‘Ta Pops’ Mooi was champion of rural poor
THE community of Bongolethu in Oudtshoorn has lost a stalwart of the rural Struggle against apartheid.
Mzukisi “Ta Pops” Mooi died in Cape Town on Sunday, September 12, coincidentally the day South Africa remembered the death of another antiapartheid and Black Consciousness activist, Steven Bantu Biko.
Affectionately known as Ta Pops, Mooi was known for his cheerful disposition, humour, love of life and people.
Ta Pops will be remembered for his bravery during the height of the Struggle, when he witnessed the brutal ambush and murder of three boys by the apartheid security police in Bongolethu on June 17, 1985.
The three – Patrick Madikane, Fezile Hanse and Andile Majola – were all just 14 years old. Under apartheid laws, it was a serious crime to witness an incident where police or security were shooting or committing a crime.
Once the police become aware that you might be a vital witness, they would hunt you down and arrest you. Many of our brothers and sisters died mysteriously, and others disappeared without trace after they witnessed similar incidents.
Ta Pops, as witness to this incident, was arrested and detained indefinitely.
The slain boys became known as the “Bongolethu Three” .
The police officers responsible claimed they had acted in self defence.
Ta Pops refuted this claim at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recalling the horrrific shooting of the Bongolethu Three.
The TRC concluded that the killing of the teens was an ambush carried out by the apartheid police, whose Trojan Horse tactics had been totally inappropriate in dealing with civil unrest.
Thanks to Ta Pops’s evidence, the whole world got to know about the security police’s brutality against the unarmed youngsters of Bongolethu.
It was no surprise that even post-apartheid, Ta Pops remained a servant of the under-developed rural communities.
He continued to dedicate his time, life and expertise to empower rural communities, because his was a political struggle that sought to reaffirm the dignity of black people, especially those in the rural areas.
He resisted the temptations and trappings of power and the material opulence that often comes with leadership.
Prior to his death, Ta Pops was a development, education and training practitioner working to empower rural communities.
He was the board chairperson of the Wine and Agricultural and Ethical Association.
As a former employee of the South Cape Council of Churches in Oudtshoorn, Ta Pops criss-crossed the country, ensuring parents of detainees visited their detained and imprisoned children.
Ta Pops was a founding activist of the Bongolethu Youth Organisation – the youth group in Oudtshoorn that galvanised the town’s community to reject all forms of oppression and discrimination.
He and other community leaders were the brains behind a broad anti-apartheid campaign that took shape in all communities throughout the southern Cape and the Karoo.
Mzukisi “Ta Pops” Mooi will be laid to rest at his hometown of Oudtshoorn on September 19.
Rest in power my Leader. Hamba Kahle