By Nhlanhla Mbatha
House number 768 Mehlomakhulu Street in Dube, Soweto, was the house the apartheid security police raided the most in the black townships in the aftermath of the June 16, 1976, Soweto student uprisings.
Armed security police later practically lived in that house. They manned roadblocks on Mehlomakhulu Street.
At night, black and white members of the notorious Security Branch camped on the street, with their binoculars focused on the house.
At one stage police came with picks and shovels and spades and dug in the tiny four-roomed municipal house, claiming that there were “terrorist weapons” hidden under the ground.
The house belonged to Alexandra Mbatha, who died last week after a short illness. He will be buried on Saturday at Westpark Cemetery. The government has declared that his funeral will enjoy provincial official status.
Alex Mbatha and his wife Khosi, veterans of the ANC in the 1960s and 1970s, had used their house as a sanctuary for freedom fighters and political activists, notably former presidents Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma.
Mbatha’s is one of the houses that the students of Soweto, mostly members of the SA Students’ Movement and later the Soweto Students Representative Council, used to plot the June 16, 1976, protests.
Clandestine meetings were held there, and students and political activist on the police wanted list used the house as a hideout.
Student leaders Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seatlholo were once housed by the Mbathas before skipping the country when security police had issued a reward for their arrests.
Some of the activists who ended in exile in foreign countries were transported by Mbatha to flee the country.
Mbatha risked his wife, his house and his family for the liberation of SA
Mbatha, his wife and his entire family soon were under the security police spotlight. This is one family – father, mother and children – that was once picked up in its entirety and jailed. The youngest child was about 2 years old.
The Mbathas were never deterred. Instead, they became more resolute to wage the Struggle for freedom. Mbatha risked his wife, his family, his house and his children for the liberation of South Africa.
Following repeated arrests, harassment and raids, in 1982 the family fled South Africa to various countries, ending up in Holland.
They continued with the Struggle abroad, addressing the international community about the situation back in South Africa.
They also assisted in welcoming new arrivals in exile, organising scholarships and bursaries for those who wanted to study, and helping those who wanted to do military training.
Mbatha also assisted in consolidating campaigns to isolate apartheid South Africa.
The family returned from exile in 1990 and resettled in their Dube Village home until the death of Khosi, and now Alex last week.
The two are survived by children Nomsa, Shalo, Linda, Sibusiso, Zanele, Bongani and Dudu, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Lala Ngoxolo Shandu! Mthiya! Ndabezitha!
Nhlanhla Mbatha is The Star’s senior sub-editor.
The Star