It’s peace at last for Michael Lucas’s family
Tribute by Michael Donen SC to Michael Lucas when his remains were reburied on Saturday in Bongolethu, Oudtshoorn
THE family of martyr Michael Lucas have finally been granted the peace and dignity denied them over the past 29 years. The state-executed prisoner was laid to rest in his home town of Bongalethu in Oudtshoorn at the weekend.
A United Democratic Front activist, Lucas was sentenced to death on August 21, 1987 at the age of 21 in the Cape Town Supreme Court for the murder of a bus inspector, William Blaauw.
He was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave at the Mamelodi cemetery near Pretoria after he was hanged at Pretoria Central Prison on March 25, 1988.
Pamela Tu, his daughter, said their family could finally find peace – something they had been denied until now.
“When the government told us we would finally receive my father’s remains, we were happy and sad at the same time. Now we will know where he is buried and we can all be at peace. I only hope that other families who have gone through this will receive the same peace,” said Tu.
The family were overwhelmed by the support and well wishes they had received following news of her father’s remains returning home.
Lucas’s remains were returned as part of the implementation of recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
He is one of 83 political prisoners who were hanged at Pretoria Central Prison during the apartheid era, and whose remains have been found, exhumed and returned to their families by the NPA Missing Persons Task Team.
Lucas’s funeral was attended by an array of former UDF activists, as well as his family, including his mother Tozana Ncwango, his brother Ernest Lucas, and his sisters Nonbulelo Ncwango and Kholiwe Ncwango.
Also at the service was Sports Minister Thulas Nxesi and Lucas’s advocate at his trial, Michael Donen, who addressed those at the service.
Sipho Kroma was a close friend of Lucas and was arrested and detained with him. They suffered the same torture at the hands of security police during their detention, he told the Cape Times.
“We felt saddened and hurt by his sacrifice for us. What we did back then was not important. Many like Michael suffered worse (fates), but now he is home and we know where he will rest in peace,” said Kroma.
The day was bittersweet for his family, he said, and all those who had mourned for Lucas were now given the opportunity denied them all those many years ago.
He said they were not just laying Lucas’s soul to rest, but celebrating his life as well as the lives of the many men and women who also sacrificed their lives during the Struggle.
Donen defended Lucas at his trial, and recounted how the Cape Town Supreme Court judge was convinced the activist was lying when he pleaded guilty to the charges.
“Michael pleaded guilty in order to save his comrades arrested with him, so strong was his religious and moral and perhaps his political conviction to save their lives. Back in those days the bodies became the property of the state; they received a pauper’s burial while surrounded by the most beautiful gardens outside the prison,” Donen said.
“The miracle and celebration of the exhumation project of the Department of Justice and Correctional Services was that of bringing the bodies back to their families and allowing them a dignified burial. In Michael’s case, this has meant him being wrapped up in the colours of the liberation movement he loved and gave his life for.”
Between 1960 and 1990, it was reported that at least 130 people were hanged for politically related offences. The remains of 47 members of mainly the ANC, PAC and UDF anti-apartheid activists have been exhumed, while 83 of them remain buried in unmarked graves.
MICHAEL LUCAS was hanged in Pretoria Central Prison on March 25, 1988 after being convicted of murder in the Cape Town Supreme Court. He was a hero of our people’s struggle for liberation from apartheid. He was brave, principled and a devout Christian. For those very reasons his execution was inevitable. It was horrible and unnecessary.
On July 21, 1985 the apartheid regime had declared a state of emergency. It intended to convey to our people that white minority rule was here to stay. This amounted to a declaration of war against the majority of South Africans. Every aspect of South African society would be militarised and policed. The regime would exercise control over every aspect of black lives.
The police, the defence force, the law, the courts and the gallows would be used to repress resistance. Black South Africans could either collaborate with the regime for material reward, such as employment in the administration and allocation of housing, or they could resist. Michael resisted.
Black communities rose up in protest. Civic associations, trade unions, churches and individuals united in their resistance under the UDF. The regime responded violently. Security forces and untrained armed police (“kitskonstabels”) were unleashed in Bongolethu and other townships.
They violently intimidated the residents and killed many of them. Faced with this situation representatives of Christian churches published the Kairos document. They recognised that the church could not stay neutral in the face of state violence.
