Queenstown Massacre
On 17 November 1985, 2000 residents from Mlungisi township in
Background
There had been no major political conflicts in Queenstown and the surrounding areas from the 1960s until the mid-1970s except for the forced removals and the incorporation of areas into the neighbouring Ciskei and Transkei homelands.[1]
In the 1980s, the
The homes of people who supported and benefited from Botha's reforms, government buildings and beer halls, which were sponsored by the government, were attacked. At the same time organisations such as the newly formed United Democratic Front were applying pressure on the government through civic associations.[3] Events such as the
In Mlungisi township, Queenstown, the major grievances of the people were household evictions and the lack of a basic service infrastructure. In an article in the Daily Maverick of 19 November 2015 titled "Your bullets will not stop us: A recollection of the 1985 Queenstown massacre" Mlungisi community resident Ntombizodwa Martha Kamati: "The main matters were absence of toilets, the sharing of public toilets. This was a major issue which made people to be annoyed. And there was this lodger's permit that people disliked, because you would be arrested [at] five-o-clock in the morning by the police, and then they would move with you in their van up and down, taking people from all over the location until it was at eight when they opened their office."[2]
To voice out their grievances, the community of Mlungisi and surrounding areas, such as Ezibeleni and Whittlesea, under the influence of the United Democratic Front, organised a consumer boycott, which began in August 1985, wherein they placed pressure on the local business community. As part of the consumer boycott, black communities around Queenstown stopped buying from most white businesses in the area. Only white businesses that were seen as progressive received support.[2]
Tension between the coloured and
In September, the brother of a suspected apartheid informer was necklaced in Queenstown's Mlungisi township.[1]
In early November 1985, the Local Residents Association, the Department of Education and Training, the Queenstown municipality, the East Cape Development Board, and the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce held a meeting with the aim of ending the boycott.[2]
The Massacre
2000 people gathered at Nonzwakazi Methodist Church in Mlungisi to get feedback on the negotiations from Local Residence Association on 17 November 1985.
Narrating the events of the day in the article titled "Your bullets will not stop us: A recollection of the 1985 Queenstown massacre" in "The Daily Maverick" of 19 November 2015, Daniel Lolwana, Chairperson of the Residents Association who was addressing the meeting, said: "I noticed an old man, Lizo Ngcana, being dragged inside, bleeding. And then he fell just where we were standing, it was right in front of the pulpit. Then, as I said there was pandemonium, the hall was filled with teargas and there was shooting all over. You could hear the shots. Now, because I worried about this man, when the casspirs from this side shifted over to the side of the Moravian Church, I ran quickly to the second house there to utilise a telephone."[2]
14 people lost their lives and 22 were wounded as a result of being shot with live ammunition by the police. On 13 December, all the victims of the massacre were buried at a mass funeral in Mlungisi township.[citation needed]
Aftermath
In response to questions in parliament over a year later, the then Minister of Justice, Mr Kobie Coetsee, said that an inquest into nine deaths from that incident had found that nobody was criminally liable. In 1996, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission found the SADF and SAP guilty and accountable for the death of 14 people at Nonzwakazi Methodist Church in Mlungisi township.[1]
See also
- List of massacres in South Africa
- Marikana massacre
- Sharpeville massacre
- Bisho massacre
- Langa Massacre
References
- ^ a b c d e "Queenstown massacre: November 1985". South African History Online. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Cawe, Ayabonga. "Your bullets will not stop us: A recollection of the 1985 Queenstown massacre". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ "Against Botha's Deal". South African History Online. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
External links