) and Mr. Makwetu preaching the PAC gospel.

SM: Which PAC activities were you involved in?

KN: I was involved in various activities, but let me start with the anti-pass campaign of 1960.

SM: Were you involved in that campaign?

KN: Yes! On the 19 March 1960 PAC invited the ANC to come and join the

campaign but Duma Nokwe denied participating in the campaign. The plan of action was to go to the nearest police stations to hand ourselves for arrest and leave the passes behind. We thought that if we were arrested prisons would be full and maybe we would be released and be allowed to move freely without passes

SM: How did you alert other Africans about your intentions?

KN: In a meeting that was held the previous Monday we were told to gather at Langa flats .In that meeting Mr. Makwetu arrived .He asked a Reverend that was among us to open with a short prayer. We never finished the prayer as there and then police shot at us. The situation was chaotic some were shot while others ran for safety.

That was on the 21 March 1960.

SM: Why were the police shooting at you?

K N: I do not really know but I think they suspected that something was wrong or the information leaked. In short on the 22 March we said” azikhwelwa “(we do not go to work).The situation was serious but what we knew was that we were fighting white domination and if one was caught he had to keep quite not to disclose the information. Offices were burnt. Our driving force or the words that kept us in full

72 spirit were serving, suffer and sacrifice for the entire nation.

SM: Were you still singing the same song as Africans?

KN: Yes, but others boarded train and went back to their homes. Our leaders were arrested .On 8 April 1960 PAC was banned. As PAC members we worked underground.

SM: Were your actions in Cape Town known back home?

KN: Not clearly those who went home earlier spread the news that people were killed and shot in Cape Town so our families were worried. Even myself I went home for a week and my parents were so happy to see me telling me that to be brave bring problems I ought to be a coward to be on the safe side.

SM: How long did you stay at home?

KN: I only stayed for a week our motto was ringing in ears, that is, serve, suffer and sacrifice so I went back to Western Cape. By that time I was young and ready for whatever fight.

SM: How was the situation now?

KN: The situation was still tense, no one was working, and we were engaged in marches to parliament.

SM: Why did you go to parliament?

KN: We wanted to ask why white were shooting at us as we were nonviolent in our actions. Africans sat down but our leaders were arrested but were still continuing with the struggle. But what we were doing was underground even girlfriends and wives were not told about struggle news. Sobukwe was sentenced for three years

73 and before his arrest he had promised us that by 1963 we would be free so we felt that we should push the struggle so that by 1963 we would be free.

SM: How were you planning your actions while you were leaderless?

KN: That was not a problem we had a Task Force. We went door to door recruiting as usual but now we gathered at night in the Welcome forest and behind the forest near the flats. Our chairperson now was Jako from Ncuncuzo in Cofimvaba and an active member Mr. Nyoka from Qutsa location.

SM: What were you planning in these forests now?

KN: We wanted no police in Langa from five to six p.m. We operated in groups of nine the tenth one being the leader. Police who patrolled at Langa by force were killed for arresting people for passes.

SM: How did you fight with police who had fire arms?

KN: We use swords and pangas. For example Mr. Mooi a policeman was murdered in Zone 11and Magwaca a black policeman was killed in Zone 8 the unfortunate part was that he was not on duty but kept on harassing Africans for passes. I think

Magwaca worked for commission the way he harassed us even women who visited their husbands.

SM: By this time you were still recruiting for PAC?

KN: Yes but now we were talking of POQO that is (UMBUTHO WAMA AFRIKA

POQO).We stopped using the congress part of the organization we took only PAN meaning Poqo because we were working under ground but we heard that whites under Snyman commission wanted to know the difference between Poqo and Pac

but the informers told them that they were one and the same thing.

SM: Why did you not leave Cape Town and go back home?

KN: We thought that things would work well in Cape Town as we felt that everything

was in our control. But to go back home was worse as the paramount chief K.D

Matanzima had men (Councilors) who tortured every man coming from Cape Town.

SM: Why would man be tortured?

KN: You do not have a picture, Chief would ask you what Poqo was doing in Cape

Town and when you said you do not know you would be beaten to hell. There were

men like Dambuza who were there at Great Place just to do the beating and

torturing. It was horrible, even at home if you arrive from Cape Town you were taken

to Great place to report that you are back home and you are from Cape Town. What

I can tell is that our fathers were loyal to chiefs and they were the ones who paid for

the education of the chief so they did not expect their sons to disobey the authority of

chiefs. As a Paramount Chief K.D read newspapers and heard about the struggles of

migrants in Western Cape while we never told our parents.

SM: Which one was better to stay in Cape Town or to go home?

KN: It was one and the same as Chief collaborated with the white government we were fighting with. Can you believe that other Africans like Mr. Makwetu were deported to Cofimvaba and arrested there for carrying out the aims of the banned organization?

SM: No, how did you feel about that?

KN: We were not happy and in our meetings we planned to go to Transkei to go and

75 release our members. That was planned under the leadership of Task Force. I was one of the Task Force leaders. Men that were weak left the bachelors flats to live in places like Sea Point those who had girl friends who slept in in whites areas as maids.

SM: Those who left the organization we not dangerous to you or did they not expose the information.

KN:Not really, but we were able to trace whoever had gone home and we could hear the news from home and were even told the source for each and every scoop of news. What worried us most was a group of men who followed K.D. They had slogans like “Imbumba Yamanyama ‘and ‘Amafele Ndawonye “they would shout that even if they saw their chief driving his car. All the time they would be carrying knobkerries at hand. Their job was to beat all men from Cape Town .They would check for incisions on the forehead.

SM: How did you manage to live in such a situation?

KN: We sat down in Cape Town and said we cannot sit down and let our people die at their homes. We decided to go and rescue them. We thought of our leaders who were imprisoned. We were fighting with whites but we were prepared to trace the source of the water so that we can be able to close the tap. In other words we were ready to crush whoever was a stumbling block on our way.

SM: How were you going to do this while you were in Cape Town?

KN: We wanted to provoke the bees. There were many members who were arrested in Cofimvaba. We decided to take action after our Africans were beaten in Paarl. It was now in December 1962.I remember the day we wanted to attack Pinelands

mentally challenged hospital we were stopped by Mr. Makwetu who told us that no

violence won’t help us.

