I remember the march vividly. I was there with the marchers, with a few comrades, the late Stanza Bopape, Akila, the late Cicerine Makhwere, the late Penny Mlahleki, Ting Ting Mlahleki amongst others. It started in Mamelodi East led by the chairperson of the Residents Organization, Louis Khumalo. As it proceeded through Mamelodi West, many more people joined until they reached the Council Offices opposite where the Denlyn Mall/Shopping centre is, in Denneboom, at the entrance into Mamelodi.
The marchers were waiting to be addressed by the Chairperson, Mr. Khumalo, who had just mounted a huge pedestal in front of the entrance to the offices. There was heavy police presence as usual. Mr. Khumalo had just started addressing the protesters and reading the memorandum of demands when a few teargas canisters were fired into the midst of a peaceful crowd, which by this time , had settled down quietly to be addressed by the chairperson and, hopefully, the Apartheid mayor, Bennet Ndlazi.
A police helicopter was hovering above.
When the crowd started running away from the fumes of teargas , police fired live ammunition. I saw old women who could not even run shot, people being fired at from the helicopter with heavy calibre rifles, the injured being arrested and loaded onto police vans. It was hell, one could literally smell death in the air- the smell of teargas, gunpowder and human blood mixed with soil and dust. I had never been so close to death myself. I can't tell how I survived.
Still we attended most of the vigils to give the affected families support and to pledge our total commitment to struggle and to victory against Apartheid oppression.
Some of those who were arrested or injuries were killed by the Apartheid police, inside the Mamelodi police station. There was one particularly notorious black policeman called Sinky, who killed and brutalised our people. He was no better than a mercenary, just like one equally notorious PE black policeman who was so brazen he could even attend funerals of comrades, including mass funerals after massacres, like the Uitenhage massacre. This he did as a cocky, arrogant and belligerent posture, daring the comrades to take him on! Such was Sinky. But like Hlubi, he was executed by our MK, made to join his ancestors through the barrel of a kalashnikov assault rifle.
The funeral of the victims of the Mamelodi massacre took place on a very hot summer day, at HM Pitje Stadium. The late Winnie Madikizela Mandela was in attendance. As we lined the coffins up in the stadium , one could smell the slightly decomposing bodies of victims in the blistering heat of the summer sun.
It is sad that even today there is no monument dedicated to their memory. It should be built right there where the podium was erected, next to the hippo, right in front of the Bennet Ndlazi' s Council Offices.
Every time I drive into Mamelodi I take a look at the spot and my heart still sinks.
We were interviewed by media at Khanya House, the headquarters of the South African Catholic Bishops Conference Offices in Visagie Street, about the massacre.
When South African struggle history is told, is the story of ordinary people who fought for their rights even remembered.
- Was there reparation for the families of victims? Did anyone account for their murder at the TRC?
- Do we still remember them? Do we even know their names? Or have they become a statistic?
- Couldn't we build a monument in their honour at the same site?
- Why couldn't Tshwane erect a garden of remembrance for them?
We couldn't prioritise the repatriation of mortal remains of all those who perished in exile. Many lie in unmarked graves on foreign territory. In the same fashion, we fail to remember those who fell in front of our noses , here at home, at Mamelodi, Alexandra, Soweto( 1976,1980s) Sebokeng, Crossroads, Uitenhage, Cradock, etc.
Today the masterminds of our people' s massacre are paraded as statesmen or heroes, worthy of entering into coalitions with. What a short memory people have. South African history will never be complete without chapters written on these massacres!
Today when the ANC fails in its duty to serve the people, it mocks the supreme sacrifices paid by these people. Like our oppressors ,we behave as though the history and contributions made by ordinary people does not matter. The only one- sided history that matters is that of exiles and Robben- Islanders, as though thousand others who were incarcerated in various jails throughout our country didn't matter, as though the jails they were in were of lesser status.
That is how we are treating the painful experiences of many people and families.
We need a history project which will capture our people' s pain and sacrifice in struggle history. Ordinary people fought Apartheid. They were not liberated by anyone. They were part of titanic battles and resistance against the Apartheid edifice of power. Nobody seems to capture and respect their worth.
SA history must still be re- written in honour of the victims of Apartheid gunfire. The liberation struggle has an official biography, it must tell it.
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