Ben Mafani
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Ben Mafani is an activist from Glenmore in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. He is a member of the Unemployed Peoples' Movement. He has been referred to as 'the Mandela of Glenmore'.[1]
In 1979 Mafani was arrested while leading the resistance to a forced removal in Coega, near Port Elizabeth.[2] People were forcibly removed to Glenmore in the former Bantustan known as the Ciskei.[3] A number of people died soon after the forced removal, as a result of the conditions in Glenmore, including Mafani's wife and three children.[4]
After apartheid he wrote numerous letters to officials requesting restitution for the forced removal. When these were ignored he threw three painted stones[5] through the window of the High Court in Grahamstown in 2004 and 2007[6] and again in 2012.[7][8] He has been found guilty of breaking windows in the High Court on three occasions.[9]
He has spent several periods in prison.[10]
He also attempted, thus far without success, to get restitution through the courts.[11]