We stopped because of his humbleness .But now he was not among us we were

alone.

SM: What were you up to now?

KN: Africans who escaped from Paarl Revolt joined us in Langa .We grouped

ourselves into three groups to leave Cape Town at different times to Cofimvaba. The

first group left Cape Town on the 9 of December1962 which was on Sunday. This

group was led by NoNtasi Shweni it was ordered to wait for other groups at

Mngqanga hills at Ntlonze. The second group left Cape Town on 11December on

Tuesday. That was the group I travelled with .The leader was Bonakele Ngcongolo

assisted by Phumelele Sakawuli.

SM: How were groups chosen?

KN: Most of the members were from Cofimvaba, an assessment was done to make

sure that these people must be local to the area even if they can be seen they

should not raise suspisions. People might thought they were just on holiday. As for

me I grew up in Ntlonze .I knew the caves and places where we could hide our

ammunition. Makulana Bhengu born in Zwelitsha a location next to Ntlonze was also in that group.

SM: Seemingly you did a thorough planning of your actions.

KN: Yes Bonakele Ngcongolo was from Ntlonze also he was the chief in

commander, Pumelele Sakawuli knew the town of Cofimvaba so he was to be the

leader in attacking the prison. Moreover Sakawuli was educated. The first group was

77 ordered to recruit more people here at home while waiting for other groups. I still remember Miso as one of those people who were recruited at night by the members of the first group.

SM: When did the third group leave Cape Town?

KN: The third group left Cape Town on the 13 December .In our group Pumelele

Sakawuli was searched by police in Cape Town high and low but they wanted

Pumelele Sontshaka and he quickly changed his surname to Sakawuli.

SM: How did the recruitment go?

KN :It went well because they got some people but one of the men in the first group lost his train ticket in Ntlonze hills and was picked by shepherds .That ticket gave suspicions among community members.

SM: The information was about to leak, what happened thereafter?

KN: This first group had no luck they were also seen by a teacher from Dantile family. They boarded the same bus with this teacher from Queentown to Qamata.

Unknowingly the teacher chatted with local men telling them that she had seen young man from Cape Town surely they were on leave .By that time the young men did not reach their homes as they were on a mission planned back in Cape Town.

SM: Oh! Plans exposed, what happened thereafter?

KN: That was the start of a problem. The headman in the dipping tank asked about the presence of men form Cape Town from their parents but parents did not know that. The picked ticket from the mountain was linked to the information from the teacher. That message was quickly conveyed to K.D.by the headman. Men and

78 councilors were quickly collected and police were called to search and attack if possible at MNGQANGA Mountains. Police vans arrived from different directions.

The battle had started. People died some were injured. One man was sent to

Queenstown to alert Bonakele Ngcongolo’s group that they should change the strategy as the information has leaked. By that time we were kept at Stromberg seemingly phones were used to alert whites about us.

SM: How were you going to be identified in trains? Did you have load of luggage?

KN :No we did not have any luggage .We did not even sign from work to tell them that we were going home. We had plastic bags with oros drink to drink on the way.

SM: When did your train arrive in Queenstown?

KN: It left late from Stormberg and arrived in Queenstown at about half past four to five in the afternoon. When we arrived in Queenstown the security was tight and

Ngcongolo reminded us that we were supposed to arrive in the morning as such let us be prepared for whatever, let us pull ourselves together. By that time we were armed to the teeth our swords were within ourselves covered by overalls.

SM: Mh

KN: The train stopped were taken out of it. Passes were requested and we handed them over. We were asked why they were not stamped and we honestly told them that we were going home for a short period. When we were asked luggage we had none. The police said “Ja dit is hulle”. The man who was sent to tell us about the change of plan had left for Queenstown location as we did not arrive at the usual time.

SM: What happened?

KN: We were forced to make a line next to the tea room. Bhangaza Weweni one of

us went to Bankable who was in front and asked him what we were waiting for.

Bonakele Ngcongolo had a gun and we were told by Siyothula that whenever we

were faced with enemy we were supposed to shoot first.

SM: Who was Siyothula?

KN: Siyothula was our traditional healer back in Cape Town. Originally he was from

Qumbu. Before we left Cape Town we used medicine (muthi), we had incisions, and

we washed with medicine (muthi). Do not ask me a lot we do not know the future I do

not want to be called to the truth and reconciliation commission. You see the DA is a

strong political party that can call for Truth Commission in future. That’s why whites

were looking for people with incisions we did that before leaving Cape Town.

SM: Where did Siyothula get her muthi?

KN: Siyothula was from Mpondomise region such people are good in traditional healing.

SM: Oh? Did Ngcongolo respond to Weweni?

KN: Ngcongolo fired to a certain white man, Maritz and we said” KUBO!”Everything

was upside down at the station. We grabbed guns from whites and I did not know

how to use it I just pointed at them so as to be able to get closer to be able to use

our pangas and swords. The situation was horrible noses of white people were

falling down.They were crying asking for forgiveness.

SM: Mh the situation was bad.

KN :Very bad, when I crossed the station I heard gun shots but I crossed with

Makulana Bhengu by that time the knees were loose and we began to realize that the situation was serious than what we have thought but there was no alternative.

SM: Mh

KN: When we approached the white’s houses, a white man from one of the houses asked his garden boy what was happening after hearing the gun shots. One man

Tyhali from us drew up his binett (knife) and attacked the white man. After that he climbed the mountain but the whites got him. Look at my finger we I was shot here we were dragging a gun from the white man but I was lucky the bullet did not injure me but my finger cannot fold.

SM: Mh

KN: When we saw that things were getting serious, we threw the guns away. We knew that we will be severely charged for having guns. We climbed the mountain and Siyothula has told us that he will be buying the newspaper to check how we were going. He told us that whenever we were faced with the enemy there will be mist and rain. We were saved by that mist and rain from helicopters that were searching for us.We left Queenstown taking the Lady Frere line hearing the gun shots. We met an African who was shot, He was Nobomvu from Qitsi location.

SM: Where was he shot?

KN :He was shot at the station but he was severely injured and as such we told him to return back and when asked what happened we tipped him saying that you should tell them that we were at the station from Cape Town but we saw white police who fired at us and we and even if we were caught we were to tell the same story. We left

Nobumba Nobomvu there.

