Apartheid was an octopus-like creature of which the head lied in the now Republic of South Africa, while the tentacles it used to trample mercilessly over Africans extended to the far reaching areas of the now SADC counties. It came about in 1910, when Britain and the descendants of the Dutch settlers (Boers’) formed The Union of South Africa, in which only the rights of white people were protected. A clarion call for all Africans to unite and struggle against this combined oppression by the white men was made a year later in 1911 by a black lawyer- Pixley Ka Isaka Seme. The result was the first conference held in the then Bloemfontein, now Mangaung on 8th January 1912, which was attended among others by the following esteemed traditional leaders:
Solomon Ka Dinizulu
Montshiwa of the Borolong
Lewanika of the Lozi of Zambia
Letsie II of Lesotho
Labotsibeni of Swaziland
Dalindyebo of the aba Thembu
Sekhukhuni of the Bapedi
Khama III of Botswana
It was at this conference that it was resolved to form The South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
A year later in 1913, the white only parliament passed the native Land Act, which gave majority black population only 7% ownership of unproductive land, later increased to a mere 13%. The SANNC sent a petition through a delegation to London, which drew a blank. The heavy weight of the white men’s Achilles hill continued to be felt right across the now SADC area from where they were drawing abundant of near slavery so-called mines and farms cheap labour. The SANNC came under pressure and became weak. It changed its name to African National Congress in 1923, but it remained ineffective until 1943 when it was received by a new leader Alfred Xuma.
A youth League (ANCYL) was formed which brought life back into the ANC whose leadership included Anton Lembede, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu etc. Like Chief Khama III who saw it fit to be a part of the founding fathers of the first freedom fighting organization of South Africa, Many Batswana took the anti-apartheid Struggle as their own. It is open secret that Tshekedi khama vehemently opposed, right up to the United Nations, annexation of Namibia (then South West Africa) by the South African Government.
Some Batswana chose to go to South Africa, as it were to go and hold the bull by the horns, among them Motsamai Keyewe Mpho, Michael Dingake, Ntwaesele Thatayaone Keitseng- or Fish- as he is commonly known, who will prominently feature in the film “Mandela’s Gun”. But there were other struggles rear guards personnel who equally played an important role in the preparations for the down fall of the monsters- Apartheid, and I count myself as one of those.
The oppression became even more vicious when in 1948, the right using section of the whites won election under the banner of the banner of the National Party, which made laws such as the Bantu Education Act, Pass Laws etc., which dehumanized the Africans even More, the adverse effect of which crossed boarders into South African neighbouring countries. In reaction to this diabolic repression, the A.N.C resorted to strikes, boycotts and civil disobedience, culminating in the larger in the large 1952 defiance campaign and in 1955, the summit of the congress of the people adopted a Freedom Charter which insisted that the right of the people shall be the same, regardless of race, colour or sex.
These were carried out under the then A.N.C Slogan- “none Violence- Position Action” but the white Government reacted to this with lethal force, and in 1960 mowed down 69 unarmed Africans in what became to be known as the Sharpeville Massacre and banned the A.N.C and all the Liberation Movements. Many none South African A.N.C activists were deported to their home countries, some of them ex-treason trialists. It was then that the A.N.C changed its policy and restored to “meet force with force”. Nelson Mandela came out with the idea of the A.N.C Military Win- Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK). Since there was no training ground for M.K inside South Africa, the necessary training had to be carried out in foreign countries, but trainees denied travel documents and so, they were to go out through ungazetted points and it was not safe to do that in large groups.
Communications were not as easy they are today, and the Boers had intensified boarder anyway. Fish Keitseng was the first point of their contact in the South, who would make arrangements for them and make them to pass to Palapye where I would make arrangements for them to reach Lusaka.Later Joe Modise was assigned to come and does the orientation exercise before the recruits left for Lusaka and to assist in collecting those who crossed the border in East i.e. Tuli Block and Bobirwa area.I was attached to Joe Modise in carrying out this exercise because I was an active member of the A.N.C, and being familiar with the terrain of the area. We used the small Peugeot sedan vehicle, on very bad cattle tracks ( Mebila ya dikgomo) and often got punctures or got stuck in deep streams from which we got out by being pulled hired span of donkeys. When we had collected enough and Fish Keitseng had sent some to make a truck load, I was often sent to Livingstone-Zambia to look for the means of transport that will fetch them from Kazungula and would go back to escort them through the desert to Livingstone. A hazardous indeed.
In doing this I knew that I was under close surveillance of both the Botswana and Rhodesian C.I.Ds and that did not worry me, and came to pass that on one of such trips, two of them pounced on me and snatched a tiny pamphlet I was busy reading. The outside title of which was “The Gospel According to St John”, but the inside of which was The Umkhontovte Sizwe Training Manual. They must have been tipped by the Bechuanaland Special Branch as this occurred between Francistown and Plumtree. I was arrested, taken off the train at Plumtree, where I was out under interrogation for the whole day, full of threats. But I stuck to my ground that I had committed no crime in their country, that I was a British Protected individual I transit on a valid international passport. I was later released and driven by road to Bulawayo where I boarded a late train to Livingstone.
Almost all M.K recruits consisted of young men and we did not have major problem finding free shared accommodation for them while waiting, but Thabo Mbeki’s group had a sizeable number of young women. Their accommodation problem was resolved by moving my wife, who was nursing a newly born baby to Kanye at her parents place and all the women were accommodated free of charge at my place of residence, while Motsamai Mpho accommodated the male part of the group. Fish Keitseng and I later escorted them to Matsilobje via Francistown, where I left them and explored a safe passage inside Southern Rhodesia up to the Branaberg main road in question to go and escort trucks back to Palapye. It is common knowledge that they were arrested with Fish Keitseng at Plumtree.
The Matsilobje entry point was chosen because Joe Modise and I safely used it earlier, and that the inhabitants of Southern part of Rhodesia were the original Batswana of Chief Mphoeng, and that any police officer would assume that I was coming from that locality. Another daring hazardous escape, on the face of the ruthless Rhodesian Security Forces. I exposed myself to such dangerous situations for no pecuniary benefit, but because I was an active member of the A.N.C who earnestly believed that I was a part of the South African struggle for freedom, Fish Keitseng confirms this in his book “Comrade Fish Keitseng, Memories of Motswana in the A.N.C. Underground” when he says “in the early 1960s, the A.N.C in Botswana was made up of myself, Klaas Motshidisi in Palapye and Anderson Tshepe in Francistown”.
Individuals as well as many groups such as Ruth First and others, passed through my safe hands and in the case of Mark Skope, Philiso and others, I even had to go and hire a small boat at the Barotsi Land Headquarters, in which I came down the Zambezi River dribbling passed dangerous crocodiles and hippos as the Chobe pantoon had broken down.
But, alas! Someone out there, in the now free South Africa enjoying on fruits of what I toiled to bring about has taken decision that I was never a part of the South African freedom struggle and that I do not deserve the South African special pension! A clear case of the saying “ka tlhagolela leokana, ya re le gola la Ntlhaba”.
**These notes were written in Pen by Mr. Klaas Motshidisi as part of his preparation for the Mandela’s Gun documentary on 19th May 2014. The notes were typed and spell-edited only by Tsholofelo Mmopi and Phillip Segadika, Head of the Archaeology and Monuments Division, National Museum. A veteran politician and community leader, Motshidisi died last week and was buried in his home town of Palapye.
