During July and August there were mass protests in the northern Transvaal Venda bantustan. Thousands of students and scholars boycotted the local university and schools and workers, civil servants and some elements of the bantustan police force joined them by participating in an almost total stay-away. There have also been signs of significant support in the area for the armed struggle.
A wide range of long-standing grievances found expression in the protests.
A prohibition on trade unions and the lack of minimum wage legislation has resulted in particularly low pay for the growing number of workers in the area around the bantustan's main town, Thohoyandou. Attempts by independent trade unions to organise in Venda have been severely repressed. Scholars' organisations have called for better provision of text books, and an end to corporal punishment and sexual harassment of pupils by teachers.
The boycotts and stay-aways also occurred in advance of elections for the bantustan's 'Assembly' in September. An Electoral Act introduced after 'independence' was imposed on the bantustan in 1979, allows only members of the ruling Venda National Party (VNP) to stand for election. Members of opposition groups have to join the VNP to be eligible for election. Some support for the protests came from quarters angered at the disqualification of 21 VNP members from standing in the September elections because the VNP's leadership would not formally endorse their candidature. All 21 had been members of the Venda Independence Party, forced by repression to disband.
The immediate catalyst for the protests was the complicity of bantustan officials in so-called 'ritual killings' which have increased as officials and VNP members have sought to secure power through intimidation. Since 1984 several officials and a member of the bantustan parliament have been charged with involvement in such killings.
Anti-apartheid organisations maintained that at least 15 people were killed between January and August without action being taken. They believed that the 'Minister of Justice', Alidzuli Tshivashe, had refused to prosecute because of his own complicity and that of some senior officials.
Press coverage of developments in the bantustan laid emphasis on 'ritual killings' in their explanations, but provided few details of who the victims were. Similar explanations were initially given of events preceding the death of Peter Nchabeleng in the Lebowa bantustan last year, although subsequent information showed the causes were related to attempts to supress resistance.
Matters came to a head in late July when Mukosi MAVHINA (32), a teacher at the Tshiemuema High School in Tshakuma, was found hanging from a tree. Although an official post-mortem found he had died of suffocation due to hanging, apparently through suicide, his students believed he had been the victim of a 'ritual killing' and was hanged afterwards to disguise this fact. An inquest was held in August and a magistrate granted an application by his family for the exhumation of his body, to allow an independent post-mortem. However, the body was in an advanced state of decomposition and little new information was revealed at the inquest, except that the area where Mavhina's body was found showed signs of a struggle. There were also scratches on his body and blood on the soles of his shoes.
Students at the school boycotted classes in protest at his death. Boycotts spread rapidly to other parts of Venda in support of demands for Tshivashe's resignation and calls for action against those involved in the killings. By mid-August 70 per cent of schools were affected. Students at the University of Venda also came out. On 5 August students and pupils marched on the bantustan legislature demanding an immediate response. The gathering was suppressed by bantustan police with teargas and sjamboks, injuring almost a hundred people.
Repression, and particularly reports that detainees were being tortured, led to even wider protests. At a mass meeting on 15 August students and pupils called on workers to stay away from work in support of their demands. The next day thousands of workers responded, including employees of the bantustan administration and some police. The stay-away lasted almost a week with support estimated in at least one newspaper at 90 per cent.
On the day after the stay-away the head of the bantustan relieved Tshivashe of the four portfolios he held, but without dismissing him. This had little impact on the level of resistance and a day later Tshivashe resigned altogether. The administration also announced a commission of inquiry into the murders.
By then, however, popular demands had widened. Calls were made for improved conditions in education, the introduction of trade unions and the dissolution of the bantustan.
In response to the administration's moves, a meeting was called at the Tshiemuema Secondary School on 22 August to decide if the school boycott (then in its fifth week) should continue. Bantustan police broke up the thousand-strong gathering with sjamboks. Several students were injured and at least 18 detained. The following day there were further clashes as police tried to enforce a return to school. In the last week of August the boycotts were, however, still continuing.
