On The Beaten Track Pod: Hello everybody. Hello and welcome back to another episode of On The Beaten Track. I'm your host Rehana It is on mid Ramadan at the point I'm recording this. So the mouth, she super dry. The brain is mush. ⁓ But I think that... Maybe I don't remember because I was young when... Ramadan was in summer. mean, this is not the height of summer, so... year, I've just been ⁓ tired. And I saw somebody else say that, I was like, I'm not the only one. I've been so tired. And night, it feels like I'm rushing from breaking my fast to having food. The explanation? Suicide hanging. But inconsistencies quickly emerge. I'm not giving myself the time to really let things settle down because I'm not hungry. For the last couple of days, I've really started feeling hungry, my soup. But yeah, it's strange. it's always so to break ⁓ routine, to yourself. I not ⁓ particularly like how obliterated I close to the or at night for my family, because I'm the only one fasting. So... frequently died under unexplained circumstances ⁓ official explanations often conflicted with physical evidence. Fellow reported hearing disturbances. Observers questioned he had the means or opportunity to hang himself. Family members ⁓ outright rejected claim. I wish I could change that but I am very grateful that they are understanding although my daughter did say the other day, mommy just get the word out. I was like, I don't know, my brain is mush. By the time you guys see this, Ramadan would be far gone. To them, was not a man who would abandon the struggle voluntarily. His death joined a growing list of suspicious fatalities in detention, cases where the state controlled the narrative and evidence. His funeral drew large crowds heavy police ⁓ presence, itself a form of political demonstration. always love this time of year as hard as it is and it doesn't get easier no we can't have water Yes it shifts every year. This year it's 14 hours so yeah just general questions get every without fail. It speaks to what I was saying, is that people generally don't know each other. ⁓ I'm always surprised when I get it from a non-white person, the question. I'm like, we were integrated, what you talking about? You've got colored person that I know. It's got a cousin ⁓ a friend or somebody that's Muslim. So you are exposed to it at some point in the colored community. Mohapi's death had immediate political consequences. It what many activists had long suspected. Detention could be a death sentence. students and organizers, the was chilling but galvanizing. Fear did not end resistance, it hardened it. The uprising intensified. International attention grew. The legitimacy of the apartheid state. ⁓ So when people don't know, am confusion now we've gone past that, hopefully everybody has an amazing Ramadan Eid by the time you watch We ⁓ are today just looking at more of the fallout ⁓ or... eroded further. Within black consciousness movements, Mohape became a martyr, A symbol of the risks faced by those ⁓ who dared to openly. what the government did or the consequence what happened post June 16th, 1976. Mapetla Mohapi's significance lies not in a single speech or dramatic event, in the infrastructure of resistance he helped create. Movements require visionaries, those who articulate the goals, the those who build structures, and the those who carry them forward. Mohapi was an organizer. Without figures like him, spontaneous protests really become sustained political force. He was only 28 years old when he died. He never saw the spread of the uprising across the country, the rise of mass resistance in the 1980s, the release political prisoners, the end of apartheid and democratic elections. ⁓ we start with the death, ⁓ death, of young man ⁓ who dead on the floor of a police cell in Johannesburg. Officials said it was suicide. Those who knew him said it was impossible. Yet his work contributed directly to those outcomes. His name was Mohapi, leader, organizer, intellectual, and one of the most important figures behind the Black Consciousness student movement ⁓ during era of the Soweto uprising. Many deaths in detention remained unsolved. Truth was obscured by secrecy, destroyed records, and the passage of time. But memory persists. Mohapi's name survives in archives, memorials, and the testimonies of those who worked beside him. His death just weeks the uprising began, sent shockwaves through activist networks and deepened suspicion of the apartheid state's methods. Mapetla was born in 1948 in Soweto, in Orlando, Soweto, a township already simmering with political awareness and frustration. His story reminds us that revolutions are built not only by those visible in photographs, but by those organizing behind the scenes, often at the greatest personal risk. Mapetla Mohapi did not die. He grew up in a community shaped by forced removals, hardship and relentless policing. Education was both a pathway forward and a tool of control. ⁓ Unlike many who would later become public figures, Mohapi's leadership style was quiet but intense. was known as thoughtful, disciplined deeply committed to collective struggle rather than personal prominence. on a battlefield. died alone in custody under system that feared ideas carried by young people. Thank you so much for what you did. and our hope is remembered for what he built and not ⁓ died. The next event massive. in my opinion. Mohapi rose to prominence through South African students organization, SASO one of the central vehicles of the Black consciousness ideology. Black consciousness associated with figures like Steve Biko emphasized psychological liberation. The that political freedom required first rejecting internalized inferiority imposed by apartheid. On the morning of the 19th of October 1977, South awoke to silence. Newsstands stood half empty. Radio reports were cautious, evasive. Phones in newsrooms that no longer legally existed. Overnight, the government had banned