Programme director Cllr Baloyi
The families of Matsepane and Mmawasha
Chief Maake Ramoahlodi
ANC NEC Member and Minister of women, youth and people with disabilities, Sindi Chikunga
ANC NEC Member and Minister of Electricity and Energy Dr Ramokgopa
Deputy Minister, Mr Andries Nel
2nd DSG of SANCO and the ANCVL
ANC PEC Member and Speaker of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature Dr Makhurupetje
Greater Letaba Municipality Mayor and Deputy Regional Chairperson, Cllr Dagma Mamanyoha and all Cllrs
Umkhonto Wesizwe Liberation War Veterans (MKLWV) Provincial Commissar, Thomas Mahlaila
ANC Regional Secretary Cde Sonia Ngobeni-Maswanganyi
BaMoshate Ba Ga-Maupa Tribal Authority Ntate Maake Ramahlodi
Baruti ba kereke e kgethwa ya St Engenas le dikereke kamoka
Speaking in a Radio Freedom broadcast, forty-eight hours after PW Botha had imposed a state of emergency in 1985, President Oliver Tambo made a call for the intensification of the effort of rendering apartheid ungovernable. In this broadcast he said the following amongst other things: “Our own tasks are very clear. To bring about the kind of society that is visualised in the Freedom Charter, we have to break down
and destroy the old order. We have to make apartheid unworkable and our country ungovernable. The accomplishment of these tasks will create the situation for us to overthrow the apartheid regime and for power to pass into the hands of the people as a whole.”
He further made a call to all Black South Africans to get involved in the struggle for freedom and about this he said the following:” We must spread this offensive to reach all other parts of our country. In all our localities, wherever they may be, we must rise now and destroy the apartheid organs of government that are used to hold us in bondage. We make this call to all black people - African, Indian and so-called Coloureds.”
The intensification of the struggle after this call by president Oliver Tambo is now a matter of historical record. Alex Matshapa Matsepane and Solomon Mankopane Mawasha at the tender ages of 21 years and 20 years respectively, were part of that brave generation of young people who joined in the general offensive to make the apartheid system unworkable and South Africa ungovernable. They were part of the that unstoppable force of the people who confronted the organs of government designed to assert apartheid and oppression and rendered them ineffective.
Indeed, these two young people were part of that organising force called the United Democratic Front (UDF) that played a crucial role in mobilizing resistance against the apartheid government during the 1980s. Such was the strength of the UDF that it united 565 organizations with a total membership of 1.65 million which was pivotal in linking isolated struggles into a cohesive movement against apartheid. The UDF responded to the call by Oliver Tambo by adopting four key strategies which included:
- Mass Mobilization: The UDF organized large-scale protests, rallies, and strikes, bringing together various community groups, labor unions, and political organizations to .
- Non-Violent Resistance: which comprised methods of resistance, including boycotts of apartheid institutions, which undermined the legitimacy of the government and its policies.
- Community Engagement: The UDF worked at grassroots levels, engaging communities to raise awareness about their rights and the injustices of apartheid which fostered a sense of ownership and agency among ordinary South Africans in the struggle for freedom and equality.
- International Solidarity: By forming alliances with international organizations and lobbying foreign governments and corporations, the UDF sought support from international organizations and movements, which helped to isolate the apartheid regime diplomatically and economically.
It was this multipronged strategy adopted by the UDF that made it difficult for apartheid regime to sustain its illegitimate government. Feeling the pressure emanating from the countrywide actions by the UDF the apartheid responded with even greater repression. Alex and Solomon were part of those young people who stood against the increased repression with bravery, courage, firmness and determination. They and other young people were not fazed, and they stood and dared the apartheid regime to do its worst.
We are, therefore gathered here today to restore the dignity of these patriots who were indeed the midwives of the democracy that we are enjoying today. Alex and Solomon were sentenced to death by an illegal regime that was run by men and women who were frightened that the people of South Africa were stopping at nothing to put an end to white supremacy and its privileges.
