Special Report Transcript Episode 15, Section 4, Time 20:26

Victoria West is a sleepy town in the middle of the Great Karoo. But it, like most other towns dotted across this vast landscape, carries its battle scars from the past. The first dates back to false rumours of an attack on white inhabitants of the town in 1968. The other took place almost 20 years later when an entire family became the target of another rumour campaign, this time of being sell-outs. Both took place here, in the small black township of Mashinosane. When the police knocked on Alwinus Mgalasi’s door at four o’clock one morning in 1968 the first thought that crossed his mind was that he might be behind with his poll tax. But when he stepped out of his door he realized there was more to his arrest than met the eye. // The whole street was full of vans even the street on the other side and the street in front of that. My goodness, something else is going on here. I got a fright. Although you could not see it you could feel something was going on. I went into the office of Nortje and Vosloo. Nortje said ‘yes you are just the man to tell us about Poqo activities in Victoria West’ Poqo? What is Poqo? He said we know you have been holding meetings for three years already. Three years? In Victoria West?

Notes: Alwinus Mgalasi interviewed