SM: Was Nobumba one the Africans from your group?

KN: Yes he is the one who killed a headman from Qitsi location. Nobumba told us in

prison that he was rescued by a woman who worked in a certain farm near

Queenstown. That woman cleaned the wound and dressed it and in the morning she

released him.

SM: Did Nobumba tell you why he killed that headman?

KN: Yes that headman was one of those people who were stumbling blocks in our

freedom at home. Remember we do not fight we defend ourselves from those who attack us just like the case was in Queenstown. We successfully left Queenstown crossed Dordrecht road down via Bonkolo dam and the river streams were

overflowing. We slept at Ngqebenya.

SM: Were you not wet and tired?

KN: We were tired and we slept in the bushes we were awoken by young boys who

were searching for goats and sheep. Boys heard their dogs barking and we woke up

and the boys ran.

SM: Terrible

KN: We started going but now a strong lightning struck and we knew from

Siyothula’s teachings that the enemy was around us or nearyby. He had told us that

if we saw a wild animal we should be aware that the enemy was closer.

SM: Siyothula’s teachings were in your minds and you were always checking for

testimonies. Where were you heading to now?

KN: Yes just like in Ntlonze while they were still waiting for us to arrive white police

and soldiers approached them from different directions. They first saw a rabbit ,when

they beat it a man was shot all in all I am trying to tell you that things were happening

as told by Siyothula

SM: Mh

KN: The rain was steady and we were hungry, there was a cave nearby goat got into

it and we followed. We milked to our mouths there was no other way. After that we

decided to go to the nearby houses in Gqebenya location. We entered into a certain

homestead.

SM: What did you say to this house on your arrival?

KN: We just greeted and the old woman was cooking but we wandered what was in the pot as we saw that there was a three legged pot in the fire place. When she opened the pot oh! It was Tyuthu or Umfino (green vegies with mealie meal like spinach).he asked where we were coming from.

SM: What did you say?

KN: We have heard that there was a wedding around Gqebenya and we simply told

her that we were from that wedding. While we were chatting with the old lady

Phumelele went in and out the house and saw that police vans were moving up and

down the road. He urged us to proceed with our journey.

SM: Mh

KN: We left the old woman and took the Bolotwa line now branching from Lady Frere

road. We crossed the stream and the next river was full. We realized that it was not

our day. We turned to Xhonxa direction .Two Africans went to the nearby houses to

ask for food and they came with iinkobe (cooked maize).The sun was about to set.

We were ten and Khabiqheya was so tired and wet he asked us to go to the nearby

homestead and asked for a place to sleep. To our surprise that was a headman’s

house.

SM: Were you going to tell the old story of the wedding?

KN: No we changed the subject and this headman told us about the people who

killed many people in Queenstown. That shocked us. Bear in mind that our swords

were still with us we told him that we did not hear that .We told him that we were

from a witch doctor to enquire about family problems.

SM: Did he believe you?

KN: Not really he queried our age for going to that but we did not answer. What we

noticed was that the headman had two wives and there was also a newly wedded

woman (makoti).We slept with one wife and a young woman and the headman slept

in another rondavel.

SM: Were these women not afraid of you?

KN: Not sure but early in the morning I heard the opening when I looked the young makoti was going out. Next to me was Makulana Bengu and Sindile with their

weapons next to them. I told them to hide them and surely makoti had seen them.

After that the headman entered as if he had been called.

SM: What did he say?

KN: He said we ought to wake up as they were busy ploughing the field then. The

headman sent a boy to buy for us traditional beer but Sakawuli panicked and told us

84 to leave. By that time the headman had gone. I told my colleagues that we had not gone there for beer. Our commander Ngcongolo was not with us with few others we missed each other in Queenstown.

SM: What did you do thereafter?

KN: We moved and climbed the mountain .The headman tricked us by buying us beer, he called police from Bolotwa and they arrived after our departure and surrounded the h did you headman’s home but we were nowhere to be found. We reached Rhodana and we were surprised to see people happy and enjoying their rituals they knew nothing about the struggle we were involved in .We moved but suddenly we saw that police were behind us.

SM: What did you do?

KN: We moved but it was clear that we were not walking in our area we did not know the road. A group of armed men was following us .Khabiqheya was the first to be caught by them under the bushes. Khabiqheya was with Mqetesi and Peter Ndobhe escaped.

SM: Where were you and others?

KN: We were on the other side but we saw a group of people coming to us we again had a barrier of Cacadu River that was full and we knew that we were not safe. This group of people arrived and we had already hidden our weapons and moved away from that area.

SM: What did they do on their arrival?

KN: They beat us, you do not have a picture they beat us .I had a cut in my head

even now I have that scar. Because I looked younger I was put aside it was painful

to look at my colleagues being bitten. At last they asked where our weapons were .I

told them that we had no weapons but they saw our footprints on the sand and

follower them. They dug our weapons. They again asked and I told them that we did

not have any weapons and it was my first time to see weapons meaning they were

not ours.

SM: What did you do?

KN: They tortured us and took us to the white police where we were searched and tortured again. We were bitten by the backs of guns and taken to the vans where we were stripped off our clothes. Our clothes were given to us when we were in the police vans .That was how we were arrested.

SM: Mh

KN: On Monday we were taken to Frontier Hospital where we were treated for

injuries. On Tuesday we were taken out of hospital back to prison for interrogation.

SM: It was better that you were treated for injuries how was the interrogation?

KN: Do you still remember that there were those Africans who parted ways with us in

Queenstown, they were already arrested when we arrived in prison. On Tuesday we

were mixed with men from the location in Queenstown. Tuyi and Mqelele arrived

where we were, they were in sacks we could only see their eyes .If they knew you

they would pat you on the shoulder. They identified me I was accused no 9.

SM: Mh

KN: Those who identified us were informers. We were kept in Queenstown prison for

86 three months .Our charge was sabotage. We appeared in court on the 4 March

1963. On that day in the morning I had told my colleagues that we were to appear in court but they did not believe.

SM: How was the situation?