organization, detained activists, and down newspapers in one of the sweeping crackdowns in the country's history. The day became known as Black Wednesday. For students, this message was electrifying. Mohapi became an organizer, strategist, a between student networks and a mentor to younger activists. He eventually served ⁓ as of SASO, placing him the heart of student mobilization across the country. It was not the sound of gunfire that marked it. It was the sudden absence of voices. the 16th of June uprising spread nationwide, the responded with arrests, surveillance and force. As they But unrest did disappear. Instead, resistance reorganized. ⁓ By the mid-1970s, student activism ⁓ had evolved into a sophisticated network ⁓ committees, meetings, political education sessions. was in Community groups formed, student networks re-emerged, church leaders spoke out, journalists exposed abuses. international condemnation intensified and sanction discussions gained coordinating communication between schools, encouraging disciplined protests, promoting non-racial solidarity among oppressed communities, and preparing students to resist without descending into chaos. The apartheid government concluded that repression had to move reactive policing. it needed pre-emptive control. At the center of the government's concern was the black press. he understood that spontaneous anger alone could not sustain a movement. Organization essential. so ⁓ gonna to click with a very dry mouth so wish me I'm gonna get try and get close to them Many who later marched in 1976 had been influenced directly or indirectly Sasso's structures that he helped build. The newspaper The World, edited by Percy Qoboza, had become the most influential black publication in the country. When students rose on the 16th of June 1976, was not a child in uniform, but an experienced organizer observing events unfold with both pride and love. It reported on township conditions, police actions and political developments with a frankness rarely seen in mainstream white media. Why would they? Circulation reached hundreds of thousands. For many black South Africans, the world was more than a newspaper. It was a mirror. The uprising confirmed that the youth were ready to challenge the state openly. It also triggered a mass crackdown. Police targeted known activists first, particularly those linked to black consciousness organizations, which the government considered especially dangerous. it reflected their reality back to them unfiltered. Mohapi was arrested in July 1976. He was detained under laws allowing imprisonment without trial. once described the paper's mission as simply telling the truth about life under apartheid to the government that truth was destabilizing. Mohapi was held at John Foster Square, the notorious headquarters of the security branch in Johannesburg. Detainees taken there often emerged traumatized if they emerged at all. Interrogation techniques included sleep deprivation, physical assault, Behind closed doors, security officials compiled lists as they do. Organizations to be banned, leaders to be detained, and publications to be silenced. Legal mechanisms already existed. Under apartheid law, the Minister of Justice could ban groups and individuals without trial, restricting movement speech. psychological pressure, isolation and threats against family. The goal was not simple information but submission. For politically committed activists resistance inside detention became another form of struggle. association. The state did not need to prove wrongdoing in court. Suspicion was sufficient. Early on the morning of the 19th of October 1977, police fanned out across the country. Officers were raided, documents were seized and activists detained. By midday, the government announced sweeping measures. 18 organisations had been banned, numerous activists restricted or detained and publications suppressed or closed. Police announced that Mohapi ⁓ been found dead in his cell. Among those targeted were community organizations, student bodies and advocacy groups seen as sympathetic to anti-apartheid causes. wonder why? was no proceedings, no public hearings, no appeals, just administrative decree backed by force. Perhaps the most symbolic act of the day was the banning of the World newspaper. Its offices were shut down, its printing halted, its journalists suddenly unemployed and under suspicion. editor, Percy himself was detained. For readers, the disappearance was immediate. A daily source of information vanished overnight. Silence replaced headlines. Even segments of the white press, which often operated under constraints but still enjoyed greater freedom, expressed alarm. The English language Rand Daily Mail, condemned the crackdown as an assault on fundamental liberties. Some journalists warned that moderate voices would radicalise opposition. Censorship rarely eliminates descent. It just removes the safety valves. International reactions swift. Government churches and civil society groups condemned the action. At the United Nations, calls for stronger sanctions grew louder. anti-apartheid movements broad gain momentum. Black Wednesday did not South Africa from criticism. It amplified it. For individuals targeted by banning orders, daily life became a form of imprisonment ⁓ prison walls. Restrictions would include curfews, prohibition on attended gatherings, limits on communication, and house arrest condition. Some activists could not speak publicly, publish writings, or even meet more than one person at a time. Isolation was the goal. Break networks, break morale, break influence. In the short term, the crackdown succeeded in disrupting organization. Meetings ceased, offices closed, and leaders disappeared from public life. But repression produced unintended consequences. Resistance moved underground. Youth radicalization deepened, and trust in reform diminished. If moderate voices were silenced, more militant ones