Special Report Transcript Episode 11, Section 4, Time 17:57

Sydwell Rammotla’s story shows that rural South Africa was not untouched by apartheid inspired conflict and violence. GaMatlala in the Northern Province, ruled at the time by the Lebowa government witnessed intense feuding between anti-apartheid villages and traditional chiefs in support of the South African regime. By the late seventies and eighties the feud developed a hard ugly edge. The main conflict was over chieftaincy. Chief Ben Matlala, a member of the Lebowa government angered by the lack of support by the GaMatlala community went on the attack. The result: forced relocations, confiscations of cattle, burnt houses, and inevitably mutilation and death. Rosina Cholo lost her six month old granddaughter in such an attack.

References: there are no references for this transcript