KN: Can you believe that we still had small crumbs of Muti in our pockets. By that time the Ntlonze group had been sentenced. We appeared in court from 4 to 14

March.Bonakele Ngcongolo was given a death sentence (intambo) and Bozwana was close to Siyothula it was him who made incisions so he was the cause of bullets not injuring us and he was given death sentence (intambo).Veleleni Dayeni also in our group was given 25 years for being our treasurer meaning he helped us with funds to come and accomplish our meeting. The rest was given twenty years.

SM: Did you have any lawyer?

KN: Yes we had government one which insisted on defending us from death sentence (intambo).The lawyer wanted us to change statements and we refused kept on telling him that we were going home and were attacked in Queenstown. We did not want any lawyer we were given this lawyer, our stand was no bail, no fine and no defence.

SM: Where did you serve your sentences?

KN: We were sent to Robben Island .We were sentenced on 22March 1963, that was Friday and we arrived on island on the 26 March on Tuesday.

SM: When you arrived on island were there any people you knew?

KN: Yes there were people who were arrested after Sobukwe people like Tshwili,

Rhigala Dyantyies and even those who were in the Ntlonze group like Shweni, We

arrived after the Ntlonze group. People who followed us were those who were

arrested in the Paarl Revolt then followed the Mandelas and others. Mandela arrived

in 1964.

SM: Was there no one called Qudalele?

KN: There was, he was from Qitsi but he was not arrested he was not in the groups that organized the operations.

SM: Life was hard we lived in the old prison (Outronk) but we built a new one digging the quarry stones. When the new prison was finished we were mixed with criminals and these criminals spied on us when we politicized each other. That led to people like Makwetu to be placed in single cells as they were noted that that they still influence others. Sobukwe was placed alone in his own house away from us.

SM: Why?

KN: That was part of torture he was to be isolated for the rest of his life. Originally he

was sentenced three years but the whites formulated what was called Sobukwe

clause still keeping him for another three years. They always spoke of the revision of

Sobukwe clause. Even after his release he was given house arrest in Kimberley.

SM: When you look to this new South Africa were your goals achieved? What went

well? What went wrong?

KN: In Robben Island we were educated in politics by our colleagues. You will

remember that we were fighting white domination and rallying Africans under the

banner of Pan Africanism but in prison we added on those we aimed at uniting

Africans from Cape to Cairo and to restore the African dignity. What I can say is that

88 our freedom is the freedom of movement and freedom of speech economically we are not free. Even educationally we are suffering, our children are graduates yet they are unemployed.

SM: Besides trying to release Africans that were arrested in Cofimvaba what were your general aims that forced you to undergo the operations ?If I get you right you were also fighting the white domination so why were you so concerned with people who stood on your way when you wanted to take out your Africans?

KN: The government of Transkei had good relations with old South African government and was used to further the aims of white government. The Bantustan policies tried to confine us to our homeland that is why when we were on leave we were called to Great Place to be asked about the activities that took place in Cape

Town and tortured thereafter. Even if you were at home it seemed as if you were in jail or in a foreign country.

SM: Let us go back to the aims of PAC, were your aims at grassroots level the same as those at national level? In other words was what you were doing in line with national policies of the organization?

KN: Yes we were working hand in hand with national policies fighting white domination.

SM: When you told me about your meetings in Langa flats you told me that Mr.

Makwetu was against violence and stopped you from violent actions against society moreover he was from national office what made you to be so vicious?

KN: During our meetings our struggle was not ripe enough Prof was prepared to take young man for military training after the anti-pass campaign. When we marched

89 peacefully whites replied with bullets that is why we adopted one bullet one settler slogan.

SM: When you look at your operations what went well what went wrong? Were your aims full filled it not why?

KN: Our aims failed, they did not end in what we expected. We wanted to free our brothers but we did not. After our operations there grew Azanian Peoples

Organization. Our emblem has a gun and a sword and that symbolizes POQO but that was changed on the 11 September 1961 some of us crossed the country for training. All in all our operations failed because we were not well trained in the use of guns as I have told you that in Queenstown I got three guns but I could not use even a single one .Our political standard was very low. When Prof was in Kimberly he called Zeph Mothopeng telling him that APLA members should intensify the struggle.

SM: When you reflect back what impact did your involvement in the struggle have to you and the community at large?

KN:I improved my social relations with people ,I was never involved in drug abuse and when I see a person I know that I must treat him or her as a person not an animal. I believe in humanity and one race. I have learnt that there is one race and that people differ because of climatic conditions hence we say Africa for Africans,

Africans for humanity and humanity for God. As Africans we are not anti-whites but against white domination.

SM: How was your family life by your involvement in the struggle?

KN: My family benefited as I was the first prisoner to have rights.

SM: How now?

KN: Transkei Council of churches provide for the education of my child even my wife got money from the council of churches. Groceries were sent to my family .Holland provided money for me to further my studies but the government refused me that privilege. My daughter was educated even myself I studied up to Standard six but when we applied to study further our applications were destroyed by whites When

we were released Mandela stopped the funds we were receiving and said he was

going to deal with us direct. Special pension was created for us by government. We

got awards as members of National Defence Force.

SM: At least you do not regret?

KN: Not at all but we were called to Bishop Tutu for reconciliation. We went there but

that was wrong how you can ask for forgiveness when we were fighting? The fight

was two way our people were hanged how is this forgiveness? We just went there

knowing that some things cannot be corrected overnight as long as people are not

mentally liberated. Do you know that there are people who take chance in the

revolution?

SM: No

KN: There are people who were in Robben Island who sucked politics from others

who were never involved in any operation. Such people go around telling lies calling

themselves veterans. The lacking thing in my struggle is land that’s why we are

saying land first and all shall follow.

SM: If you were to be asked how you as PAC would you like to be remembered what

you would say?

KN: I wish the Battle of Ntlonze, Battle of Queenstown and Mbashe can be

remembered. It would be great if a memorial stone can be erected or just a liberation

route just like the ANC did with Chris Hani. But with this government I doubt. There was a young man Noah who promised us till today there is no sign.

