African Activist Archive

The newsletter opens with a quote from Dr. Nthato Motlana, chairman of the Committee of Ten in Soweto, on the second anniversary of the Soweto uprising, and it goes on to assess the increasingly dangerous situation in Southern Africa and U.S. policy. The newsletter reports that, on Ascension Day, May 4, 1978, the South African Defence Force launched a massacre at the Namibian refugee camp at Kassinga in Angola. The South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) documented what occurred, and Manchester Guardian correspondent Jane Bergerol is quoted. A report about the banning of The Voice, a Soweto weekly, discusses the Union of Black Journalists, the Internal Security Act, Revelation Ntoula, Judy Mayet, Phil Mtimkulu, Zacharia Mofokeng, and Harry Makubire. This article also asks people to urge churches, unions, newspapers and legislators to protest to Ambassador Donald B. Sole at the South African Embassy, Washington, D.C. The newsletter reports that Dr. Mamphela Ramphele has been banished to a small rural community 600 miles from home. Ramphele, a close associate of Steven Biko, was superintendent of Zanempilo Clinic in King Williams Town that was established by the Black Community Programmes (BPC). The newsletter includes a newspaper article about Thandi Mdontswa who was detained under Section Sis of the Terrorism Act and spent 11 months in solitary confinement. An article about Winnie Mandela, wife of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, mentions Helen Joseph, Barbara Waite, Jacqueline Bosman, and Ilona Kleinschmidt. The newsletter includes a copy of a letter to President Jimmy Carter from William Johnston about Winnie Mandela, Helen Joseph and Barbara Waite and the White House response. An article about the official inquest into the death of Steven Biko includes an exchange between Sydney Kentridge, attorney for the Biko family, and Colonel Pieter Goosen of the South African Police security branch. • 16 June 1978 - A Call to Dedication • The Massacre at Kassinga • The Voice • Banished • Brave Thandie talks of ordeal • Four Friends of Winnie Mandela • Crossroads • Why does Readers Digest support the South African Defence Force? • In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story by John Stockwell, former chief CIA Angola Task Force • The Biko Inquest

African Activist Archive

ECSA Bulletin

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