ICONS: Angelou and Winfrey among luminaries to be inducted into a Hall of Fame for sterling role in Lekoa community…

By Ali Mphaki

No single township can claim it played a more significant role than the other in the fight todismantle the monster of apartheid, but history will record that some of the events which took place in the Vaal Triangle catapulted the liberation struggle to greater heights.

Comprising famed Sharpeville, Boipatong, old Evaton, Bophelong, Sebokeng and a motley of other small enclaves, the Vaal or Lekoa – in democratic speak – may be a tad not as (in)famous as Soweto, but when it does cough, it also has the knack to force the whole country to catch a cold.

It was in Evaton when residents, fed up with the escalating bus prices, embarked on Azikhwelwa bus boycotts, which was followed by Alexandra in 1957 – dubbed the most potent display ofAfrican labour and consumer power.

It was the scene where at least 69 people, paricipating in a PAC-inspired demonstrationagainst the hated passbook system, were mowed down byapartheid police in what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.

History will also record that on September 3 1984, when the apartheid regime launched its Tricameral Parliament, this development sparked widespread protests and the start of the longest period of black resistance to white rule.

An organised stayaway, school boycott and march on the day led to clashes with both police and township councillors, and left thirty people dead.

The marchers also looted shops, set fire to houses and killed four councillors. By the end of the year almost 150 people had been killed in political violence, which increased to 600 by September 1985 as the revolts spread across the country and the government declared a State of Emergency.

And who can forget what is today called the Nangalembe Massacre when with support from the security forces, a Khetisi Kheswa gang attacked the community during a night vigil in Zone 7 on Januar 12 1991, killing 45 people.

Then on June 17 1992, IFP Impis attacked the community of Boipatong during “the night of the long knives”, killing 45 people.

The government increased its attacks and arrested several leaders among whom were Popo Molefe and Terror Lekota detained and appearing in what is known as the Delmas Treason Trial.

The indiscrimate killings saw the ANC suspend their participation in the negotiation, which, in turn, forced the Nationalist Party to agree on the date if the elections and the Constitution to ushera democratic dispensation.

With such a rich history and more, no wonder the Sharpeville-born Paul Njabulo Vilakazi,one of the organisers, says they are planning a pre-Nelson Mandela Day dinner on July 16 to honour the people who will be inducted to what he calls the Vaal  Servant-Hood Hall Of Fame.

“The project is to induct these individuals for their contribution to the Vaal for selfless projects such as education development andpeace during the long trudge and sacrifice to liberate South Africa.

Among the people nominated is Oprah Winfrey, Charlotte Maxeke J Z Tantsi, Vusi Make, Nyakale Tsolo, Saul Tsotetsi, Dr A B Xuma, his wife Madie Hall-Xuma, Duma Nokwe, as well as American author Maya Angelou, who had given her heart and warmth to a destitute refugee son of the Vaal called Vusi Maake in the US.

“In fact, Maya is our daughter-in-law (makoti) in the Vaal by marrying our own Vusi, one of the first PAC stalwarts to skip South Africa and the first anti-apartheid fighter to address the Security Council of the United Nations,” says Vilakazi.

She died on May 28 2014. As for O Winfrey, dubbed the “Queen of All Media”, was once acclaimed the richest African-American of the 20th century and formerly the world’s only black billionaire.

Winfrey invested nearly R700 million and some of her time establishing the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley on Klip in theVaal.  The school, located over 22 acres, opened in January 2007 with an enrollment of 150 pupils (increasing to 450) and features state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science laboratories.

Others on the list of inductees, include people likeGamakhulu Diniso, the father of arts in the Vaal, Esau Raditsela, and Nyakale Tsolo.

Vilakazi could not say whether Winfrey will attend, but added more names were still to be considered and more information will be made available closer to the day.