ZAMDELA TOWNSHIP: THE EXPLOSION OF CONFRONTATIONAL POLITICS, EARLY 1980S TO 1990

Tshepo Moloi

doi:10.18820/24150509/jch43.v1.6

Abstract

Zamdela Township, established by SASOL in 1954, was a typical company township and politically tranquil for a number of decades after its establishment. This situation, however, changed in the 1980s. Just like other townships across the country, Zamdela was on “fire” by the mid-1980s. The residents of the township were aggrieved by hiking of rent, lack of service delivery and perceived corruption by the local councillors, established through the regime’s reforms from the mid-1970s through to the 1980s. In expressing their discontent and anger, they attacked the councillors and denied them space to work freely. Unlike other townships, such as Alexandra, confrontational politics in Zamdela were ignited and spearheaded by secondary school students and out-of-school youth - and not by adults. Undoubtedly, the bombing of SASOL and NATREF plants by members of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress, left a lasting impact on the young people in the township. In this article, it will be argued that the role played by the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO) and its student wing, the Azanian Student Movement (AZASM), and later the United Democratic Front-affiliated Congress of South African Students (COSAS) really galvanised the students and youth in the township to challenge the apartheid regime in general and the local authorities in particular.

Highlights

Zamdela Township was established close to the industrial area of Sasolburg.[2]
It will be argued that the role played by the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO) and its student wing, the Azanian Student Movement (AZASM), and later the United Democratic Front-affiliated Congress of South African Students (COSAS) really galvanised the students and youth in the township to challenge the apartheid regime in general and the local authorities in particular
Zamdela was established in 1954 by the South African Synthetic Oil Limited (SASOL) Company to accommodate its employees who came from various parts of South Africa and the neighbouring countries

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Zamdela Township was established close to the industrial area of Sasolburg.[2]. It is situated in the northern Free State Province near the banks of the Vaal River, 80 kilometres from Johannesburg, and more than 300 kilometres from Bloemfontein.[3]. Edward Rampedi’s work is significant, but its main focus is on youth protests in the township post-1994.7 What consideration has been given by Rampedi and Sparks to confrontational politics in Zamdela in the 1980s is only as an allusion.[8] In contrast, a PhD thesis by Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi and an unpublished manuscript on the history of Nkgopoleg Secondary School, written by a Mr Mako, an educator at Nkgopoleng, shed light on the explosion and spread of confrontational politics in Zamdela in the 1980s. Due to lack of sufficient primary sources on the subject under review, this research relied heavily on interviews with former students at Nkgopoleng, members of AZAPO, members of the community of Zamdela, and ex-employees of SASOL, conducted by the author and other colleagues who were working on an oral history project in the Free State Province. Interviews, on the other hand, proved vital because they offered first-hand accounts about local politics in Zamdela from the 1950s to 1990

ZAMDELA TOWNSHIP BEFORE 1980

THE GENESIS OF CONFRONTATIONAL POLITICS AND THEIR MANIFESTATION

THE DERAILMENT OF CONFRONTATIONAL POLITICS

Findings

CONCLUSION