Place of Thorns
Black Political Protest in Kroonstad since 1976
Place of Thorns
Black Political Protest in Kroonstad since 1976
Tshepo Moloi
Published in South Africa by:
Wits University Press
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg
First published 2015
Copyright © Tshepo Moloi 2015
Published edition © Wits University Press
Photographs © Individual copyright holders 2015
978–1–86814–687–1 (print)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.
Cover photograph © Tshepo Moloi
Edited by Monica Seeber and Pat Tucker
Proofread by Lisa Compton
Index by Margaret Ramsay
Cover design by Hybrid Design
Contents
2 ‘Kroonstad was now aware’: The Black Consciousness Movement and student demonstrations, 1972–1976
3 The YCW, labour protest and government reforms, 1977–1984
4 Town council politics, student protest and community mobilisation, 1985–1989
5 The unbanning of the ANC, political violence and civic politics, 1990–1995
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Foreword
This is the first of an anticipated series on Local Histories and Present Realities, which has been mounted at the University of the Witwatersrand for the past seven years. Neither the history nor the present reality of South Africa’s smaller towns have attracted much attention over the past decades, even though a substantial section of the black population lives there or nearby. Yet as recent history tells us, they leave an imprint on South African history which is dangerous to ignore. Kroonstad is one of a group of towns which has been hugely significant in South African history. Its name crops up again and again in the background to more celebrated events. The centrality, which is even easier to ignore in their current depressed condition, was largely due to Kroonstad’s role as a crossroads of South Africa. It is located on the Vaal River, and has been a major crossing point for years-its Sesotho name—Bodibeng ba Likubu, where the hippopotami lie, is a Sotho recognition of its salience for travel somewhat later at the turn of the nineteenth into the twentieth century. It was also the infrastructural bridge where the railways south to north and from Natal passed each other by. It was to an unusual extent a melting pot in the Free State as elsewhere and was home to a prosperous range of businesses, hotels and shops. Among other things, it was home to a bustling Jewish population part of whose records lie in the Jewish Centre in Cape Town. It was also at the centre of a huge farming district, which made it a site of permanent residence to a black population and a staging post to the Witwatersrand.
Not surprisingly Kroonstad was a centre of black political activity, not least centering on its educational facilities. Its name crops up in a host of activities from the time of the ICU in the late 1920s and early 1930s, through student revolt of 1976 to the malignant role of the 3 million gang in the 1990s. Tshepo Moloi has chronicled all of this with careful balanced and meticulous detail. His is a classic example of the riches that local histories yield. He has consulted a vast range of primary material stretching from the African (and other) newspapers of the 1930s, through municipal and many other sources to provide a rich and provocative picture. Perhaps the crowning glory of this study is its massive reliance on oral testimonies, (85 in all) much of which were difficult to access, which provide a mass of human detail and human sensitivities to this book. This is a must read book and the beginning we hope of a new historical perspective.
JSM Setiloane
Principal of Bodibeng High School, 1962–1976
Acknowledgements
The completion of this book would not have been possible without the assistance, support, encouragement, constructive criticism and intellectual guidance of numerous individuals. I would like to thank all the people who generously supported me during the course of my field work and writing of this book.
First, I would particularly like to express my deepest gratitude to Professors Noor Nieftagodien and Phil Bonner for persuading me to agree to convert my PhD thesis to a book and for their continuous encouragement. I would also like thank Prof. Nieftagodien for his insightful understanding of the ‘local’ politics; it changed my narrow view.
I am deeply grateful to Profs. Clive Glaser, Sekibakiba Peter Lekgoathi, Mucha Musemwa and Dr. Maanda Mulaudzi for their intuitive comments at the seminars organized under the ‘Local Histories and Present Realities’ programme. Thanks also to Dr Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu and Prof. Linda Chisholm for their significant contribution, particularly to chapter three of my thesis, which part of it was published in the Southern African Historical Journal, Volume 63, Number 1, March 2011.
Many thanks also to all the staff and post-graduate students in the ‘Local Histories and Present Realities’ programme for their support and encouragement. Zahn Gowar, administrator in the programme did a splendid work in assisting me through the course of research and writing up. I also appreciate the constant encouragement I received from Drs Arianna Lissoni and Franziska Rueedi.
I am deeply indebted to Ntate Mpopetsi Jonas Dhlamini and Ntate Michael “Baba” Jordan for their interest in my study and unfailing support. Ntate Dhlamini, in particular, greatly assisted me in identifying and making contacts with potential interviewees, and later conducting some of the interviews for me. I am also grateful to my friend Dr. Chitja Twala, whose support never flagged.
I am most thankful to the financial support from the National Research Foundation Chair in History, the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, and the Ford Foundation. Many thanks also to the staff of the University of the Witwatersrand