Matola watered the tree of freedom
AMONG the comrades murdered in the Matola Raid on January 30, 1981 was Krishna Rabilal of Merebank. We record the 13 martyrs as heroes of South African freedom.
Their lives were cut short when apartheid security forces crossed the border in an act of shameless and unprovoked aggression against the sovereignty of the people of Mozambique. ANC refugees had been given a home by the government and people of Mozambique.
These acts of aggression and destabilisation were not uncommon. Countries like Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia and Angola all bore the brunt. The loss of life of exiles and local people was great, as was the destruction of those economies.
In one of the most moving tributes we were ever to hear in honouring fallen comrades, a deeply saddened and shaken ANC president, comrade OR Tambo, consoled thousands of members and supporters of the ANC shortly thereafter in Maputo with the words: “But let us rise like one man, as one people, to overthrow that regime.”
The defeat of apartheid in the first democratic election in 1994 was a testament to what a united people can do.
The late Professor John Daniel, a former president of the National Union of South African Students and an ANC exile, alerted us in painful detail to the manner in which the raid on Matola unfolded, and about the criminals responsible for it.
He recorded the following for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when it heard testimony from the survivors and the loved ones of those who had fallen: “The Matola raid… was a combined operation in a planning sense; it was planned by two senior figures in the security establishment.
“Jacques Buchner was one from the SAP side and a Major Steijn from the South African Defence Force. They planned the operation, they provided the intelligence, they got the intelligence through interrogations, through their sources in Mozambique, they gave the information about the houses and who one can expect to find in the houses. The actual operation was conducted by special forces, specifically 5 Recce which was based in Phalaborwa.”
That reference by Professor Daniel is important in that it highlights a pattern of behaviour on the part of the regime and details of the individuals who perpetrated this crime. It is a piece of history that we dare not forget.
The name Jacques Buchner is especially striking. This was the man responsible for some of the worst atrocities against opponents of apartheid while he was head of the KwaZulu police.
State violence was couched as blackon-black violence but was nothing less than apartheid ‘divide and rule’.
A few years ago we unveiled a monument honouring those who had lost their lives in Shobashobane, as we did last week in Matola.
Our democracy is the product of struggle. It is a victory over the forces of divide and rule. Divide and rule was responsible for the tragic events of Cato Manor in 1949, Inanda in 1985, Bisho in 1992 and many others. The regime and its agents pitted our people against each other. Stoking racial and ethnic violence made people mutually suspicious and kept the regime in power.
It is important to remember the tragic events in our history. It arms us to counter the claims of those who nowadays claim that they were involved in the fight against apartheid. It arms us against those who try to falsely claim our heroes as theirs.
Our democracy is a victory for the historical call of the ANC that we must prize unity in diversity above us.
A united people will advance – politically, economically and socially. A united people will never be defeated.
As we face up to present day challenges we must reflect on the value of unity and social cohesion.
Comrades of Rabilal set up the Krishna Rabilal Foundation. It is encouraging that they are able to mobilise young people from all backgrounds.
Their programmes centre on social cohesion and the empowerment of young people. They also organised a bus to take people to the Matola Commemoration at the weekend. That work must be supported as we build the society cherished by our fallen heroes.
The families of our 13 martyrs must be assured that their sacrifice waters the tree of South African freedom. The president conferred on them our highest honour for bravery, the Order of Mendi.
As Irish Republican Army volunteer Bobby Sands put it, “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children”. A luta continua. A vitória é certa! Pillay is a member of the Provincial Executive Committee of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal and serves as MEC for Human Settlements and
Public Works.