‘1976 was hectic, we were fearless’

I was one of the Standard 4 (now Grade 6) pupils at Bulumko Senior Primary School in Mdantsane, East London, that June of 1976 listening to a lesson from our scripture teacher Mr Maduna, when life changed dramatically.

We were discussing the Old Testament and debating about Laban, Isaac’s brother-in-law, when the principal came to inform the teacher that many pupils had been shot by police in Soweto.

It felt as though the cops were coming for us next, but Mr Maduna calmed us down. The next day the pupils from the nearby Mzomhle High School ordered us to take to the streets.

We just left our books and joined the senior pupils to face the Ciskei police who were chasing pupils and firing teargas.

Solidarity strike

That was our solidarity strike, protesting against killing of our fellow pupils in Soweto. For Thabo Ndabeni, then 19 years old, who was part of the march by Soweto pupils, it was a battle not just against the imposition of Afrikaans on black schools but a fight for freedom.

They were prepared to die. Ndabeni was a matriculant at Musi High School in Pimville, Soweto, when the riots broke out, starting with a march by a group of pupils who converged at Morris Isaacson High, which Ndabeni joined at around midday from his school. Musi High pupils planned to write their exams first and join the march later.

As he moved down Old Potchefstroom Road (now Chris Hani Road), then towards Nancefield hostel, the scene resembled a war zone – with pupils running in different directions.

Some were running away, while others were charging forward towards the police who were armed with R5 and R4 rifles.

Ndabeni ran home to take off his school uniform and joined with stones against the machine gun battle between pupils and police.

Determination

“As we were moving out of the school gate, some adults warned us to take off our uniforms, otherwise we would be shot by the police. But we were determined to move forward because many of our fellow pupils had already died,” said Ndabeni, who had just joined the student politics a year earlier in 1975.

“It was hectic, and we had a feeling of fearlessness. We were warned by our school vice-principal about the danger we would face as student leaders, but we had no option as the schools were our base.”

Despite the vice-principal’s warning, and the incident of a female member of the Transvaal Youth Organisation (Trayo) who was badly tortured by police who pulled her nipples with a pair of pliers to force her to confess, this did not deter Ndabeni and his fellow pupils.

“At that point, we had the desire to see things to be different, we wanted change. “We did not want the apartheid system to control our destination.

I was just 19 years old but the urge to stand up and fight was gaining momentum in all of us,” he said.

Ndabeni added that the determination to achieve freedom was symbolised by a youngster who carried a stone and a metal dustbin lid and charged towards the police who carried automatic rifles.

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Sacrifice

“That was a good sign of our willingness to sacrifice our lives for our freedom,” he said. “We were determined to be free.

That way we faced the system that was heavily armed and we carried only stones and dustbin lids to defend ourselves.”

Ndabeni linked the 1976 battles against the apartheid police to the ongoing fight by the Palestinian Arab children against the Israel authorities in the Intifada struggle.

“As one fell down, another took up the cudgels and moved forward. There was a spirit of no fear. We acted like the Palestinians who were prepared to die for their freedom.” Among those who died in the student protests was Hector Pieterson with over 500 injured.

Ndabeni was part of the “Soweto Eleven” trialists charged with sedition and terrorism following their participation in the uprising.

The other accused were Wilson “Chief” Twala, Daniel Montsitsi, Seth Mazibuko, Murphy Morobe, Khotso Langane, Sibongile Mkhabela (née Mthembu), Kennedy Mogami, Teboho Mngomezulu, Sello Khiba and George Twala.

Some from the group, including Lengane, Mngomezulu, Mogami, and Montsitsi, have since died. In August 1976, a large number of other youths were killed by police during a confrontation in an open field near the New Canada Station.

The pupils were marching from Soweto to Johannesburg to voice their anger about their colleagues who were killed.

“We organised the march to say we were taking the battle to the city,” Ndabeni said.

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– ericn@citizen.co.za