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 ...

Now this group of killers left and the Comrades came thereafter. When they arrived they called us all back. They said ‘please come back from your hiding place there …’ I searched all over the shack area for my wife and my child, I couldn’t find them and another person told me that ‘I’ve ...

... The first person they met was Philip Matela who is now asking for amnesty for their murder. // They said to me they were looking for the ANC comrades and we knew that the right wingers and the Russian vigilante group were going to attack people in the ...

By the 15th of June, 1986 many of the experienced activists were in detention or in the underground. But across the valley a group of young comrades had gathered on a hill to prepare for the next day’s June 16 commemoration. Again the enemy came in the night. When they had finished their job six ...

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 ...

... 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. ...

... Lamane a fellow member of COSAS tells more of the police setup of Zenzile. // On this night, they arrived at the house and there were few other comrades with us in the house. Zenzile was not there. So, they got in there, there were some two or three other black security policemen with them, ...

... 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 ...

... will always be a hero. // This week at the Truth Commission it was a mother’s turn to speak of her son who had disappeared. And for his former comrades to remember him. // The picture that I have in my mind is exactly the picture of a promising young leader then, who could have been a ...

that I should be taken back to prison. Our decision was to start a hunger strike; we were 16 in all. We started on the 24th and after seven days the comrades requested us to withdraw the hunger strike. I was left on my own; I said no more turning back. In our cells we wrote on the walls ...

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 ...

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.

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 ...

In George, the local ANC is getting ready for their day of showing their anger and protest. // Comrades, if we were to put down all the crimes of PW Botha, this wall is too small. We left out Ashley Kriel, we left out District Six, we left out Sophiatown; we left out Cato Manor. We left out so many ...

… other victims in the area, Mr. Fanyana Sibanyoni, lost his son, Jabulani Sibanyoni, leader of the comrades at the time who was fatally shot after a funeral of one of the young fighters of Wesselton township.

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 ...

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.

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.