Page 16 NATIONAL NEWS NUM News December 1989 Leaders, heroes fighters and fathers The release of tried and tested leaders of our struggle is a victory for the people of South Africa. NUM NEWS introduces the men who remained unwavering in their commitment and bravery during the long years in prison. Mount Frcre area in the Trans- kci. In 1934 he sought work in Cape Town, first as a dock worker and later as a factory worker, lie firsl started organising wor­ kers for ihe African Food and Can ning Workers Union in the early 1940s in the fish factories along the West Coast. In 1951 he became general sec­ retary of the Food and Canning Workers Union, and in the same year joined the ANC, He later be came president of the ANC in the Cape region. He was also a founder member of Sactu, OSCAR During the 1970s, Mpetha was regional chairman of the Trans- keian Democratic Party. In 1978 MPETHA he became national organiser for Ihe AFCWU and also helped form the Nyanga Resident's As­ sociation. At a welcome back rally Mphela quoted Chief Albert He played a leading role in Lulhuli as saying thai liberation mobilising people against the de- attended by 8 000 people in depended not on ihe oppressor si ruction of Crossroads and in the Western Cape, West­ bul entirely on ihe oppressed. the 1980 bus boycott. In August ern Cape ANC leader and The lime has come", he said, 1980 he was arreted and charged trade unionist Oscar "you arc saying lo ihe oppressor with murder and terrorism, and Mpheta said the armed enough is enough." He said June 1983 he was convicted for pressure had to put on I he gov­ "incitement". struggle should continue as" ernment to release Mandela. His wife, Rose, died in 1987 but W;alte r Sisulu, 76, was a joined the ANC long as the South African he was refused permission to at­ Oscar Mphela. 80. had his leg founder member of ihe In 1944 he married Albcrtina, a regime remained fully tend the funeral His son Karl amputated while in prison. ANC Youth League and nurse who is now a president of armed. Mphela was born in 1909 in the died in a car accident. served as the General Sec­ the United Democratic Front. retary of the ANC from His first position in the ANC Unions. was as a member of the militant 1949tol954. Aged only 27. he was elected Youth League, which played a the ANC branch chairman for He played a crucial role in important role in shaping the Port Elizabeth in 1947. He also leading the ANC during the years ANC*s new direction. served as district secretary for the when it grew from a small organi­ In 1946 Walter Sisulu was Communist Party - which he had sation into a militant mass move­ elected to the ANC Transvaal ex­ joined in 1943 - until its banning. ment. ecutive, and in 1949 to the posi­ On his release Sisulu said: "I tion of secretary- general. During those days he worked have been inspired and grateful Sisulu's contribution was cru­ closely with ANC and Commun­ to the people for their actions/ ist Party leader Govan Mbeki. cial to the Defiance Campaign of Colleagues remember him as a Waller Sisulu was born in Eng- 1952. In December that year he wiling teacher of young activists. cobo in the Transkci in 1912 - the was convicted, along with Nelson same year the ANC was formed. Mandela and 18 others under the Mhlaba was involved in Ihe The son of a peasant farmer, he Suppression of Communism Act Eastern Cape bus boycott of was brought up mainly by his and received a nine month sen­ 1949, and during the national mother tence. defiance campaign of 1952 he He left school to work in a He was among the 156 people was volunteer in chief for the Port dairy, and later worked as a gold- charged with high treason in De­ Elizabeth area. miner at the Germiston Rose cember 1956, and acquitted in March 1961, He was arrested and detained Deep gold mine on several occasions during ihe The thing that pushed him In 1960hewasdctaincd for sev­ more than anything else to 1950s and 1960S and was tried in eral months under South Africa's become politically involved, Sisu­ Ihe 1956 treason trial. first Stale of Emergency, and in RAYMOND lu recalls, was the pass laws. 1962 arrested on several occa In December 1961 he joined 'Every action taken against the sions. The following year he was Umkhonlo we Sizwc, and be­ black man on the question of convicted of furthering the aims came a member of the high com­ passes, just touched me deeply of the ANC and organising a