Mamelodi activists who were present during the 21 November 1985 Mamelodi Massacre have told Tshwane Talks about the circumstances that led to several people being shot and killed and others being injured when residents of Mamelodi marched to the municipal offices to protest against high rents and many other grievances that the community had against the apartheid regime in general.
Residents had gathered at a spot that today is known as Solomon Mahlangu Square opposite the City of Tshwane municipality in Mamelodi West.
The following is their verbatim narrative:
1.MARTHA MPHELO. At the time of the 21 November 1985 Mamelodi Massacre I was a high school student and member of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS).
Though we were young, my peers and I were very active and enlightened about politics in South Africa and the discriminatory apartheid regime.
Being a political activist was dangerous at that time and we conducted our activities in secret.
In some instances we would hold meetings in the mountain of Mamelodi called Mogale and even sleep there to avoid being arrested by the police.
There were many factors that had led to the march, which was jointly planned by student organisations like COSAS, youth organisations like Mamelodi Youth Organusation (MAYO) and community organisations like South African National Civics Organisation ( SANCO)
Though the issue of high rents is often mentioned as the main factor that led to residents marching in protest protesting, other factors included the presence of South African Defence Force soldiers in the township and also at all the high schools in Mamelodi.
These soldiers caused havoc by killing, assaulting and detaining people in the township at will and were a law unto themselves.
The system of Bantu Education was also another factor which led to the protest march because besides being inferior in quality, learners were forced to pay what was called “school fees” for it and Matriculants who didn’t pay an extra fee called “exam fee” were not allowed to write their final year exams.
Our parents couldn’t afford all these fees as rent were also faces with the challenges of paying high rents.
Over and above all we marched in defiance of the apartheid regime; demanding that it be overthrown.
When the crowd reached the entrance of the Mamelodi Town Council at Denneboom in Mamelodi West, and demanded to see the then Mayor Bernard Ndlazi, chaos broke out as police and soldiers opened fire on the marching crowd.
Around 13 people were killed while hundreds were maimed and some of them are still wheelchair-bound even today.
Residents retaliated by setting the streets alight with tyres, dirt and stones and the apartheid security forces ventured into the township opening fire indiscriminately and a two month old baby girl Trocia Ndlovu died after inhaling teargas that had been thrown into her house by the apartheid security forces.
A “consumer boycott” was immediately embarked upon whereby Mamelodi residents stopped buying goods from white-owned shops in the town of Pretoria so as to force white businesses to enter the fray and condemn the system of apartheid in its entirety abd support freedom for the oppressed black masses in South Africa.
In order to quell the chaos in the townships of South Africa including Mamelodi, the apartheid government declared a state of emergency whereby people were killed, tortured and detained en masse.
Some of the activists who were at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid in Mamelodi during those days were like Kona Makgwere, Sandy Lebese, Tonka Matjila, Austin Kadiaka, Peter Mothiba, Abram Makolane, Manoko Mokgonyana, Phuthi Mokgonyana, Gerald Sedutla, Nicky Matlala, Louis Khumalo, Peter Baloyi, Squire Mahlangu, Bomba Baloyi, Matjokotja Kutumela, Peter Makgathulela and Durban Sokuba, Lolo Ditshego, Mike Seloane, Jeffrey Sibaya, Stanza Bopape and Archie Ramaboya.
As Cosas members in Mamelodi we came up with what we called “Resolution 1985” whereby we resolved that Matriculants will boycott their exams in protest against all the atrocities meted out to them by the apartheid regime and this resolution was adopted by many student organisations countrywide. Various churches like the Roman Catholic Church in Mamelodi East and the Lutheran Church on Tsamaya Road actively supported the struggle against apartheid and priests like Nico Smith, who was a white man cane to live in Mamelodi in defiance of the apartheid laws.
Reverend Kadiaka and Reverend Legotlo and Reverend Mpepele were also very active in the struggle against apartheid in Mamelodi.
I am very sad that the Mamelodi Massacre is not commemorated they way it should be commemorated and it is not given the respect it deserves.
We don’t honour the real patriots of the struggle in Mamelodi.
Mamelodi is one of the townships that literally heeded ANC President Oliver Tambo’s call to make South Africa ungovernable.
This after Tambo declared the following:
“I declare every Comrade a combatant, every combatant a Comrade.”. 2. SANDY LEBESE.
The march that unfortunately led to the Mamelodi Massacre was planned a week in advance at the local YMCA hall.
Some of the meetings in this regard were held at the house of prominent activist Louis Khumalo and some students joined adults in these secret meetings.
One of the students who were part of these meetings was Mamelodi Cosas leader Nicky Matlala.
The purpose of the march was to protest against poor municipal services, harassment of the residents and activists by the police as well as the presence of the South African Defence Force soldiers in Mamelodi.
We were also protesting against the black local municipality headed by Bernard Ndlazi who was the so-called Mayor of Mamelodi.
Our parents were paying exorbitant amounts of money for poor municipal services yet the streets of Mamelodi were not taken care of.
The township was filthy with garbage.
The protest started in the Eastern side of Mamelodi at the then PUTCO bus depot.
The march was meant to be peaceful and as the crowd moved towards the Western side of Mamelodi many residents joined in the march.
It is is estimated that about 50 000 people took part in the march.
The revolutionary spirit among the residents of Mamelodi was high and Comrades like Louis Khumalo, Lolo Ditshego, Durban Sokuba and Nicky Matlala led the march.
When the marchers reached the entrance of the Mamelodi Town Council to hand in their demands, the SADF soldiers ordered via a loud hailer that the crowd must disperse.
But the crowd defied the SADF’s instruction to disperse but continued singing and toyi-toying.
The police and the soldiers then opened fire on the crowd and chaos erupted as people tried to run away to save their lives.
Louis Khumalo was detained and brutally beaten up by the apartheid security forces as he was regarded as the instigator of the march.
I was also detained and sent to Moot Police Station in Gezina, while ithe activists like myself were taken to prisons like New Lock in Pretoria, this as we were also regarded as trouble- makers by the apartheid regime.