Massabalala Yengwa
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Massabalala Yengwa | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 December 1923 |
| Died | 21 July 1987 (aged 63) London, England |
| Burial place | Golders Green Crematorium, London, England |
| Alma mater | University of Natal |
| Occupations | lawyer and anti-apartheid activist |
| Organization | African National Congress |
Massabalala Bonnie "M. B." Yengwa (born 5 December 1923–21 July 1987)[1] was a South African lawyer, anti-apartheid activist and the Natal Provincial Secretary of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL).
Yengwa was born in 1923 near Mapumulo, in Kwa-Zulu Natal. His father was a Zulu labourer,[2] who had participated in the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906[3] and had been jailed during the African National Congress (ANC) anti-pass campaign of 1919.[4] He attended secondary school in Richmond and from 1945 he studied part time at the University of Natal.[2]
He married Edith Minah Sibisi on 21 September 1957 in Maqumbi.[5]
Activism in South Africa
Yengwa became active in the anti-apartheid movement and joined the ANC, becoming provincial secretary of the ANCYL. In 1951, he was elected to the Natal Provincial Executive Committee of the ANC.[6] He served until 1960.[2] He was a close ally of Albert John Luthuli and was part of a group, including Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo and Jordan Ngubane, who were instrumental in Luthuli's election as ANC president.[7] Yengwa later became Luthuli's secretary,[8] later travelling with him and his wife to Oslo, Norway, when Luthuli received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961.[9]
In 1952, Yengwa was appointed as Volunteer-in-Chief and as joint secretary, alongside Marimuthu Pragalathan Naicker, of the Joint Action Council in Natal for the Defiance Campaign of the South African Indian Congress (SAIC).[10] He was imprisoned for two weeks due his activities as a passive resister.[11] He next attended the Queenstown Conference of the ANC, where he met and began an association with fellow activists Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela.[10] Yengwa was banned by the government in May 1953, prohibiting him from attending any political or public gatherings or from leaving Durban.[2][12] In 1955, he was banished to Mapumulo for two years.[2]
He was charged alongside 155 other activists at the 1956 Treason Trials,[13] but was acquitted and discharged a year later.[11] He was called to Pretoria to appear as one of the defence witnesses for treason defendants in September 1960,[11][13] where he reiterated in response to several questions that the ANC followed a policy of non-violence to achieve their political aims.[12] He was arrested again in 1963 and was imprisoned in solitary confinement. Yengwa served 18 months in jail, and when released was placed under 24-hour house arrest in Maqombi in Mapumulo, unable to leave or work.[14]