1985 MAMELODI MASSACRE REMEMBERED WITH GRIEF

Sandy Lebese, Chairperson of the ANC Mamelodi Veterans League and Junior Malobola 21 November 1985 massacre victims

On 21 November 1985 residents of Mamelodi embarked upon a protest march to the offices of the Mamelodi City Council (now known as Mini-Munitoria) opposite where the Solomon Mahlangu Square in Mamelodi West is situated today.

13 people lost their lives while hundreds were maimed and injured when the apartheid police and soldiers opened fire on the hapless, protesting residents.

Two-month-old infant Trocia Ndlovu also lost her life on that day, this after inhaling teargas that had been thrown into her yard by the apartheid security forces.

Down the line under a democratic dispensation The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) ruled that then Mayor of Mamelodi City Council Bernard Ndlazi, as well as a police officer known as Captain Le Roux , were responsible for the Massacre.

This as they had ordered the use of excessive force against the unarmed residents.

Some of the residents who were around at the time of the Massacre have shared their memories of the fateful day with Tshwane Talks.

The following are their stories of grief regarding the Massacre

1.JUNIOR MALOBOLA

I was there on that fateful day and as a “stay away” had been declared in Mamelodi, I couldn’t go to my newly-found job.

In 1985 there was a “State of Emergency” which had been declared by the erstwhile apartheid regime and a curfew had been imposed in terms of which our movements as residents were restricted from dusk until dawn.

The people of Mamelodi were disgruntled with high bills on their Municipal accounts, especially electricity billing.

With the tutelage of concerned Mamelodi-based political and community groupings, it was decided that residents of Mamelodi must march to the Municipality’s offices to hand in a memorandum of grievances regarding their concerns.

As the residents started marching from the East to the West of the township where the Municipality offices were situated, police and soldiers’ helicopters could be seen hovering up in the sky, and armoured vehicles known as Hippos could be seen in almost every street of the township.

When the march reached the Municipality offices in Mamelodi West, the then incumbent Mayor Bernard Ndlazi was ordered by the apartheid security officers to climb atop a Hippo vehicle to address our concerns and thereafter receive our memorandum.

But as Ndlazi addressed the thousands of residents gathered in front of him, we suddenly heard gunshots coming from the Western side, where Denlyn Mall is situated today.

Chaos reigned supreme as residents started fleeing the scene in panic and a stampede ensued.

It took us two to three hours to arrive at home in Mamelodi East as we had to dodge and hide from the police in their Hippos along the way.

Our people had been killed without provoking anyone and I believe there must be restitution for the families who lost their loved ones.

Now in 1986, as the struggle against apartheid intensified, our Mokgonyana family home in Section 14 was bombed by the apartheid security forces along with the house of Dr Ribeiro and that of Reverend Kadiaka in Section 16 on the same night.

The apartheid forces bombed these houses because these families were actively involved in the struggle against apartheid, and the then racist government wanted to annihilate all of them.

2.EDDIE MNGUNI.

On the morning of 21 November 1985 many parents were positive about the march and my mother (who was not inclined to join protest marches) and our neighbour were in high spirits as they went out to join other parents in the march to the Mamelodi City Council offices (present day Mini-Munitoria)

I was so proud to actually see my mother joining other parents in the march against high municipal rates.

I remember the women of our section scolding us and telling us that we as young people must not join them in the march as we had a way of always getting into trouble with the police.

Be that as it may we managed to manoeuvre and ultimately got to the bridge between Mamelodi East and Mamelodi West, where the marchers were on their way to the Municipality’s offices.

The marshalls of the march wielded sjamboks and threatened to beat us up if we as young people would ever dare to join the march.

All along there was heavy police presence and later on we learned that there were shootings at the Municipal offices that resulted in some of our elders lying dead, while others were badly injured.

As a brutal confirmation that the march had gone awry, police vans started running amok in the streets of the township with the officers therein ordering us off the streets and using teargas and rubber bullets to disperse us.

My mother and our neighbour arrived very late from the march, this as they had to be taken to hospital for treatment because they had been caught in the cross-fire that had ensued at the Municipal offices.

My mother was so shaken and from that day she has never attended any public meeting whatsoever.

3.SANDY LEBESE.

The march started at the YMCA Hall in Khalambazo, Mamelodi East and community leader and anti-apartheid activist Louis Khumalo was the chief organiser thereof.

At the start of the march the mood and spirit among the protestors was very high with lots of toyi-toying coupled with the singing of freedom songs.

But after the shooting the mood of the people changed as they were now angry.

The whole of Mamelodi West was full of smoke emanating from the police’s teargas canisters.

Many elderly people had been injured while all in all 13 Mamelodi residents died as a result of the shooting by the police.

As Comrades we continued to plan for the funeral of the deceased residents and helped the bereaved families to bury their loved ones, and the whole process was very sad.

As a result of the 21 November 1985 Massacre, the community came together to launch the Mamelodi Civic Association in April 1986.

The organisation became a platform that we used to continue mobilising our community against high rentals and poor service delivery.