Mamre MK Military Training – The Only Attempt at Massive Internal Training

On 30 December 1962, the lorry that brought the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) recruits to Mamre for military training arrived to collect them, as they got at the back in the company of Denis Goldberg, who informed them that they may have another opportunity for another picnic. As the lorry was driving the recruits were singing a song, “Amajoni” (meaning “We are soldiers”). When they were dropped off at Langa, they formed themselves into a platoon and began to march into the township, while one of them was beating time on a paraffin tin. The group was put together on 26 December 1962, where they all met at Mowbray station in Cape Town, under Looksmart Ngudle, who was wearing a soldier’s overcoat, a beret and a military-type backpack over his shoulders. Ngudle then instructed them to mount on a lorry that was waiting nearby. When another group of six arrived, they also got on board the lorry, and altogether they made a group of twenty-three youths. A few minutes later, a white man who was wearing spectacles arrived, whom Ngudle introduced as a one of their comrades, Denis Goldberg. During that time, while Goldberg was greeting them, each of the youngsters was given a blanket, a plate, a spoon and a rug. The lorry then took off, stopping at Cardiff Marney’s house in Lansdowne, where five youngsters were picked up, and the lorry was loaded with four tents and a motor-car engine. Leaving Lansdowne, the lorry went to a forested farm, in an area known as Louwsklo