SM: Let us hope for the best. Thank you for your time thank you for the information .I will keep in touch and I may come back for further enquiry.Thank you ever.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION

Interviewee's name : Mankankela Mimi

Contact no : 0838715970

Researcher : Sindiswa Mwanda

Location of the interview : Outhay Location Cofimvaba

Date : 24 June 2013

Transcriber : Sindiswa Mwanda

Legend : MM --Mankankela the informant

: SM----Sindiswa the researcher

SM: My name is Sindiswa Mwanda a History teacher at Gando J.S.S.I am a Masters student at Fort Hare University. I am conducting a research about the role of migrants in the struggle for liberation under the Pan Africanist Congress from 1960-

1962 The case of Cofimvaba. I hope to use this Information for My Master’s Thesis.

Are you available to respond to some questions?

MM: Yes I am willing. I will help you.

SM: Tell me something about yourself .

MM: I am Mankankela Mimi.

SM: Where were you born?

MM: In Qamata, in 1937,that is when I was born.

SM: Did you grow up in Qamata?

MM: Yes I grew up in Qamata.

SM; did you go to school?

MM: Yes, I went to school, not for a long time. I went as far as Standard1. That

where I stopped schooling.

SM: What did you do thereafter?

MM: l stayed at home until I joined politics.

SM: Before you joined politics were you still a boy?

MM: No I was an old boy and I went to Initiation school.

SM: Have you ever been employed?

MM: Yes, Iworked.

SM: Where?

MM: I worked in Johannesburg, I followed other boys my friends, peer group. There

was nothing that forced me .I saw other boys going to work I followed .There was

nothing special, then I came back home as an older boy. Then I went to initiation

school in 1957 .I became a man.

SM: What did you do after that?

MM: After initiation in 1957 I went back to Johannesburg, from Johannesburg I

moved to Cape Town.

SM: Why did you move to Cape Town?

MM: Cape Town seemed to be important those days in as far as jobs were

concerned.

SM: Did you know anyone in Cape Town by then?

MM: No,I knew no one .I was just going with other boys.

SM: Who welcomed you in Cape Town?

MM: We stayed in bachelor's hostels.

SM: Were you easily employed?

MM: I got the job in Cape Town, when was it? Mh- it was end of 1957.

SM: How was life in Cape Town?

MM: Life in Cape Town? Oh, I am confusing things now, we take for granted that

Western Cape is Cape Town, Noit’s not like that. There are demarcated areas. Did not live in Cape Town I settled in Paarl.

SM:Oh I see that area.

MM: I lived at Mbekweni location.

SM: Where did you work while in Mbekweni?

MM: I worked in a saw mill company called Qobani, then I left to Johns Company in

Paarl.

SM: Were you happy in Paarl? Seemingly things were going well I see now you were even able to change jobs.

MM: Nono, life was never easy there.

SM: What was the problem?

MM: Pass laws were complicating black people's lives.

SM: How did they complicate your lives?

MM: We were not able to move freely, without pass book you could be arrested.

While in Johns Company during the past year in 1960 we were instructed to return

the books to their owners, white people.

SM: Who instructed you to return these passes?

MM: We were called by Africans to return these pass books to their owners, we were instructed to submit the pass books to the nearest police station.

SM: Who were these Africans? How were they commanding you?

MM: Everyone was told, whether you were a member of a political organization or not, the pass problem affected all black people.

SM: Did you hand in your pass? If so where exactly did you do so?

MM:Yes, many black people took the passes and I was one of them , according to the instruction we were supposed to take them to town but on our way to Paarl ,nono ,to Huguenot we met others coming back already from Huguenot having not reached the police station. It was decided that we burn the passes

SM: What happened to Huguenot?

MM: Seemingly they were not taken, as such we burned them in a bus stop in

Huguenot.

SM: Were you the member of a political organization then?

MM:No, I was not the member of any political organization was just a worker.

SM: Who led you to do what you were doing?

MM: We did not know who the leader was everyone had his voice.

SM: It sounds strange, actions like that usually have leaders, what happened in your

case?

MM:I think it’s because the pass problem was affecting everyone, people present

then seemed to be ANC members.I can say ANC members were leading in Paarl.

SM: Why do say so?

MM: I can see their policy, in short they were ANC members. In the same year there

emerged PAC.PAC was born.

SM: How was this PAC born?

MM: PAC members told people that it was unlawful to burn passes, rather the

passes should be returned to their owners, that is, whites. Passes were given to us

by white Post Offices

SM: Did these people identified themselves as PAC members? Didn’t you ask what

PAC was?

MM: We were told that PAC was the organization for Africans -Umbutho wamaAfrika

POQO.

SM: Mh?

MM: We were asked to join the Pan Africanist Congress.

SM: Who told you to join the movement? Is it still the people you do not know?

MM: We didn't know what their names were but we knew who we were.

SM: What do you mean?

MM: We knew that we are Africans. The pass in Paarl was not handed but was

burned. In the first place PAC in 1960 was new, it was formed in 1959.It was

launched on 4-5 April and finalized on 6 April 1959.

SM: What do you mean when you say this organization was new?

MM: It was eleven months old, then it led the anti-pass campaign.

SM: How was the following?

MM: It was quite an amount but it was not sufficiently spread.

SM: Was Paarl the stronghold of this PAC?

MM: No, I think Langa was the strongest where Makwetu and Sobukwe first arrived and preached the PAC gospel. It started in Cape Town and eventually spread to the surrounding farms and small towns.

SM: Who are these two people who arrived and preached this gospel?

MM: I can say they are the founder members of the PAC. Sobukwe maintained that we should take the passes to their owners and surrender ourselves to be arrested.

SM: What were the aims of this organization?

MM: Aims and objectives were to be arrested for not having passes. You will remember that we led the campaign on 21 March 1960.

SM: What happened after 21 March?

MM: For three days Cape Town was ungovernable, the situation was uncontrollable.

SM: Is it?

MM: Exactly! I am telling you.

SM: Were you fighting? Were you armed?

MM: No, we did nothing we were just returning passes to their owners and let them arrest us and put us in jail.

SM: What happened thereafter?

MM: Police drove us to work, the employed went to work, the unemployed searched

for jobs.

SM: Were you free then to go freely without passes?

MM:No, police wanted passes as usual, we said we do not have them, Problems started, Boers saw that the majority had no passes, those with passes were set aside and those who did not have them were separated, to our surprise not everyone had burnt or returned the passes. Police arrested those with reference books.

SM: How?

