The Gruesome Bisho Massacre
On 7 September 1992, twenty-eight (28) African National Congress (ANC) supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Bantustan Ciskei Defence Force (CDF) during a protest march when they attempted to enter Bisho (now renamed to Bhisho) to demand the reincorporation of Ciskei into South Africa during the final years of apartheid.
ANC Secretary-General, Cyril Ramaphosa, was ahead of a crowd of approximately 80 000 demonstrators that marched to a razor-wire barrier a few kilometres outside King William’s Town. The march was part of the ANC’s mass action campaign to drive apartheid President F.W. De Klerk to agree to establish an interim government. On 3 September, the ANC sent a memorandum to De Klerk demanding that he replace Gqozo with an interim administration which would permit free democratic activity in Ciskei, but De Klerk refused, on the grounds that the Ciskei did not fall under South Africa’s jurisdiction. At the time, negotiations had broken down, with the ANC withdrawing following the Boipatong Massacre and accusing De Klerk’s government of fomenting the violence.
As a result, the ANC began a campaign of “mass action”, organising a protest march to occupy Bisho and force Gqozo’s resignation. Gqozo sought a court interdict to prevent the march, and the magistrate ruled that it could take place at the homeland’s independence stadium, outside Bisho, but could not enter the capital. The ANC refused to recognise the