These two patriots were a threat to a system that was on the verge of collapse, which its leaders knew that it could not be maintained for much longer. It is within this context that Alex and Solomon were hanged on 5 December 1986, just six months after being given the death sentence. They too were buried in unmarked pauper graves in Mamelodi. The apartheid leaders were so convinced of their invincibility that they reasoned that by burying freedom fighters in unmarked graves, the brave acts of the freedom fighters would be never be told and in time the people would forget. It was the enemy’s wish that the courageous and heroic deeds of these patriots would be interred in their bones in unmarked graves so that the history of the oppressor becomes the only defining narrative of our country.
As I said before as a democratic government of the people, we are determined to ensure that the heroes of our people receive the recognition befitting their contribution to the liberation of black people. The remains of Alex and Solomon were exhumed by the Missing Persons Task Team (MPTT), assisted by the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Unit in its coordinating capacity. The exhumation was done in line with the Gallows Exhumation Project which was officially launched by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in March 2016 by the former Minister of Justice and correctional services.
The Gallows Exhumation Project aims to locate and recover the graves of all those political prisoners who were executed on the Gallows and whose bodies remained the property of the state. The apartheid regime shamefully ensured that the families of those who were executed could not attend the burials. Although the families knew that their loved ones had been sentenced to death and executed, the whereabouts of their bodies remained unknown. The project has exhumed 81 out of 83 remains which means that we only left with 2 which will exhume before the end of this year.
Through this project which is helping us to recover the bodies of hanged political prisoners, we are here today to assist families to bury our heroes at home with dignity and in recognition of the price they paid. For the creation of society envisaged in the Freedom Charter which declared “that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white”, Alex and Solomon paid the ultimate price. They were hanged so that our generation can have the opportunity to create a prosperous, democratic and nonracial society. It is occasions such as this one that gives a moment to pause and reflect on how well we have done to achieve the society that Alex and Solomon had hoped that they would live to see. Had they lived, Alex and Solomon would have been satisfied that we now live in a country in which “no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people”. I think they would be proud that their government has increased access to basic services such as water, shelter and electricity for ordinary citizens in the most remote corners of our country. I am quite certain they would decry the fact the inequality, poverty and unemployment have remained stubbornly high since the dawn of democracy.
These challenges have been a source of many other problems in our country including crime, drug abuse and other social ills. The struggle which Alex and Solomon participated in was not only a struggle against apartheid, but it was also a for a South Africa in which there is a better life for all. Their sacrifices should serve as an example for all us that to achieve a greater good we need courageous, ethical, honest and hardworking individuals. We need individuals who, no matter the circumstances, are willing to resist the seduction of power and take the road less travelled which is often lonely and fraught with dangers in order to bring about a national democratic society.
Writing in an essay titled “We shall overcome” that was smuggled out of Robben Island by Mac Maharaj in 1976, Walter Sisulu, while acknowledging the difficulties of waging a struggle, expressed his optimism about victory of the struggle for freedom. Among other things he wrote the following: “This is not an easy task. In devising our tactics, we shall be required to tax our ingenuity to the utmost. We shall have to display flexibility without succumbing to opportunism. But it can be done. We have the organisations, the leadership and the cadres capable of seeing the web of ramifications and relationships that make our struggle so complex and capable of prosecuting the revolution by drawing on the extensive armory of methods and forms of struggle that belong to the arsenal of revolutionaries.”
To overcome the triple challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment we require a leadership that can display flexibility without succumbing to opportunism, a leadership that is capable of seeing the web of ramifications and relationships that make our struggle so complex so that we can be able to create a better life for all as Alex and Solomon would have wanted.
Request Dr Ramokgopa and Mme Chikunga to come down with me, and will be joined by the family representatives identified as I hand over the wreath as a symbol of handing over the remains to both ANC and Families. This remains are no longer the property of state.
I thank you.
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