MM: Seeing that few people had no reference books, police arrested people with reference books leaving those without them. The other day police cornered people with no passes. People were not sure as to who was right and who was wrong.

SM: By this time were you still leaderless?

MM: We were cheecky but we knew that Sobukwe was the leader of the struggle

.Let me tell you this first, ‘Sobukwe invited the ANC to participate in the anti-pass

campaign’ ‘The answer came on the 20 March. It came from Duma Nokhwe, General

Secretary for ANC that they cannot be led by a young calf.

SM: What was this young calf?

MM; He meant the new political organization, PAC.He said that they will not be

participating in the anti-pass campaign, then Sobukwe said "Izwe lethu

siyakuyihamba sodwa le ndlela"(Our country we will take this journey alone).

SM: Is izwe lethu your slogan?

MM: Yes, it is our slogan as PAC.

SM: Which is your country then?

MM: Our country is South Africa, no in reality is Africa. Africa for Africans, Africans for humanity, Humanity for God.

SM: Come up again this is interesting mh?

MM: Let me make it clear, i Afrika yeyama afrika, ama Afrika ngawo luntu, uluntu

lolukathixo!

SM: Do you also have Christian values?

MM;OH! Yes Sobukwe was also a Methodist church leader.

SM: Did you tell your families back home that you were no longer working?

MM: No -no it was only three days that we did not work.

SM: What did the whites do when they saw that you were politically active?

MM :You will remember that we had that three folded pass, one ,two, three

(demonstrating)then after this, Boers realized that these people will never ever have passes, very few had not burned theirs so they decided to change and introduce a new small one.

SM: Were these pass demonstrations in Paarl only?

MM: Not really, full participation was in Gauteng and Cape Town in Langa. It is

where people were shot. Maybe you have heard of Langa and Sharpeville incidents.

People marched to Cape Town others on foot and others used trains but unfortunately, they met others coming back from town. For me and my Paarl residents we returned to Paarl for work.

100

SM: Which year was it now?

MM: It was still 1960.

SM: What happened back in Paarl?

MM: Branches of PAC grew. More and more people joined this organization, butI will never forget the Paarl Revolt.

SM: When was this revolt? Why did it occur and how?

MM: It happened on 22 December 1962.There was an African from Centane who worked hand in hand with whites to fight PAC members. He hoped to disperse everything that was happening in bachelor halls.

SM: What were you really doing in these halls and who was this African?

MM: We werepoliticizing each other, telling each other that this pass system was robbing us of our freedom and the best was to join an organization which would fight for African problems. This African who collaborated with Boers was Ngcukana.

SM: What happened on this 22 November 1962?

MM: We were told by Ngqandula, an African that, on that day we should be careful as Ngcukana and the Boers were to beat us in the hostels.

SM: How did this happen?

MM: Ngcukana and his people were asked to be released in time from work so as to beat Pan African Congress members.

SM: How were the PAC members differentiated from Ngcukana people?

MM: As Africans who lived in hostels we knew each other well and we knew those who have joined the organization we usually saw each other in our gatherings.

101

Onour way back from work that day we heard that Ngcukana and his group were onus, we used alternative routes to reach our hostels.

SM: Did you have any ammunition to fight back?

MM: Yes! We had our self-made weapons, swords, pangas, knobkiries and even stones.

SM: Why did you make weapons? For whom were you making them?

MM: We were making them for Boers who were ill-treating us in our country, our place of birth we were ready to beat them, infact we beat them. When Ngcukana and the group moved to live in whites only area we held a meeting where delegates were sent to Langa to report the matter to our official members. On 22 November we decided to attack the whites as a way of revenge.

SM: Did you plan this battle?

MM: Ooh! It was decided that we go to Huguenot in groups of three. We wanted to beat the whites, we also wanted to set free those who had been arrested. On arrival in town seven to eight police vans surrounded us .Ngena!!!!(Enter) in this case,

Attack!!!!It was upside down, Xh! Xh! X h! (NOISE MADE BY WEAPONS) we beat them with stones, they shot us with bullets. Regrettable some died, even myself I was shot in the leg but luckily the bullet did not reach the bone. I was not broken.

SM: What happened there after?

MM: We went to the prison to release the prisoners that had been arrested .On arrival we could not enter because of bullets that were fired at us.

SM: How were you going to release them?

102

MM: We were going to force the police. We were prepared to force the doors open.

SM: Why were you so brave?

MM: We never knew the prison situation, we had never been arrested, and we thought we would simple enter and take our people, beat the police. In actual fact we

had no intention of beating African police. We wanted whites, we knew that African

police would simple run on our arrival. On arrival we knocked, there came a white

police (whistling) whooo---whoo--whhoo! We were packed and ready to attack,

waiting for him to open the door. We didn't know that there was a glass where they

can see us before opening. Eventually we heard him crying asking for help, Yhoooo!

Yhooooo! (Running) It came to our mind that he had seen us. We left and went to a

nearby river to figure out the next plan of action.

SM: What time was it then?

MM: It was after midnight we agreed to go to station to take a train to Wellington,

from there straight to Mbekweni.

SM: How was the situation in the morning?

MM: People were arrested! People were arrested! We took our belongings and left for Wellington.In Wellington, police were raiding everywhere.

SM: Did you escape or were you arrested?

MM: No, I was not arrested I left for Langa but Reginald Madalambane was arrested.

I was fortunate and I left Mbekweni on 24 November 1962.

SM: Who hosted you in Langa? Were you going to stay there now?

MM: No, even in Langa police raided day and night so it was a temporal stay.

103

SM: What were your plans now?

MM: On 3 December we went back home.

SM: Was your contract terminated?

MM: There was no job now and we were not going home as such.

SM: What do you mean? Where were you going?

MM: We were going to fight.

SM: Why and with whom in Cofimvaba?

MM: With white police SM; Why?

MM: Even back home in rural areas police were white and were treating migrants

unfairly especially those coming from Cape Town. Furthermore we wanted to release

our Africans who were arrested in Qamata under the chieftainship of K.D.Matanzima.

I’m talking of Africans like the late Zulu and Philaphi who were accused of beating

chiefs and even Makwetu had been arrested in Cofimvaba for carrying the activities

of banned organization.