Neutrality would enable the violence of apartheid to continue. A regime that had made itself the enemy of the people had also made itself the enemy of God. This was Michael’s belief.
After the UDF had called on our people to make South Africa ungovernable a bus boycott was called in Bongolethu. On April 15, 1986, Michael, Jerome Myo, and Eric Phote went to a bus stop at Zebra Road in order to enforce this boycott. They were in possession of a bottle filled with petrol and a firearm which had been provided to them by the underground resistance. Willem Blauw was deployed at the bus stop by the apartheid authorities to stop the boycott. Michael shot Mr Blaauw in the chest. He never intended to shoot the deceased.
Had the state wished to look at the facts of the case thoroughly they would have seen this. However, their objective at that time was not to present the truth, but to destroy people who resisted apartheid. Their priorities were to locate the comrades who had provided Michael with a firearm, and to execute Michael, Jerome and Eric for their part in the resistance.
Michael’s priority was to protect his comrades and the resistance movement. Michael and Sipho Kroma (who later became the mayor of Oudtshoorn under our democracy) were arrested, beaten and tortured by the police. Wet shirts were placed over their faces so that they could not breathe. They were given electric shocks.
Despite this torture, and a threat of the gallows, Michael never disclosed where he obtained the firearm from, or what role his comrades had played in the shooting. When they were tried for murder before Justice Deneys Williamson, Michael admitted shooting Mr Blaauw.
He invented an account of what had taken place in order to protect his comrades.
Jerome and Eric were therefore acquitted of the murder. In his judgment the judge found not only that Michael had not told the truth, but also that he knew that the court could never believe his story. As a result Michael was convicted of murder.
Apartheid law required a death sentence unless Michael could show that extenuating circumstances existed. However, Michael refused to disclose the facts surrounding the shooting, because this would have implicated his comrades and the liberation movement. Michael could expect no mercy from the judge. Justice Williamson was known as a “hanging judge”.
Between 1986 and 1988 he passed 18 death sentences. He was one of four judges regularly appointed by the Judge President G G A Munnik (a staunch supporter of the apartheid regime) to hear death penalty and political cases. Between them they passed 75 death sentences in the two-year period. Justice Williamson was also a religious Christian, but the range of his compassion was narrow.
He could not appreciate, as Justice Didcott had done, that “… the black people of this country (had) real and legitimate grievances”; or that the apartheid regime had made itself the enemy of the people and therefore the enemy of God.
The only way left open to prevent a death sentence being passed on Michael was to show that he was younger than 18 years old when he committed his offence. Michael had told me that he had never met or known his mother.
Therefore I requested the anatomy department at Cape Town Medical School to X-ray Michael’s bones and establish his anatomical age. Their conclusion was that he could not have been 18. In response to this compelling medical evidence the prosecution called a woman to testify who had been sitting in the gallery watching the trial.
She claimed to be Michael’s mother. She said that he was more than 20 years old when Mr Blauw was shot. Michael was sentenced to death on August 21, 1987.
He spent the next seven months with other condemned prisoners (the living dead), awaiting results of appeals and his plea for clemency that could never succeed in the legal and political circumstances of that time.
Every few days he would hear other prisoners pass his cell on their way to be hanged.
On March 25 1988 he was made to walk into a room with a trap door at its centre, and nooses above. The state killed him there. His body became their property and was transported to a cemetery reserved for black persons. His family could not accompany his coffin. They could not mourn at his graveside until today.
Michael was one of four condemned prisoners from Bongolethu whom I represented. The other three had been convicted of killing a community councillor by stoning him and placing a burning tyre over his shoulders. By virtue of political negotiations that followed this their lives were spared.
Michael never lost faith or belief that victory was certain. Victory came; but history did not end there. During Michael’s trial Mr Blaauw’s grieving family approached me outside the court. They wanted to know how I could defend the man who had killed their husband and father.
My answer is that Michael and Mr Blaauw were both victims of the apartheid regime. We must learn a lesson from their deaths. Never again must a small minority be allowed to capture the power and wealth of our country and use these at the expense of our peoples’ lives. Michael fought and died for a just cause. It was a just war. May his dear departed soul now find peace in Bongolethu.