Matthew Goniwe? Just one more death. Just one more death that could shake our country. ANTON HARBER reports on the Cradock community leader, pictured on the right, who was murdered last week.
Who will pay for the murder of Matthew Goniwe?
No doubt, we all will.
For when this vital, powerful leader of the Cradock Residents’ Association disappeared two weeks ago and reappeared as a charred, mutilated body a week later, it was not simply another entry in the long list of Eastern Cape unrest deaths The impact of his murder and that of three of his colleagues will reverberate through the South African polity fora long time.
Firstly, it will inevitably result in an increase in tension in an area already severely scarred by conflict.
Secondly, and more fundamentally, there are fears that represents another step in the gradual breakdown of all order in black townships.
Two explanations have been offered for the incident: that it was done by right wing “death squads,” perhaps even linked to those in authority, or that it was the result of internecine conflict between rival black political organisations. Both these explanations have frightening implications.
It was the United Democratic Front that pointed to the belief that a “ death squad” may exist and even suggested that it may have sanction from people in authority, It said in an official statement that it was forced to conclude that the “defenders of apartheid” were bent on a “murderous path” to eliminate all popular leaders.
Beneath the rhetoric was a real and substantial fear among UDF leaders that their political struggle had entered a new, much more brutal phase, and they would have to come to terms with the possibility that there was a group systematically killing opposition leaders.
Police, clearly sensitive about suggestions that they are maybe implicated or that they were not pursuing the culprits with all the necessary vigour, immediately issued a R1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the murderers. The UDF promptly offered its own R5 000 reward.
Louis Nel, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Information, issued a stern warning to people not to make unsubstantiated allegations about who did the killing. However, police themselves seemed to have no problem making allegations with little substantiation: they were widely reported to have linked the deaths with the conflict between the UDF and the Azanian Peoples Organisation (Azapo).
Both Azapo and the UDF have denied this suggestion. Eastern Cape Azapo vice-president. Pambili Ntloko, said in a statement that the deaths were “clearly the work of the system”. Azapo would never engage in such acts, he said. The “system” was exploiting the present feud between the UDF and Azapo “to remove elements it realties are a danger to them,” he said.
On the other hand. one thing is clear: whatever Louis Nel warns and whatever the police may suggest, they will have to confront the fact that Azapo’s theory is widely accepted. There appears to be no popular acceptance of the police suggestion that the UDF-Azapo conflict could account for the deaths. All parties involved — excluding only the police and some of the more conservative newspapers — have ruled it out.
However, it is an indictment of opposition politics that there is room for this kind of allegation at all. Whether true or not. the fact that this possibility could be considered — or even that a right-wing “death squad’ could operate behind the cover of the internecine conflict between the two groups — must be of serious concern to these organisations The belief that such a “death squad” exists has been strengthened by a series of other factors. These include the fact that these deaths are isolated incidents.
According to Detainees … Support Committee figures, a further six Esatern Cape activists have gone missing and … dead. One of the best known cases was that of ….. Mtimkulu, a youth who was released …… detention, was found to have been ….. Poisoned on his release, instituted a T150 000 action against the police and …. disappeared, never to be seen again. A total of 27 UDF activists are missing according to their own figures, and there have been as many as 11 mysterious police….
These include the murders of Rick … in 1977 and Harrison Dube in 1982….. Mysterious vigilante squads have …. In a number of areas, such as Welkom …..
Recent photographs of men wearing ….. in the townships and accused of …..youths add to fears of these squads. …..Johannesburg, it was recently revealed that ….a squad, had been set up in Soweto with the ….. Of kidnapping and holding to ransom …… figures. The idea appeared to be too ….. And half-baked to be taken seriously. …… taken on a new resonance. ….Swartz, a UDF spokesman in
Eastern Cape, linked the Johannesburg vigilantes to the murders in his area: “People also suspect that a group has been recruited, as in the Transvaal and is responsible for the abduction and killing of our people”.
White Johannesburgers will remember a spate of vigilante-style vandal attacks on the homes of opposition figures last year. These involved rocks being thrown through windows, shotguns being fired at houses, cars being set alight and dead cats being left on doorfronts.
