WHAT IS THIS HULLABALOO ABOUT THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE OF NELSON MANDELA?
There is this hullabaloo around the twentieth anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from prison which falls on the 11th February. The media, which created this hue and cry in the first place, is abuzz with the news of this anniversary.
The South African media’s portraying of Mandela as the only person who fought for our liberation and whose release from prison is the only occasion to be celebrated is fundamentally objectionable. And I equally disprove of the Pan Africanist Congress’s leadership, members and followers to let the South African media appropriate the glorious history of the PAC and bestow it on the ANC and Nelson Mandela and relegate Robert Sobukwe, Zeph Mothopeng and Japhta Masemola to the dust bin of history and to the margins of South Africa’s fight for liberation.
There is this hullabaloo around the twentieth anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from prison which falls on the 11th February. The media, which created this hue and cry in the first place, is abuzz with the news of this anniversary.
The South African media’s portraying of Mandela as the only person who fought for our liberation and whose release from prison is the only occasion to be celebrated is fundamentally objectionable. And I equally disapprove of the Pan Africanist Congress’s leadership, members and followers to let the South African media appropriate the glorious history of the PAC and bestow it on the ANC and Nelson Mandela and relegate Robert Sobukwe, Zeph Mothopeng and Japhta Masemola to the dust bin of history and to the margins of South Africa’s fight for liberation.
Let us get some facts straight. After the proscription of the PAC and ANC in April 1960, the first political prisoners on Robben Island were from the PAC and included Japhta Masemola. When the Rivonia trialists like Mandela, Walter Sisulu and others arrived on Robben Island in 1964, Masemola and other PAC members had already been on Robben Island for two years.
Mandela was released from Robben Island after 18 years and Masemola was released after 26 years. Masemola spent 9 of those 26 years in solitary confinement because some of the ANC prisoners had told white prison authorities that Masemola had designed a master key that could open all the prison doors. These facts are suppressed in the South African media. That is why the South African media, which is sucking up to the ANC, won’t push for the celebration of the release of Masemola because the betrayal of Masemola may be exposed. When Masemola was betrayed, Mandela was still on Robben Island.
Thanks for bringing this on record. The usage of Mandela by the enemy is known factor by those with a dicerning eye. This must be resisted by all means necessary. We had the same furore here in the UK – and they were not averse to boast that all else has not changed much. Mandela is like their greatest weapon at halting the advancement of true liberation in SA. I am a respcter of people, especially our elders and Mandela even more so for the role he did play in our struggle. I therefore would plead with those near him to let this, our old man, see and realise just how he is being used and for him to denounce this usage before he is gone. He hould not allow this to be hos legacy for the sake of his own children, Sa and above all the continent. They use MLK in the same way now, to represent what they call Black History Month. In this his legacy is ‘giving the other cheek and the march of Christianity among the ‘blacks’ in the USA, rather than the march for absolute black liberation as he would have wanted. This tactic, using an individual to represent the majority in an ongoing unpleasant status quo is becoming a kingpin for hidden negative agendas with Africans.
PAC forever, Africans all over the world, where ever they are, must uphold the flag of the PAC and demand true freedom for Azanaia! Aluta continua.
Pardon me other readers if I sound incensed but it is a painful reality – to be taken for granted and for a fool, not as an individual, but as a people. When do we wake up and smell the coffee?
Can someone please tell me if Masemola is still alive. As a Zimbabwean, I apologise for my lack of this knowledge.
Sorry, just seen page two now – whic says Masemola died in a car accident.
Masemola died in a mysterious car accident six months after he was released from a grueling 26 years imprisonment on Robben Island nine of which were spent in solitary confinement. As I pointed out in my previous article, Mandela insisted that Masemola be released before he (Mandela) could be released. He set the agenda of his release from a house and we are expected to celebrate this farce. And Masemola’s death six months after Mandela insisted that he be released before he himself could be set free makes me suspicous and the way he treats the PAC with contempt. But the GODS OF AFRICA will avenge for MASEMOLA.