Friday Feature
Teboho Tsietsi
Mashinini
Student Leader & Political Activist
Tsietsi
Mashinini was born on 27 January 1957 in Central Western Jabavu, Soweto.
Mashinini was the second son of Ramothibi, a lay preacher in the Methodist
Church, and Nomkhitha Mashinini, and was one of 13 children (11 boys and twin
girls). He was active in his local Methodist parish and chairperson of the
Methodist Wesley Youth Guild at the age of 16.
His
education started at the Amajeli crèche in 1963. He went on to Seoding Lower
Primary, after which he proceeded to Itshepeng Higher Primary. In 1971 he
became a student at Morris Isaacson High. He was a passionate reader. This was spotted by his History and English
teacher, Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, who taught at Morris Isaacson after was
expelled from the University of the North (Turfloop) for his political
activities in the Black Consciousness Movement. Tiro had great influence in
shaping Mashinini's political thinking and subsequent adherence to the ideology
and philosophy of Black Consciousness. He mentored him and supplied him with
reading material.
Mashinini
was the chairperson of the debating team at his school, and his excellent
academic performance became the basis for his influence among his peers. Mashinini’s
energy, creativity and sportsmanship became evident through his recreational
activity, which included theatre, baseball, ballroom dancing, martial arts,
swimming and tennis.
Mashinini
joined the South African Students Movement (SASM), a student body established
to assist students with the transition from Matric to university. On 13th June
1976, about 500 Soweto students met at the Orlando Donaldson Community Hall to
discuss ways and means of confronting and challenging the Department of Bantu
Education. The students decided to stage a peaceful protest march on 16 June
against the introduction of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
An
Action Committee was set up to prepare for the campaign. Mashinini was elected
chairperson of the Action Committee, which was later renamed the Soweto
Students Representative Council (SSRC), with Mashinini as its first president
(until he was succeeded by Khotso Seatlholo from Naledi High School). Mashinini
and Murphy Morobe were the two representatives from Morris Issacson High School
serving in the Soweto Student Representative Council.
During
assembly on the morning of 16 June at Morris Isaacson High School, Mashinini
climbed onto the podium and led students into song, and out of the school
grounds towards their assembly point for the planned student demonstration.
They
were joined by students from other schools in Soweto. It is estimated that
20000 uniformed students joined the mass demonstration. As they marched down in
a throng, they came across a police barricade on their way to the assembly
point. Mashinini climbed a makeshift podium to deliver a spirited address,
telling students to march peacefully, to remain orderly and not to provoke the
police.
The
horrific events of that day, which saw the South African police shoot live
bullets at peacefully protesting students, turned him into an instant hero and
an activist of national importance. He stood steadfast against State harassment
and imminent arrest, issuing press statements,
and calling for students to boycott classes, and wrote critically of the
police’s actions on 16 June that saw innocent students massacred.
As
President of the SSRC, Mashinini issued many press statements on behalf of the
organisation and the larger student body. He called for unity, class boycotts,
stay-aways, and disseminated information. But he also used the platform to
attack the State, reacting to the State’s violence against the masses. In
response to the shootings of June 16, he said: “We see it as an official
declaration of war on the black students by our ‘peace-officers'.”
Mashinini
became an enemy of the “system” and, in particular, the hostel dwellers. The
police frequently converged on his home in an attempt to arrest him. On two
occasions, he came dressed in a female outfit and eluded arrest, becoming the
most wanted man in the country. The police offered a R500 reward for anyone who
could supply information that would lead to his arrest. A Colonel Visser of the
Soweto CID made an appeal to Mashinini to hand himself over, saying he risked
being killed by angry hostel dwellers who were antagonised by the recent
unrest. Visser further said it would be best if his parents brought him to the
police station. “We believe that Mashinini is active and moving about Soweto
and other townships, but we have never been able to locate him. If you spot
him, or know where he is, you must report him to the nearest police,” said
Visser.
The
events of 16 June 1976 saw large numbers of youth joining the ranks of the
African National Congress (ANC) and its military wing, Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK),
eventually leading to more vigorous mass action, and international boycotts
against apartheid and South Africa.
The
intense scrutiny compelled Mashinini to flee the country. He left the country
for Botswana in August 1976, living there for few months before he proceeded to
the West Coast of Africa. Heads of states, notably Sekou Toure of Ivory Coast,
and African parliamentarians received him. He resided in countries like Nigeria
where he was briefly hosted in the presidential guest house in Lagos. While in
exile Mashinini was interviewed by many media organisations and he addressed
students at universities, revealing the realities of the South African
political situation.
 |
| Tsietsi with his wife, Welma Campbell |
Mashinini
finally settled in Liberia, where he married Welma Campbell, the daughter of a
parliamentarian, in 1978. The marriage was blessed with two daughters,
Nomkhitha (named after his mother) and Thembi. However the marriage ended after
a few years.
Mashinini
later visited the United Kingdom and the United States, where he addressed the
United Nations on the brutalities of the apartheid regime. By many accounts,
Mashinini did not join any of the established liberation movements in exile.
Tsietsi
Mashinini will always be remembered as a fearless fighter and student leader
whose name will forever be etched in memory as one of the outstanding leaders
of the South African revolution.
One
of Mashinini's admirers was his compatriot, Miriam Makeba, who was in exile in
Guinea. She had offered Mashinini a place to stay in her home in Conakry
shortly before his death. Mashinini died under mysterious circumstances in
1990. He was hospitalised for multiple injuries, apparently the result of an
attack. He died a few days later.
Mashinini's body was terribly disfigured: his left eye had fallen out into his
coffin; his left ear was bleeding and he had deep bruises on his face,
including a large scar on his forehead.
The
epitaph on his tombstone reads: “At the height of struggle, he gave impetus to
the liberation struggle.” His tombstone at Avalon cemetery in Soweto was twice
vandalised, and the marble stone was removed.
On
27 April 2011, the State President, Jacob G Zuma honoured Tsietsi Mashinini,
posthumously, with the Order of Luthuli in Gold for his inspirational
leadership to young people, for the sacrifices he made while leading students
against Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, and for his role in the struggle
against apartheid.
Accessed from: SA History
Online
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