Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- List of Interviewees
- Map
- Chapter One Origins
- Chapter Two A Right To Live In The City
- Chapter Three Place Of Defiance
- Chapter Four Uncertain Times
- Chapter Five Good Times
- Chapter Six Work And Education
- Chapter Seven Inspired By Black Consciousness
- Chapter Eight The Beginning Of The Uprising
- Chapter Nine The Making Of A Middle Class
- Chapter Ten Making A Revolution
- Selected References
- Chapter Eleven Photographic Essay
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Chapter Seven - Inspired By Black Consciousness
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 May 2019
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- List of Interviewees
- Map
- Chapter One Origins
- Chapter Two A Right To Live In The City
- Chapter Three Place Of Defiance
- Chapter Four Uncertain Times
- Chapter Five Good Times
- Chapter Six Work And Education
- Chapter Seven Inspired By Black Consciousness
- Chapter Eight The Beginning Of The Uprising
- Chapter Nine The Making Of A Middle Class
- Chapter Ten Making A Revolution
- Selected References
- Chapter Eleven Photographic Essay
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Summary
STAT E REPRESSION IN THE 1960S STRUCK DEBILITATING BLOWS AGAINST the liberation movements. In comparison to the campaigns of the 1950s and the intense political struggles that followed the 16 June uprising, the sixties could be described as a period of political quiescence. Such a general description tends to obscure the presence of political opposition, albeit often individualised and short-lived opposition that had only limited impact on the apartheid state. But even when, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, apartheid appeared all-powerful, there were already signs of a new mood of defiance, with the youth of the townships playing a leading role.
An early example of efforts by a new generation of political activists to link up with older activists occurred in the late 1960s and was centred on Orlando West and Diepkloof. A number of key activists who were involved in the Congress Movement, and especially in the trade unions, reached out to younger activists with the aim of re-establishing some semblance of a political presence in the township. Winnie Mandela, Rita and Lawrence Ndzinga, Samson Ndou and Joyce Sikhakhane were some of the people involved. Snuki Zikalala, who lived in Diepkloof and attended school in Orlando, was drawn into this informal network by Winnie Mandela in 1966 or 1967. Others who worked with Zikalala were George Mokwebo and Daniel Tsotetsi, both from Diepkloof, and Joseph Stimulo Banda from Orlando. Over the next few months the older activists attempted to provide these young people with basic political education. Snuki Zikalala was to say:
Joyce [Sikhakhane] gave us ANC politics. Then in the second week we organised another meeting at my place. What she did, she brought Samson Ndou. He also came and gave us … ANC politics. Then they introduced adult people from the ANC. The other one was Lawrence Ndzinga from Dube. He came and gave us a lecture about the ANC then he started giving us Marxist literature and ANC literature and then we started reading about the struggle itself. But now what frustrated us was there was no action, it was politics, politics.
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- Information
- Orlando West, SowetoAn illustrated history, pp. 60 - 67Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2012