FAREWELL noble son of the soil. You have now joined one of South Africa's noblest sons, Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe.
It was between 1986/87 after my so-called conditional release from Robben Island - as though I had set conditions for my incarceration - that I first met you at Phillip Dlamini's offices. You were what someone described as an exceptional khoisan. I fully agree.
I met you after I had searched for the one only overt Africanist political formation at the time, the Azanian National Youth Unity (Azanyu). It was composed of what we on the Island described as the gallant youth of the eighties. They included the Cunninghams, the Caters, the Lebeas, including yourself Benny, or rather, Khoisan.
The apartheid government started hanging Africanists as early as January 1963 with the Krugersdorp Three.
This was two months before the Rand Daily Mail - on the morning of Friday, March 22 1963 - reported that 42 Poqo suspects had been arrested in Pretoria.
Those arrested on that fateful Friday - i.e. part of the youth of 1963 - included current Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, John Nkosi, then the youngest detainee, Samuel Chibane and Philemon Tetu. They were all aware of the hangings but that did not stop them. Hence "the gallant youth of '63".
As I did not have a political home in Pretoria where I could freely discuss and debate politics, my discovery of Azanyu offices resulted in me being in Johannesburg almost daily.
In 1988 you, together with your comrades, organised an event which we on the Island had started observing in 1964 - Africa Day on May 25.
Events that followed led to the formation of the Pan Africanist Movement (PAM) interim structure, composed, inter alia, of the likes of the late Joyce Sedibe, Joe Thloloe, Thami Mazwai, Cunningham Ngcukana, you Khoisan and my humble self.
Many after hours meetings were held at the Sowetan offices from around September 1989. These resulted in the formal establishment of the Pan-Africanist Movement of Azania from December 13 to 16 1991.
Clarence Makwethu was elected president, you Benny Alexander, or rather !Khoisan, became the secretary general and I the deputy secretary general.
On February 2 1990, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), together with other political organisations, were unbanned.
PAM subsequently became the internal PAC without a meeting. For three or four months thereafter, the PAC office was in your sling bag as we had no offices.
That was until the PAC's first office was set up in Commissioner Street in the city centre. The same building housed Azanyu. That is where Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, then a member of the Eminent Persons Group, came to visit the PAC.
For six months we worked without pay, at the end of which I got R7200, and you R9000. We then organised a successful conference at Share World, which impressed then PAC president Zeth Mothopeng and deputy Makwethu.
- The writer is a renowned Africanist and was one of the first five people to be sentenced to life on Robben Island in 1962.
Farewell, noble son of the soil
FAREWELL noble son of the soil. You have now joined one of South Africa's noblest sons, Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe.
It was between 1986/87 after my so-called conditional release from Robben Island - as though I had set conditions for my incarceration - that I first met you at Phillip Dlamini's offices. You were what someone described as an exceptional khoisan. I fully agree.
I met you after I had searched for the one only overt Africanist political formation at the time, the Azanian National Youth Unity (Azanyu). It was composed of what we on the Island described as the gallant youth of the eighties. They included the Cunninghams, the Caters, the Lebeas, including yourself Benny, or rather, Khoisan.
The apartheid government started hanging Africanists as early as January 1963 with the Krugersdorp Three.
This was two months before the Rand Daily Mail - on the morning of Friday, March 22 1963 - reported that 42 Poqo suspects had been arrested in Pretoria.
Those arrested on that fateful Friday - i.e. part of the youth of 1963 - included current Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, John Nkosi, then the youngest detainee, Samuel Chibane and Philemon Tetu. They were all aware of the hangings but that did not stop them. Hence "the gallant youth of '63".
As I did not have a political home in Pretoria where I could freely discuss and debate politics, my discovery of Azanyu offices resulted in me being in Johannesburg almost daily.
In 1988 you, together with your comrades, organised an event which we on the Island had started observing in 1964 - Africa Day on May 25.
Events that followed led to the formation of the Pan Africanist Movement (PAM) interim structure, composed, inter alia, of the likes of the late Joyce Sedibe, Joe Thloloe, Thami Mazwai, Cunningham Ngcukana, you Khoisan and my humble self.
Many after hours meetings were held at the Sowetan offices from around September 1989. These resulted in the formal establishment of the Pan-Africanist Movement of Azania from December 13 to 16 1991.
Clarence Makwethu was elected president, you Benny Alexander, or rather !Khoisan, became the secretary general and I the deputy secretary general.
On February 2 1990, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), together with other political organisations, were unbanned.
PAM subsequently became the internal PAC without a meeting. For three or four months thereafter, the PAC office was in your sling bag as we had no offices.
That was until the PAC's first office was set up in Commissioner Street in the city centre. The same building housed Azanyu. That is where Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, then a member of the Eminent Persons Group, came to visit the PAC.
For six months we worked without pay, at the end of which I got R7200, and you R9000. We then organised a successful conference at Share World, which impressed then PAC president Zeth Mothopeng and deputy Makwethu.
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