The 1960 Pondo Revolt

The 1960 Pondo Revolt

On 20 March 1960, the Pondoland revolt, also known as “uNonqulwana”, in the Eastern Cape referred to the action taken by iKongo (ANC supporters who referred to themselves as iKongo – Kongolo Pondo Resistance Movement or Congress – members against the imposition of tribal authorities and impending self-government for Transkei) to reject tribal authorities and self-government of Transkei, initiated by the Bantu Authorities Act of 1951. During a protest gathering in the district of Bizana, Saul Mabude, a tribal authority, was called to explain the Act to the people. His refusal to address the group angered the people to such an extent that they destroyed his house and livestock. The police were called in and a number of people were hurt in the chaos or arrested.

Following the Bizana protests, several such incidents occurred thereafter. As a result of this revolt, meetings were banned. People responded by organising secretly on mountain ridges and formed a movement known as Intaba (Mountain). They demanded the withdrawal of the hated system of the Bantu Authorities Act, the representation of all South Africans in the Republic’s Parliament, relief from increased taxes and the abolition of the pass system. Spies and loyalists (informers) to the tribal authorities reported on these activities. The violent treatment of informers created tension between the activists and the local authorities.

On 6 June 1960, before these problems were tabled before the people, a military force had occupied Ngquza Hill. The peaceful meeting turned into a massacre of innocent people, when police helicopters dropped teargas on a gathering, police shot and beat them with batons and eleven people were killed, many of them were shot in the backs of their heads; and more than 48 casualties were hospitalised and arrested. Botha Sigcau, the Paramount Chief, was blamed for the massacre because he was perceived to be supporting the apartheid government, and this led to the uprising in Pondoland from 1960 to 1963.

Police presence in the area was increased and a commission of inquiry was appointed, made up of Bantu Administration officials. The commission was clearly biased, and its findings were rejected. People intensified their struggle, with taxes not being paid, and white traders were boycotted. The return of a political activist, a member of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), Anderson Khumani “Dan” Ganyile, from the University of Fort Hare, further strengthened the local leadership. The ringleaders of the Pondo Revolt were presumed to be Maqashu Leonard Mdingi, Mthethunzima Ganyile, Anderson Ganyile, Mvangeli Solomon Madikizela, Theophilus Ntshangela, H. Mbodla, S. Mpini and N. Ntshangase.

As the struggles in the Transkei spiralled, the government declared a state of emergency in November 1960. Legal methods used by the security forces to crush this revolt included widespread detentions, criminal prosecutions and banishment of families. Illegal methods included torture in custody (primarily in detention), deaths in custody, apparently due to treatment received, and the use of unnecessary force in public order policing. Thousands of people were detained without being charged or tried. Between August and October 1961, 30 Pondo people were sentenced to death and executed for their participation in the revolt.

The Pondo people fiercely resisted the rise of the Colonisers and their attempts to reshape and re-engineer Pondoland and to co-opt their Chiefs. Violence erupted around issues such as Chiefs who collaborated with the Apartheid state, the land reclamation programme, the Bantu Authorities system and spontaneous revolts occurred against the further imposition of these authorities upon the Pondo communities. Pondo people had less trust and faith in their Chiefs since they were willing to be co-opted by the colonial rulers at the expense of their subjects.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) heard details of these events and decided that the remains of the twenty-three men that had been executed in Pretoria and buried in a Mamelodi cemetery, were to be exhumed and returned to Pondoland for reburial. This was done following the provisions outlined by the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999 for the handling of remains of victims of conflict connected with the liberation struggle.

In his article on the Peasants’ Revolt, Govan Mbeki asserted that, “The Pondos paid dearly for their failure to ensure the safety and security of their forces at the height of the struggle. And in this they were not alone. Zululand and Zeerust suffered similarly, although on a smaller scale. But the people do not bear sufferings, such as they bore when the army occupied the Transkei, without becoming steeled in their determination to regroup, re-examine their methods of struggle, develop new ones, and retain the spirit that seeks forever for freedom” (Govan Mbeki).

The Pondo uprising ultimately influenced the African National Congress (ANC) and the Congress Movement to review its approach to resistance in the country and the decision to take up arms against the apartheid regime a year after the revolt.

“Asimfuni uMaziphathe! UMasiziphathe uya Kusebenza sifile!”

Sources:
Wikipedia.
South African History Online (SAHO).
Padraig O’Malley, “The Homelands”, O’Malley Archives, Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Govan Mbeki, “South Africa: The Peasants’ Revolt”, Penguin, 1964.
Tom Lodge, “POQO and Rural Resistance in The Transkei, 1960-1965”, Centre for Southern African Studies, University of York, 1979.
TRC Final Report, “The Pondoland Revolt”, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Volume 2, Chapter 5, Subsection 18, Page Number (Original) 428, Paragraph Numbers 109 to 116.
Sapa, “Truth Body to Hear of Pondoland Revolt”, South African Press Association, Lusikisiki, 23 March 1997.
Luli Callinicos, “Oliver Tambo: Beyond Engeli Mountains”, David Philip, 2004.
Ben Turok, “The Pondo Revolt”, South African Congress of Democrats, 1960.
Victor Mxolisi Mnaba, “The Role of The Church Towards the Pondo Revolt In South Africa From 1960 – 1963”, Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Theology, University of South Africa, May 2006.
Sarah Bruchhausen, “Emancipatory Politics and the Mpondo Revolts”, Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Rhodes University, June 2016.
Thembela Kepe and Lungisile Ntsebeza (eds), Rural Resistance in South Africa: The Mpondo Revolts after Fifty Years, UCT Press, Cape Town, 2012.
Thembela Kepe, “Memorials and shifting meanings of rural revolts in South Africa: the Mpondo rural revolts and insurgent scholarship”, Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 51 No. 180, 2024.
Mark Olalde, “South Africa: The Pondoland Rebellion”, Pulitzer Center, 12 April 2017.

Castro Khwela
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