As was the case with a number of previous, similar spates of attacks in other areas. no one was brought to justice for these incidents.
All of these incidents — and the fact that the police have an appalling success rate in tracking down the culprits —have strengthened suspicions that there are organised right wing vigilante squads and they may have friends in high places. In the case of Goniwe and his colleagues, there are a number of strange factors. Not the least of these is the fact that when he was last seen. leaving in his car with the other three victims, he pledged not to stop for anyone except the police.
UDF officials believe that the crucial link in this —and other— disappearances is that only people with access to telephone taps could have sufficient knowledge of the movements and plans of the victims to carry out the murders.
If Louts Nel wishes to stop this kind of speculation, he will have to do a lot more than tell people not to do to it And the police will have to do a lot more than offer a reward for the culprits. Whether or not this speculation is correct, the fact that it has been taken seriously is an indication of how bad the situation is in these townships. Nobody would believe the possibility of a “death squad” if the atmosphere were not chaotic and disordered.
The drafts will undoubtedly make the situation, even worse Goniwe in particular was a popular and respected figure. His dismissal as a headmaster at a local school last year and his subsequent detention without trial provoked a 15-month class boycott.
One can only speculate about the long-term effects his murder will have. Whatever the effects, they are likely to be unpleasant and possibly violent – something that can be ill-afforded in a region already torn by conflict and violence. This has already led to the effective breakdown in many townships.
With unrest at a consistently extraordinary level, unemployment high (130 000 in PE alone, according to official figures) and continuing to rise and every sign that political disaffection is increasing consistently, the upheaval in the Eastern Cape appears to be getting more serious and more intense daily.
With the collapse of many of the block local authorities and the inability of the police and army to restore full order, the last remaining hope was that effective, organisation and discipline in opposition organisations would prevent the unrest deteriorating entirely into anarchy and chaos.
Without political and organisational direction, without reasonable leadership, there is a real danger that spontaneous unrest will become totally anarchistic and destructive. That the political organisations often do not have the structures and discipline to do so is at least partly their own fault.
However, it is also to a large extent a result of the fact that when there emerge influential leaders who could bring the necessary structures and discipline. they are detained, banned, banished, killed or they simply disappear.
If this continues, and people like Goniwe are murdered, there can be little or no hope of restoring sanity to these areas. That is why we can be sceptical about the culprits ever being made to pay for their crime but we can be certain that the rest of us will.
PROFILES OF THE VICTIMS
WHO were the four political activists found dead in the Eastern Cape last week?
MATTHEW GONIWE was 38 years old, a teacher, a founder member of the Cradock Residents Association (CRADORA) and the Cradock Youth. Organisation (CRADOYA) and was married with two children. He was the best-known of the murder victims.
In 1972, he and a colleague opened their own school in a church hall. It was called the Holimisa Secondary School and was in the village of Mqandula. outside of Umtata.
However. this school soon came to grief. In 1977, Gontwe was sentenced to imprisonment of four years under the Suppression of Communism Act for teaching various ideologies at the school over and above the normal syllabus. While serving his sentence in Umtata, he obtained a BA degree from the University of SA, majoring in education and political studies.
On his release, he took up a post at Ngweba High School in Graaff-Reinet. In 1983; he was named acting headmaster and was transferred soon afterwards to the Mhawlli High School in Cradock as acting headmaster. In July 1983, he played a crucial role in the formation of CRADOYA.
The following month, rents in Cradock were increased drastically. Coniwe was among a group of residents who approached the local MPC, Molly Blackburn, to ask her to inquire officially into the structure of rents and to advise them on forming a civic association.
The first meeting of this association (CRADORA), was held in August 1983. In December of that year, Goniwe was advised by the Department of Education and Training that he was being transferred back to Graff-Reinet. He refused to take the transfer and was dismissed. He then applied for any teaching post in Cradock (“even the lowliest post”), but his application was turned down. In February 1984, about 7000 pupils in Cradock began a class boycott to protest against his dismissal. In the end, the boycott lasted 14 months and spread to a number of surrounding areas.
