Justice “Gizenga” Mpanza (aka “Reuben Nhlabathi”)

Justice “Gizenga” Mpanza (aka “Reuben Nhlabathi”)

Justice “Gizenga” Mpanza (aka “Reuben Nhlabathi”) was born on 5 September 1937 at Groutville Mission, near to KwaDukuza (Stanger). His father was one of Chief Luthuli’s indunas (advisors). Mpanza went to school at Groutville, but was forced to leave after completing Standard 6 because he was ‘too old’. In 1954, he went to Durban looking for employment.

When he first arrived in Durban in 1954, he went to the trade union offices in Lakhani House, where the trade union offices where situated and where he met Stephen Dlamini who was holding discussions about the struggle for liberation. After finding work he attended evening classes on politics from Monday to Friday and mass meetings that were held at Beatrice Street. As a result, he joined the African National Congress (ANC).

Inspired by the Mpondoland Revolt, Mpanza and 13 thirteen others began by burning sugar cane whilst others went to burn forests at kwaNgubomnyama at Harding, Natal, in a campaign that lasted between 1957 to 1959. The campaign was stopped by Walter Sisulu, who argued that their actions would force the government to target the ANC and that people were not prepared for a protracted violent battle with the state.

Mpanza was also part of the group that planned to attack the July Handicap, Durban’s popular horse racing event so as to precipitate an armed confrontation with the state. When rioting broke out in Durban in 1960, Mpanza’s involvement was suspected but he escaped arrest after the incident. That same year Mpanza married Regina Dludla in 1960.

Mpanza and his wife allowed their house to be used as place for keeping exploves wich were used by Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in the sabotage campaign. His wife became a courier transporting explosives to her husband in Durban. Mpanza was in the same MK unit as Ronnie Kasrils, and together with Kasrils’s wife, Eleanor, conducted acts of sabotage. They were together when they blew up a power pylon in Westville. The explosion threw the city of Durban into darkness – including KwaMashu Township.

When the threat of detention increased, Mpanza skipped the country in 1963. He left Durban with seven others for Johannesburg and then headed for Botswana, where they met Joe Modise who took them to Kazangula. It was here that Mpanza and others such as Mark Shope crossed into Zambia before proceeding to Luthuli camp in Tanzania.

After spending sometime in Tanzania, Mpanza was sent for military training in the Soviet Union between August 1963 and December 1964. Together with his group, he was trained in intelligence and sabotage. When he returned to Zambia, he served as the Chief of Reconnaissance team in the Zambezi Valley. In August 1966, Senna and Mpanza left Livingstone and entered Botswana in a Land Rover that had been specially modified for the trip. They called it the ‘space ship’ because of the way it was partitioned. The vehicle was fitted with two compartments – one was used to carry fish, the other for secret cargo, in which the two guerrillas hid for the border crossing.

The drivers pretended to be fishmongers returning from an expedition at the Chobe River, but immigration authorities at the border became suspicious because of the vehicle’s abnormal weight. When they tried to unscrew what they perceived to be a false bottom, they found sawdust, but the driver explained that the compartment had been used to carry ice, and they were allowed to proceed. Senna and Mpanza spent three days in hiding along the Chobe River to avoid detection by the Botswana police. During this time, they quietly observed members of the apartheid South African Defence Force (SADF), based in the Caprivi Strip, carrying out drills and manoeuvres in boats. They eventually set out from their hiding place and travelled approximately 42 kilometres into Botswana before being discovered by Botswana game rangers, arrested and taken to prison in Francistown, from where they managed to contact Peter Ntithe, a member of the ANC.

Mpanza took part in the Wankie Campaign, a joint military campaign of MK and Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), an armed wing of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU). Mpanza fought alongside James April, Cletus Mzimela, Joseph Nduli, Chris Hani and Basil February, amongst others. Mpanza was captured when withdrawing to Botswana and was taken to Francistown, where he was identified despite supplying a false name, and then detained. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. They were released after the intervention of the Presidents of Botswana and Zambia, Seretse Khama and Kenneth Kaunda.  Consequently, Mpanza and his comrades served between 11 and 13 months, after which they were released to Zambia in 1968.

On 10 August 1972, Mpanza was arrested in Mandeni, Natal, while on a guerrilla mission inside the country, and held for 265 days in solitary confinement. He was charged with terrorism and sentenced to 15 years, as part of the “Pretoria Six”, which he served on Robben Island. Mpanza was released in June 1988 and returned to operate under the United Democratic Front (UDF). After being banned for thirty years, the ANC in February 1990 proceeded to open its first official office in South Africa in Stanger (Natal), and Justice Mpanza was appointed to head the office.

In the 1990s, Mpanza played a critical role in developing Self-Defence Units (SDUs) in the Greater KwaDukuza region following a massive onslaught waged by Inkatha Caprivi-trained Units, supported by the hit squads of the Bantustan KwaZulu Police and the Vlakplaas Security Branch Section C Squads. Townships around the Groutville, Mandeni areas and the various villages in KwaMaphumulo came under attack for supporting the ANC and the UDF and rejecting to be part of the KwaZulu Bantustan.

After the collapse of apartheid in 1994, Mpanza continued to work for the ANC, as a Councillor in 1995 serving in KwaDukuza Municipality; and iLembe District Council in 2000, as a member of the Regional Executive Committee of the Greater KwaDukuza Region of the ANC. He served as member of KwaZulu-Natal Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) provincial structure alongside General Pass Four Phungula. During this period, he oversaw the integration of MK soldiers into the new South African Government security structures such military, police and intelligence.

He played a crucial role in the demobilisation of soldiers and further worked tirelessly for the wellbeing of former MK soldiers. He was an advocate human right and various causes including free and better health systems, education, social justice, equality, and just land restitutions. The democratic government renamed the General Justice Gizenga General Gizenga Regional Hospital in KwaDukuza in his honor, recognising his commitment to health and social justice.

General “Gizenga” Mpanza passed away on 30 July 2002.

Thabekhulu!

Sources:
Wikipedia.
South African History Online (SAHO).
Gregory Houston, “Military Bases and Camps of the Liberation Movement, 1961-1990”, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Research Outputs, 25 August 2015.
Staff Reporter, “Ex-Robben Islander Gizenga Dies”, Mail & Guardian, 1 August 2002.
Barry Van Wyk, “The Balance of Power and the Transition to Democracy In South Africa”, Magister Hereditatus Culturaeque Scientiae (History), University of Pretoria, 2005.
Gregory Houston, Jabulani Sithole and Bernard Magubane (Eds), “The Road to Democracy: South Africans telling their stories – Justice Mpanza, Volume 1, 1950-1970”, 12 October 2001, Mutloatse Trust, Durban, SADET Oral History Project, January 2008.
Bernard Magubane et.al., “Chapter 2: The Turn to Armed Struggle”, The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Volume 1, 1960-1970, South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), 2015.
Rendani Moses Ralinala et.al., “Chapter 12: The Wankie and Sipolilo Campaigns”, The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Volume 1, 1960-1970, South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), 2015.
Janet Smith and Beauregard Tromp, “Hani: A Life Too Short”, Jonathan Ball, 2009.
Joe Pillay, “Taking Up the Spear: Shadrack Maphumulo’s Struggle Against Apartheid”, South African History Online Lives of Courage Series, South African History Online, 2024.

Castro Khwela
Good evening fellow Compatriots!