SM: Who told you the news from home?

MM: People from home told us even other migrants who were on leave on their

return they would tell us everything happening back home.

SM: What form of transport did you use on that 3 December to go home?

MM: We boarded a train from Cape Town to Queenstown.

SM: Why did you get off in Queenstown yet your homes are in Cofimvaba?

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MM: We wanted to take the siding line straight to Qamata but we had foreseen

problems. We feared that we would be seen by people without accomplishing our

mission. Groups ofmen would raise suspicion, worse of all, people knew that we were in Western Cape.

SM: What was your safest plan?

MM: We decided to go as far as Queenstown then take a bus to Lanti location under

Lady Frere but closer to Qamata. By the time the bus arrived in Lanti it would be

sunset.

SM: Did you arrived at Lanti safely?

MM: Yes, but there was a child who knew us in the bus.

SM: How now?

MM: This child was the niece of one of the chaps we were within this group.

SM: What happened?

MM :This chap saw this child and anticipated that she would tell people at home and

that would cause a problem as the chap was known to be in Cape Town, this guy

tried to hide from this girl to avoid the problem that might occur.

SM :Did this girl notice this?

MM: Yes the girl noticed the uncle but did not talk to him. We assumed that the girl

was not seeing this chap.Seemingly the girl feared the men that were with her uncle.

SM: When did you get off from the bus?

MM: At about six o’clock in the evening at Lanti, we climbed the Mngqanga

Mountains commonly known as Ntlonze.

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SM: Did you sleep there?

MM: Yes, we woke up early in the morning and we did not have anything to eat .We decided to have a sheep to slaughter,

SM: Did you have money to buy? How could you buy yet you were hiding?

MM: Where could we get the money? The only things we had were our weapons pangas and swords; we just took the sheep from the veld and slaughtered it and made a braai. At about 4 to 5 pm (Bavela abakwasidlodlo) police arrived.7 to 8 police vans approached us.Before the arrival of police, there were young men who arrived to us .Seemingly K.D.Matanzima had heard about our arrival and told the police that there were men on the mountain. These police were called from Umtata. On the day of our arrival, thatis, the 5 of December there was supposed to be one group of

Africans which ought to board a train from Cape Town to join us here and on its arrival the third group was supposed to follow suit.

SM: How many groups were there in total?

MM: There were three groups, one reached Mngqanga, the second one was caught by police at Queenstown and the third was caught at Stomberg.

SM: And which group were you in?

MM: l was in Mngqanga group.

SM: It was you and who in this group?

MM: In the first place you must remember that we did not understand each other well

.We came from different areas like Paarl and Langa but we had the common aim.

There were organizer’s in Cape Town who organized these groups .In Ntlonze mountains it was me ,Makwetana ,who else?Eh-- eh (thinking) oh! Sbhotho, who

106 else? (Thinking)Miso and we collected other people here from home. Nontente,

Sakawuli, Khabiqheya, Bhiyana were in the Queenstown group.

SM: Did you have specific characteristics for your PAC members? I heard you saying you didn't know each other well, yet you were able to identify members from non- members.

MM: No, we had no characteristics but we knew our members from each and every area.

SM: Why were you so brave to come and accomplish your mission? What did you rely on as a form of protection?

MM: No- no - there was no protection, we were just ready to attack.

SM: Was there no medicine that you used?

MM:No! No! no medicine at all .Have you heard of medicine? What happened is that there was a man who was skilled in medicine.

SM: Was this skilful man among yourselves?

MM: Yes this guy fetched his medicine from Nigeria. He was Siyothula from Qumbu.

SM: Did this man give you something?

MM: Not all of us,there were certain individuals that were cut so that they do not become soft targets.It’s not that there was something that protected us.I am aware that propaganda spread that all of us had incisions and that everyone should be aware of us. (Baneentlanga Bhassop!)They have incisions Beware! a bullet cannot go through .That was not the truth. That’s why even today in Marikana there are

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such issues ,you’ll find that not all of them had met inyanga (healer).

SM: What happened at the Ntlonze mountains when eight vans approached you up the hill? MM: We saw them coming and waited patiently. They came, left the vans at the

bottom of the mountain. They came on foot suddenly we heard gun shots .GQUU!

GQUU! (Sound of guns)They arrived Qha! Qha! Qha! Qha! (sound of guns)They shot not seeing anyone as we were in between the bushes. They shot a certain man

even though they were not seeing us. We took that man and put him down next to

the sound stone but it was too late that man passed away.

SM: Who was the man that passed away?

MM: No, I do not remember but there was one more man that fell .One was from

Tina family in Ntlonze and the other was from Tsakana location. They advanced and

shot the second one .Giyama cried "Ma Afrika sawuphelela apha ''. (Africans we will

die here)Let us not fold arms and wait for them! Let’s go to them! Follow Africans!

What are we waiting for? Africans charged out of the forest to the police.

Giyama cried again,"Kill the donors Boere whatever! The police came face to face

with us .No one was shot when we were faced directly with the enermy. Police ran

for their lives we chased them shouting “Hit with the sword!!''.Africans shouted

"Ungalibhuqi Gqitha"(Hack and pass on) those fallen police were beaten by the

Africans who were not fast runners. We were shot by the police that came from

behind us.

SM: As you were confronting the enemy how did the other police attack you from

behind? Tell me.

MM: The police had divided themselves into two groups. The first group that

108 advanced to us is the one that went past township straight to Ntlonze while the other group went past Wodehouse to Tsakana and came from the back of the Mngqanga

Mountain. Those are the ones that finished us while chasing those that came from township line. Bullets were shot at the back of us. We did not know that there was another group of police that was after us. One man from us, Miso was arrested because when he came out of bushes he moved backwards not knowing that there was another group of police behind us.

SM: What happened there after?

MM: On the following day people gathered at Qamata Great Place. Deceased people were taken by police vans. Even police were affected. Two police were collected hiding still alive and taken to hospital. That was the end of the battle.

SM: Did you go to your homes?

MM: Yes we went home but arrested on separate days. Others were arrested on the spot others at their homes. For instance Nontente and others were arrested in Lady

Frere.

SM: What about yourself?