In March, the Government slapped a three-month ban on all meetings. Cradock was declared an operational area and Journalists were barred.
At the same time, Goniwe and two others were detained The others were Mbulelo Goniwe, Matthew’s cousin. and Madoda Jacobs, the school’s headboy. Their six months in custody provided a new focus for the schools’ boycott.
FORT CALATA was 29, a Cradock teacher and an executive member of both CRADORA and CRADOYA. Born in Johannesburg, he was the grandson of Canon Calata, an ANC leader and an accused in the famous Treason Trial of 1956-61. Calata and his mother moved to Cradock in the early 1960’s. He attended school in Cradock, matriculated in the Transkei and then moved to the Lovedale Teachers Training College. In 1979, he began teaching in Dumbaza but was detained for six weeks during the 1980 schools boycott.
In 1981, he moved to Cradock. Although trained to teach commercial subjects, these were not available at the local school and instead, he taught Afrikaans. He was elected chairman of CRADOYA in August 1983. He was married to Nomonde Calata and has two children. Their third is expected next; week – a few day’s after the father’s funeral.
SPARROW MKHONTO was chairman of CRADORA since January 1985. Born and raised in Cradock, he worked briefly in Cape Town and later as a labourer for SA Railways in Cradock. He was dismissed last year when the SAR accused him of missing work on a few occasions. However, he believed he had been dismissed because of his CRADORA connections.
SICELO MHLAWULI was also a teacher. At the time of his death, he was the principal of the higher primary school for blacks in Oudtshoorn. He also trained at the Lovedale College before moving to King Williamstown to teach at Thembalandu High School. He later taught at Archie Velile Secondary School in Dimbaza, Ciskei, before moving to Oudtshoorn in 1981, where he taught history and Afrikeans. He was married with one child.
The fear, the anarchy
Cradock braces for next week’s funeral ….
By MOLLY BLACKBURN, Progressive Federal Party MPC for Walmer, who has been closely involved with recent events at Cradock in the Eastern Cape.
GRIEF, anger, fear, confusion …. together these words embody the feelings and emotions currently experienced by the vast majority of people living in the Eastern Cape, The present civil turmoil begs the question: “Can it be that, finally, the widely held belief that this area would be the focal point of the anticipated violent rejection by blacks of the apartheid system has become a reality”?
To some. the heightened presence of the SADF and the Riot Squad’s reaction unit has become so much part of everyday life that it scarcely attracts attention. In fact, many residents in the townshipa ask, with certain justification. what purpose these forces serve, as the daily evidence of appalling acts of violence seems to contradict their stated function as “keepers of the peace” In certain political circles, it has become fashionable to describe the inter-group conflict in the Port Elizabeth area as “black-on-black” violence.
However, spokesmen for both the UDF and Azapo have stated that a “Third Force” is at work and that seemingly its main function is to torment feelings and acts of violence between the members of the two groups. Indeed, the area is pock-marked with burned-out shells of houses, many people are “missing”, and press accounts of those shot or stabbed no longer evince many reactions from the general public. As yet no-one has been positively identified as being part of the “Third Force”, but those associated with the UDF and Azapo express deep concern at the disintegration of community life, and describe their own feeling of exhaustion caused by endless sleepless nights. For although key figures in both groups have their homes guarded from sunset to sunrise — and, in some cases, even during the day — by youthful supporters, this vigilance has not prevented attacks, nor has it — in a number of cases — secured prosecutions.
Outsiders visiting the townships are quick to sense the pervading atmosphere of fatigue and despair. Yet in spite of this, there seems to be a strengthening of resolve to see things through to the bitter end — and were it not for the fact that all meetings of the UDF in this area are banned, the Government might itself have a clearer idea of the intensity of not only the struggle to which people have committed themselves but also of the suffering which has been inflicted on very great numbers of residents.
The prolonged visits related to the deep civil unrest in the Eastern Cape has now been heightened by the brutal murders of Matthew Goniwe and his three friends. Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicela Mhlawuli. Mystery surrounds their disappearance following a small committee meeting held in a private home in Port Elizabeth last Thursday (June 27).