MHLABA mand soon afterwards. and worked on my heart," stayaway. Released on bail he He was arreslcd with Walter He had his first taste of or­ was held under 24 hour house Sisulu and others at Rivonia and ganised political activity when he •nest jailed for life. In 1986 he married joined Clement Kadalic's Indus­ He helped found Umkhonlo ymond Mhlaba was education when as a Dideka Hcliso, the mother of his trial and Commercial Workers wc Sizwc in 1961, serving on the three children, while at Pollsmor. Union. high command, and wenl under­ born into a working class laundry worker he became On his release, he said his pol­ "Kadalic impressed me a great ground in 1963. He was arrested family in Port Elizabeth in active in the Council for itical role in ihe Eastern Cape deaf, says Sisulu, "because he in the raid on Liliesleaf farm, Ri­ 1920. He began his political Non-Europeon Trade had started already. was an agitator". In 1940 he vonia. NUM News December 1989 NATIONAL NEWS Page 17 drew Mlangeni on his re­ lease. "South Africa has not yet been liberated Our coming out of prison has no* liberated South Africa from racial oppression*. Andrew Mlangeni grew up in Johannesburg in a family of 12 children. He worked as a golf caddie (he still loves the game) and a bus driver to pay to study further. He joined the ANC Youth League in 1951 and became in­ volved in the 1952 Defiance Cam­ paign. Mlangeni became a journalist on the newspaper New Age when Ruth First was editor. In December 1961 he joined the ranks of Umkhonto and be­ came part of the Johannesburg regional command machinery. He left South Africa in 1962 lo receive military training and re­ turned the next year* What motivated him to get in­ volved in politics, he says, is *by nature I'm a person who docs not approve of unjust action." He was arrested in a raid on his Sowcto home on July 111963. He X have been struck very in the cementing ol the alliance I have no doubl in my for me to go back to prison, is married to June and they have forcefully by the tremen­ between the Indian congresses mind that if it is necessary I'll go tomorrow", said An­ fuur children. dous political conscious­ and the ANC in the late 40s. Kathrada was involved in the ness of our people in the National defiance campaign, and political prisoners were country, and this is per the Congress of the People in free. sonified in the UDF, Co- 1955. He was arrested and de­ He added that "women occupy satu and the mass demo­ tained many times during those an important role in the struggle 1 years- He joined the military as they arc the ones who mould cratic movement.* wing of the ANC in 1961. In late the nation. This was said by Ahmed Ka- 1962 he went underground after Trade unionist Molsoalcdi, 65, thrada on his release after 26 he was banned and placed under was born in Sclthukhuneland in years in jail. Kathrada said: "these house arrest. 1924. formidable organisations have come up and provided leadership Arrested at Rivonia, he was As a teenager he moved lo convicted of sabotage and sen­ Johannesburg and became a fac­ in ibe struggle*. tenced to life imprisonment at tory worker. He soon became a the age of 34. Although his law­ leader in the Leather Worker's He grew up in Johannesburg yers said the evidence against him Association and joined the Com­ where he was influenced by Dr was flimsy, he chose not to appeal munist Party of SA. He served as Dadoo and the Cachalia bro­ in solidarity with his comrades. thers. chairperson of the Council of Forty eight years after he had Non-Europcon Trade Unions By trie age of 11 in 1941 he was joined the organisation, Kathra­ (CNETU) in the 1950s, attending political meetings, and da is still supporlativc of the Motsoalcdi joined the ANC in by 1945 was active in the Trans­ ideals of the Communist Party. 1948 and later served on the or­ vaal Indian Congress. He is confident that only social­ ganisation's branch executive. He had joined the Communist ism can solve the problems of so­ He was involved in the defiance Party in 1943. He was a key figure ciety. campaign in the Transvaal and was banned. He was detained during the I960 state of Emer­ gency and soon afterwards joined Umkhonto's regional structures. He was arrested at home. WILTON He has a wife, Caroline, and v/n his release, Elias struggle should continue seven children * three of whom Motsoaledt said the until Mandela and all other are in exile.