MM: I was arrested at home by a certain young guy who was sent from Qamata

Great Place. Two men Swelindawo and Ndede were the men whom we collected from their homes, so we send them home so they were not arrested. We did not even mention their names.

SM Why did you not mention them?

MM: They had not come with us from Cape Town furthermore we did not want to sell out.

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SM: Where were you imprisoned?

MM: Here in Cofimvaba. I was arrested on 20 December 1962.Trials started in 1963

in Queenstown. I was sentenced to 15 years in Robben Island. The judge said " I

will start from you No 2 up to No 22 giving you 15 years’’. The judge came again to

No 1 and said ''As a leader Shweni will give you 20 years hard work no fine in jail.

The judge came back to No 23 and said '' You are dangerous your crime is huge you are the cause. “He was given death sentence. That was Apleni. The judge said," you will die and die again".

SM: That was sad.

MM: Apleni had told us before leaving the cells that on day we were to be sentenced.

He told us that we were sentenced three times and that he was to get the death

sentence. I can say he had a vision.

SM: What impact did your involvement in the struggle had on you, your family and

community at large?

MM: It did not have much impact on my family as during that time I was a bachelor. I

got married after my release from Robben Island.

SM: Do you think your aims of fighting for freedom as PAC migrants were the same

as those of the organization at national level?

MM: Yes we were fighting for freedom of Africans in their country. We fought looking

at African nationalism.

SM: What linked K.D.Matanzima with your attack of white people especially as he lived in Cofimvaba not in Western Cape?

MM: K.D.Matanzima was the Paramount chief of Western Thembuland.He brutally

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abused migrants at his great Place especially those coming from Cape Town. He called us '' ONgcothoza'' I think he was threatened by our political activeness. He kept on asking the activities of PAC. The worst part was that we were beaten and we did not like that beating process.

SM: Was he one of your targets?

MM: Not at all it was just propaganda people just formed stories just because he worked hand in hand with the white government. We came from Cape Town to release our Africans who were imprisoned in Cofimvaba nothing more.

SM: When you reflect back do you think what you did get enough recognition?

MM: No, let me tell you this, PAC ideology was not accepted by European people because our organization did not accept the Kliptown Charter which accommodated the oppressors in our country.

SM: What can you highlight as your successes and what can you identify as your challenges?

MM: We fought for freedom but it is with regret that we do not get the support and recognition we deserve from ordinary people and government maybe it is because we are not in the majority. To us this freedom is failing us, people are suffering more than the time we were fighting. The leaking of our information during the battle led to our imprisonment. The success we achieved is that we turned the misfortune of being imprisoned to fortune in the sense that on island we learnt a lot, even now I am more educated than the people who were not imprisoned, remember I only had passed Standard 1 but now I am politically clear, I speak English well and what is in my mind cannot be taken out.

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SM: Thank you for your cooperation .I have learnt a lot .I will come more often in case I have something I do not understand. Thanks a lot.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

A. Official (Cape Archives, Cape Town)

GSC 1/2/1/1007: State versus Notase Albert Shweni and others, 25 February 1963:

1/COF 9/1/44 Files C4/2, C5, C/12, C4/2

NA, Box 7/1/31:1 TSM.File C13

NA Box 4/1/9/180 “Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the events…at Paarl” (Snyman Commission)

B Non –official B 1 Printed

Karis, T and G.M. Carter (eds), From Protest to Challenge: a Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882-1964, 4 volumes (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1972-1977).

Makwetu,C.M, Azania Cheated: an Autobiography [Queenstown: MX Print, 2011).

Mbeki, G., South Africa: The Peasants’ Revolt (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964.

B.2 Oral (date and place of first interview)

- Mpolose Mangqangwana, Ezibeleni Queenstown 10 May 2013

- Mankankela Mimi, Outhay location, 24 June 2013

- Qhaphuza Buyaphi , Ntlakwefolo location Qamata, 3 July 2013

- Nontente Kamteni, Ndonga location Lady Frere, 21 July 2013

-Phuza Dlongwana, Maya location Qamata, 15 August 2013

- Zamiwonga Deliwe, Maya location Qamata, 29 September 2013

- Lennox Gudlindlu, Kings Park Queenstown, 5 October 2013

-Mesile Laleni, Sabalele location, Cofimvaba, 15 November 2016

-Fakintupha Mangqangwana, Sabalele location, 25 November 2016

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II. Secondary sources

A.1 Books

Crais C, The politics of evil: magic, state power and political imagination in South

Africa (Cambridge 2002).

Gerhart, G., Black Power in South Africa: the Evolution of an Ideology (Berkeley:

University of California, 1978)

Laurence, P, The Transkei (Johannesburg: Ravan Press 1976)

Lodge T, Black Politics in South Africa since 1945, (Johannesburg: Ravan Press

1983).

Mgxashe M, ‘’Bra Ace ‘’are you with us?” The story of a PAC activist (Mafube, 2006)

Ntsebeza, L. Democracy Compromised (Pretoria: HSRC, 2006).

Wilson, M and A. Mafeje, Langa: a study of Social groups in an African Township (Cape Town: Oxford, 1963)

Pheko, M, The Hidden Side of South African Politics (Tokoloho Development Association, 2009).

A2 Journal articles and chapters in books kaPlaatjie, T, “The PAC’s Underground Activities,” in in South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume 2[(1970 - 1980] (Pretoria: UNISA Press 2007).

Lodge, T, “Poqo and Rural Resistance in the Transkei, 1960-1965,” Paper presented to the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, and 12 January 1978

Lodge, T. “The Paarl Insurrection,” African Studies Review (1982)

Lodge, T, “The Poqo Insurrection,, 1961-1968,” in T. Lodge (ed), Resistance and Ideology in Settler Societies (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1986)

Maaba B,”The PAC‘s war against the state “, in South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume 1[(1960 -1970] 2nd edition (Pretoria: UNISA Press 2010).

Matoti S and L. Ntsebeza, ”Rural resistance in Mpondoland and Thembuland ‘’in SADET, The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume] (1910 -1970]2nd edition (Pretoria: UNISA Press 2010).

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Zondi S,”Peasants struggles of the 1950s: gaMatlala and Zeerust ‘’, in SADET, The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Volume 1 [1990 -1970], 2nd edition (Pretoria: UNISA Press 2010)

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