No expense spared to rename complex
THE DEPARTMENT of Social Development’s Mimosa Complex building in Kimberley was yesterday renamed after fallen ANC struggle hero Peter Gaolatlhwe “Latlhi” Mabilo, during a “no-expense-spared” ceremony attended by more than 500 people.
The Provincial Executive Council approved a memo on the Renaming of Government Owned Buildings and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, through the Geographical Names Unit, embarked on a process of engaging the departments concerned.
As part of intensifying and accelerating the renaming/naming process, the department identified the Mimosa Complex building as one area that would be prioritised during the financial year.
The renaming forms part of the process of Renaming and Naming of Government Buildings in the Province, by honouring heroes and heroines who selflessly contributed to the country’s liberation struggle.
During yesterday’s renaming ceremony, several MECs, as well as Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas and Sol Plaatje Municipality executive mayor Mangaliso Matika, together with members of the Mabilo family and hundreds of guests, gathered to honour and remember the late Mabilo as an “outstanding revolutionary, a selfless and dedicated combatant, a dedicated freedom fighter and respected and admired leader of the people”.
Mabilo was born on December 10, 1965 in Galeshewe and attended pre-primary school at the Saint Boniface Kindergarten. He then proceeded to Saint Dominic’s Lower Primary School, then to Saint Boniface Higher Primary and eventually received his high school education at Saint Boniface High School up to Grade11 before he went into exile in around 1985.
Mabilo’s political consciousness was influenced at an early age, in particular by the 1980 school boycotts against Bantu education. At that time, when Galeshewe schools were “on fire” the entire township was affected by the political events spearheaded by the pupils. The houses of councillors were burnt down and other infrastructure associated with the apartheid system was targeted by the protesters at the time.
What further shaped Mabilo’s political understanding, was the brutal manner in which the apartheid police assaulted pupils with batons, set police dogs on protesters and the harsh manner in which they dealt with the situation.
At the time, a team of young leaders from Galeshewe high schools moved from school to school to ensure that no learning and teaching was taking place and that pupils were mobilised to attend mass meetings to participate in student campaigns. This is how Mabilo and many young pupils at Saint Boniface High got involved in the early student boycotts and the seed of political activism was planted.
Mabilo and many other students were inspired by and exposed to senior student leaders who addressed mass meetings that took place at Saint Boniface High School.
The student leaders at the time took a strategic decision to use Saint Boniface as a “safe” venue for student mass meetings, as police needed to obtain permission before they could enter the premises, whereas the police forcefully broke up mass gatherings at government high schools.
Mabilo did not complete his high school education, after his passion for politics deepened and he, together with his classmate Demonfort Kgotso Flatela, were both expelled from Saint Boniface for their political involvement and as active members of both the Galeshewe Student Organisation (GASO) and the Galeshewe Youth Organisation (GAYO). Both these organisations were affiliated to the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Authorities at the school did not allow pupils the freedom of association and regarded both Mabilo and Kgotso as “bad influences” on other pupils.
Mabilo was arrested and detained for more than nine months in the Bougroep prison in Kimberley and subsequently charged with arson, public violence and participation in furthering the aims of a banned organisation.
He was released on bail and rearrested after the charges were reinstated and in 1985, during the state of emergency, he skipped the country to join the then banned ANC.
He secretly returned to the country and lived underground with a clear mission to further the aims and objectives of the ANC (and to advance the broader struggle for liberation).
On August 21, 1987 the apartheid security forces carried out a raid at his safe house at 108 Kagisho Street, Ipopeng, Galeshewe, where he was brutally killed by security branch members.
Family members yesterday conveyed how Mabilo sustained more than 30 bullet wounds and how they had to identify his “covered-in-blood” body.
He was buried in September 1987 at the Galeshewe ABC Cemetery, amidst a heavy security police presence.
In defiance, his coffin was draped with the black, green and gold flag of the ANC.
While Premier Lucas said yesterday that the the renaming was a tribute to a young man who was forced to leave his home and flee because he had been vocal about the oppression suffered by communities at the hands of apartheid, many attendees questioned whether the hundreds of thousands of rands spent on the event was really necessary to honour a struggle hero.
According to insiders, the 500 guests were apparently served a R250 per head lunch, while the bill for decorating the marquee tents where the event was held is believed to have come to R125 000. This is excluding the cost of the rental of the actual tents. Table decor included damask table cloths, linen napkins, crystal-studded chair covers and serviette rings, floral centrepieces on crystal embellished stands, gold underplates and even gold-rimmed champagne glasses on the VIP table.
“Could this money not be better spent on helping the poor, instead of all this extravagance, just to rename a building,” one attendee asked.