would fill the vacuum. Historians often view Black Wednesday as a pivot between two phases of apartheid. from containment to total control. from reactive policing to proactive suppression, from visible opposition to clandestine struggle. a few years, mass would re-emerge stronger and broader. Black Wednesday not produce dramatic images of crowds or clashes. Its power lay in silence. Newspapers that did publish, leaders who did not appear, and voices that could not be heard. But silence can be deceptive. Beneath it, anger deepens. Network organized, memory hardens. And history continues to move, even when no one is allowed to report it. The government had silenced the public square, but it had not silenced the country. Now I want to look at Percy Percy was one of the most influential black journalists in South African history. Born in Johannesburg, he came of age under tightening apartheid laws. Like many black South African, his educational opportunities were limited, he developed strong writing skills and political awareness early. He entered journalism when the profession was heavily segregated. White journalists dominated major newspapers. Black reporters were often relegated to township issues or confined to township issues. editorial control rested in white-owned companies. Imagine being black journalist in South Africa during apartheid. Brutal. Yet publications reached an audience that mainstream papers rarely touch. Qoboza became the editor of the world's widely read black newspaper. Its readership extended across ⁓ nationwide. For many people, for families. It was the only publication that spoke directly to their reality. Unlike mainstream newspapers, the world reported on police brutality, forced removal, poverty and unemployment, educational crisis, political arrests and Community voices. It did not pretend neutrality in the face of injustice. It documented lived experience. Circulation soared into the hundreds of thousands. a country where most black citizens had no political representation, the paper functioned ⁓ a public forum. the Soweto uprising, the world became essential reading. It reported eyewitness accounts, casualty figures, funeral coverage, ⁓ government suppression and voices students and parents. Many readers trusted it more than official statements. course, I if the was the spark, the black was amplifier. It ensured that events in was not isolated ⁓ or forgotten. Qoboza wrote that with clarity rather than rhetorical flourish. argued that apartheid was not only wrong, but politically unsustainable. in one widely cited reflection. warned that suppressing peaceful protest would produce more radical resistance. His approach was neither sensationalist or submissive. It was factual and therefore dangerous. on that Wednesday, Black Wednesday, the government banned the world and detained Qoboza without trial. The state did not accuse him of publishing falsehoods. It accused him of influence. Because they understood. After his release, he continued writing, though under severe constraints. He edited successive publications, including City Press, which attempted to fill the vacuum left by the banning of the world. Despite surveillance and pressure, He remained committed to journalism as a form of accountability. He died in 1988, just six years before the end of apartheid. Too early to witness the democratic era he had helped make possible. Authoritarian systems depend on controlling the narrative. We can see that currently. black press disrupted that control. it did critical ⁓ One, connected communities. Events in one township known nationwide. Isolation as a tool of apartheid weakened. It validated experience. Readers saw their struggles acknowledged publicly. This reduced feelings of invisibility. three, it evidence. Journalists recorded abuses. that might otherwise have been denied or forgotten. Operating under censorship laws meant constant danger. Journalists faced arrests, banning orders, harassment, confiscation of material, and professional blacklisting. Some stories could not be published at all. Others were reported indirectly or cautiously. Every issue printed was an act of negotiation between truth and survival. Today, is remembered as a pioneer of courageous His work helped ensure that the voices of township residents were heard both nationally and internationally. The press demonstrated that information itself can be a form of resistance. Without those newspapers, many events of the 1970s and the 1980s would be far less documented. I mean, we've so much today. We've covered Mohapi's murder, because that man did not commit suicide. No. Which was so significant, it was somebody that was an organizer. He wasn't, you know, the of the but they detained him and he died. Was murdered. then we look at. Black Wednesday, where organizations were banned, where newspapers were shut down and people were detained ⁓ banned suppressed some more. And then we look at ⁓ life of Percy who was of our great journalists in South bringing truth visibility and see you, I understand what you're going through. ⁓ I'm on it. ⁓ So report on it. ⁓ People with it. Somebody sees me. ⁓ I somebody that's like me. I'm not alone. ⁓ It obliterated that isolation. So all these things did ⁓ was ignite fire even further. in those individuals ⁓ already... serving as activists during that time. became more cautious, but just hardened their resolve to get the out there. fight for the dignity of their people. So thank you so much for listening to me. Next week we get to Steve Biko, which I am thinking myself about. But hopefully I can do legend justice and can really look at the thought process or the person behind this wonderful and simple ⁓ of breaking yourself ⁓ internalized built by an external party. Join me next week where we get to speak about this awesome human Okay, again, please remember to subscribe. Please remember to comment and like. please remember to return next week. Bye.