comrades

the hills of KaNyamazane became powerful symbols in the new struggle emerging under the state of emergency. From these watchtowers above the valleys comrades could watch the movements of the soldiers and the police down below. Up there surprise raids were less likely and groups could quickly ...

Steve Nkwenya, an attorney at the time, represented many members of the then Wesselton Action Committee and so-called comrades who were defending their community.

Mrs. Mandela said I should take the minibus and go fetch those boys from the Methodist centre and I went to Winnie to find out if she had really said that. And I took the bus, after she said yes, with the other comrades.

They shot my son. They were leading a funeral of one of their comrades. He was walking in front leading the procession and that is when they shot him and still repeated him twice. When we heard the shots we ran away. I then decided to come home after all that confusion. When I got here they told me ...

was the only one of her family who was politically involved. Today she is sad rather than bitter that her sister and mother died at the hands of her comrades. She believes the perpetrators were ill-disciplined youths who regarded anyone who did not toe the line as the enemy. // That time there was ...

... the young medical student was found dead in his cell. The news of Biko’s death in detention shocked the world. Some of his closest friends and comrades remembered their deep sense of loss when they found out that he’d died in ...

a Standard five pupil in Vryburg, and by all accounts a dedicated UDF and youth activist in Huhudi until she was named an impimpi, informer, and her comrades dealt with her. Frieda’s grandmother, mother, sister have only begun dealing with the pain of her brutal ...

With this alleged incriminating receipt Zenzile’s life was now in danger from his own comrades. He dropped out of sight, but his political career had ended and with it his good reputation as an activist.

Solomon Mahlangu was one of the many UDF comrades who got a taste of Mbokodo’s venom. He too was taken to the Siyabuswa hall and tortured. // At about 6 pm. They came at the chief minister of that time, mister SS Skosana. Then he asked me several questions then he said to me. ”Mister Mahlangu ...

But Zara was damaged in more complex ways. She spent seven months in that basement, because of some of her comrades. There was racial tension; she was belittled for being Coloured. One woman, a high ranking MK soldier, made sexual advances. Zara rejected her. In retaliation she was blamed for a ...

of baby Thabang, born in Swaziland in 1987. In October 1988 Ndwandwe was abducted from Manzini to Pietermaritzburg. The people who sold her out were comrades. Her abductors: four men in the South African Police. Their aim: to turn her into an askari through torture. Ndwandwe refused. They killed ...

This place where I’m standing is where all the tortures in ’86 and the year before ’86: ’85, the comrades and the Huhudi Civic Association, the Huhudi Youth Organisation in particular, were actually tortured. We were actually leaning against this tree and we were handcuffed, and we were ...

... the previous night, the 27th of June, 1985 at about 9 pm. You can imagine the shock, and I shivered to think what might had happened to these comrades. I kept the news secret for a while, from all the family, except for one person, my brother-in-law who was planning what to do next. On ...

... the process. For you, the process would be development… // One could say that. // For the security forces the goal would be to clear the area of comrades and for the witdoeke to get rid of UDF related allies etc. // Yes ...

... businesses in the region destroyed. // The forces against independence were an unusual mix: the Pedi speaking people of Moutse allied with the UDF comrades and the KwaNdebele Royal Family. It was here, at the Royal Kraal that mass meetings were held to mobilize the people. ...

... between those in the struggle and those perceived to be sell-outs. Metabo Mantsunyane was a member of the Dikwankwetla party in QwaQwa. The comrades branded her a traitor and burnt her house three times. // After they’ve burnt my house we went to the police station and the police came ...

... We were merely lying there. All of us. Trying to defend Mrs Mandela. I actually wanted to report the matter to the police but I thought Winnie’s comrades were going to crush me or kill me. So I decided not to say anything, just keep my gap ...

turned to work for the state during his imprisonment. By 1986 Ngxobongwana was the main witdoek leader in Crossroads, now working against his former Comrades. Their conflict came to a head when the state decided to upgrade Crossroads. This meant that the squatter camps had to be cleared and their ...

... vigilante wit doek and police activity designed to flush out progressives as well as affect the state’s removals, led to open warfare between the comrades and ”fathers.” The result: Many homes burnt down, 50 000 homeless, countless deaths. Lenox Maphalane was on his way home to his mother ...

... or the impimpi tag would decide your fate, often a horrific one. As were the Masupa family in Daveyton, whose house was burnt to ashes after comrades decided that one member, Hendrik Masupa was an informer. Four inhabitants burnt to death and four others were injured. Phinias Ndlovu who ...