In fact, few people were aware that they had travelled down from their hometown of Cradock. Speculation is that they were kept under surveillance during the day and that at some stage — possibly shortly after they had set off for home — they were “intercepted” Their non-arrival during the night of June 27 gave rise to deep anxiety among their families who immediately initiated enquiries — an understandable reaction, considering the fact that the top leadership of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO) disappeared on May 8, having left their homes to meet someone at the airport, and have never been seen again.
The police are reported as having discovered the burned-out shell of Mr Goniwe’s car at 3:30 the following afternoon. concealed in a bush area some distance from the main freeway out of Port Elizabeth.
Over the next four days, the mutilated and charted bodies of the four men were discovered in isolated spots on the outskirts of the city. Reflection on the impact of these tragic deaths on the current situation demands a conscious search for the motives for the killings. Those closest to the men describe the exceptional leadership qualities of Matthew Goniwe.
Thirty-eight years of age and a teacher of outstanding ability, he had also played an important role in the establishment of the Cradock Civic Association (CRADORA). Under his disciplined guidance, the organisation grew. Groups were formed to assist with many problems experienced by the residents, pension pay-outs were monitored, a community-backed siup kitchen was started, and so on.
There are no rival groupings in Lingelihle (the Cradock township), and it is inconceivable that in strongly united community anyone would have wished Matthew harm.
Where else in the Eastern Cape has a Community Council resigned en bloc and found such each immediate re-acceptance into the normal life of the township? For it was Matthew Goniwe, the peacemaker, who gave the lead to those around him.
Under his guidance, the Youth Group (CRADOYA) accompanied the councillors to their homes where in full view of the residents, they assisted them in removing the strong mesh window guards and the high barbed-woe fencing which has become standard equipment in black areas for the properties of community and town councillors.
This need for “protection’ from those they were supposed to represent is a statement in itself. The emergence of this Civic Association as a widely supported group in 1983 coincided with prolonged confrontations by certain authorities. Particularly affected were Matthew, his teacher colleague Fort Calata and other high-ranking members of CRADORA. In March 1984, following Matthesv’s refusal to accept what he saw to be a politically-inspired transfer from his position as acting Principal of the high school to a post in Graaff Reinet, he and Fort were detained under Section 28 of the Internal Security Act.
Their five months in solitary confinement marked a time of great turbulence in Lingelihle. Over 100 people of all ages were arrested on various charges. Some were held for months in gaol as awaiting-trial prisoners.
The court hearings that. followed attracted wide attention, and considerable Interest was created by the fact that in spite of the vast number accused only eight were found guilty of any offence.
It was particularly as a result of Matthew… “transfer” and subsequent incarceration that … decision was taken by the youth to call a school …boycott. For most of 1984, 4 500 pupils stayed …. of the township’s seven schools.
Significantly, with the release of …..from detention in September, a kind of peace …. normality was restored to the township.
In February this year, supported by …..parents and people such as Matthew and Fort …pupils took a decision to return to school.
The months that followed saw ….commencement of real – though naturally … sensitive – negotiations between ….. Members of the Department of Education … Training and the President of CRADORA … Monwabise Makaula, representing the residents … who were calling more strongly re-instatement of their beloved …. A widely held belief is these …..were successful and that Matthew’s…. Was to be made public this week.
…brutal murder has put paid to this real …..
…. will feel cheated cannot be …. That their anger will spill over into ….. Acts of rage and violence be ….
….certain is the fact that Matthew Goniwe…mortalised as a man of peace, a man of ….., a man who never sought personal ….., a man of discipline, integrity and …..overwhelming concern for all people ….. Who loved even his jailer and those who persecuted and oppressed him. Perhaps through his death, Matthew will become an even stronger force in bringing about his greatest wish: to unite and bind people of all races together in the search for peace and justice in our country.
For while the immediate prospects for stability and improved communications between people of all races are at their lowest ebb in the Eastern Cape, by identifying with the ideals and life of Matthew Goniwe, the leadership of tomorrow will ensure that he and his three friends did not die in vain.
Thousands are expected to attend the funeral service in Cradock on July 20, where surely a commitment will be made to honour and strive for the ideals which Mathew Gonimwe held so dear.