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Human memory is enthralling in that it can record experiences, store them away in a deep vault of subconsciousness and hearken back triggered with the right questions and guidance from an oral historian. It is a symbolic role in the construction of a historical memory, actively promoting the need not to forget and developing in different ways and in a variety of settings the symbols and events, that would foster the preservation of the vivid recollection of the lived traumatic experience. During apartheid (1948–1994), atrocities were inflicted upon people of colour, especially those who revolted against the regime. Those figures who took it upon themselves to become political activists and liberation fighters, their lives were in danger from the apartheid state agents.

Insight was sought into the impact of controlled and uncontrolled trauma exacted upon political activists and community members in Mangaung by the state security agents. The voices of political activists, whose courageous and selfless battle against the apartheid regime in the 1970s until the early 1990s demanded a high price in the form of violation of human rights, must be heard. The prominence of this study is to emphasize the brutality that was perpetrated upon the political activists and community members in Mangaung; the acts of trauma were inhuman and said to had been conducted by police and military, they constitute state security agents. The trauma experienced through this brutality occurred in controlled and uncontrolled settings. A new age of memory-making has emerged where past brutalities can be exposed and reconfigured into post-struggle narratives where histories of struggle are cast as critical moments on the onset of a non-racial democratic nation. The public exposure of these traumatic events long suppressed during apartheid is a measure of liberation. The political activists who suffered through these brutalities were left scarred for life, as the trauma they experienced is relived in their minds and sometimes actions. Post-traumatic stress disorder is the diagnostic term that applies to the condition that they are now experiencing. It is through this study that the researcher highlights the value of this inquiry to the knowledge of history.

Non-whites became politically active as their living conditions deteriorated because of the apartheid policies enforced by the National Party (NP) government, which marginalized people of colour from the social, economic, residential, cultural and political life. The aim was to divide and rule the non-whites who constituted the majority in South Africa. The state agents did not just torture activists for the sake of torturing, this was done to the people who were alleged to be members of the banned political parties, who sought the liberation of the people oppressed by the NP government. Trauma is a psychological condition that emerges after a person has experienced an event that is out of the ordinary. Trauma has been described variously by different authors. For instance, Wastell defined trauma as an event involving emotional shock-producing disturbances in mental functions. The concept of shock is central to this definition of trauma. Shock is a sudden depression of the nervous system or nervous exhaustion produced by a violent emotion or an accident. The traumatic incident is characterized by experiencing, witnessing or confronting an event or events that entails risk of death, serious injury or threat to the physical integrity of self or others. The person’s response involves intense fear, helplessness and/or horror. Traumatic events make a terrifying impact on those who experience them. Some traumas are so profound that their force continues to echo through time and place, making it impossible for people to escape their dreadful memories. Nonetheless, it is the meaning of the event, not the trauma itself that gives it power, and the attribution of meaning is very personal and unique.

It is established through this study that there are political activists who have experienced trauma directly (in controlled settings; controlled trauma), and there are those who have encountered it indirectly (in uncontrolled settings; uncontrolled trauma). According to the evidence collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), forms of political violence and traumatization that were particularly common in South Africa during apartheid included the detention and torture of those who were active in the anti-apartheid struggle. As the TRC noted in its final report, these forms of political violence were carried out by members of the state security forces to suppress anti-apartheid activity. In the South African historical context, controlled trauma was caused when the state security agents such as the Special Branch (SB), the then South African Police, the then Municipal Police, and the former South African Defence Force members took control and power over the political activists. The controlled setting played a significant role in executing political torture, which in the end resulted in traumatic experiences for political activists in Mangaung. One controlled set-up that was constantly used by the state security agents in Bloemfontein was the Fountain Building. (The Fountain building was situated at the corner of Aliwal Street; this building is now called the Crime and Intelligence Unit Building.) This place was the headquarters of the SB in the Free State. It was in this building during apartheid where almost all torture gear such as electric shocks were found. The political activists would be taken in initially for interrogation and later torture, the SB having total control over the political detainees.

Lieutenant General Morris Moadira recalls: “That was the time now after they arrested me, realizing that this Thenge and Trinity is the same person, that they really dealt with me physically and mentally. I was beaten up by that Special Branch – Prinsloo and Kgwathela.” Mr Matshilisho Malebo says: “At Fountain [Building in Fountain Street, Bloemfontein]. They used the electric chair and physically neat [beat] you. Basically, those were the two methods they used to torture me.” Mr White Mohapi recalls: “I think I was 18 years of age. I was taken from home around 12 [o’clock] at midnight. Subsequent to that I was taken to Batho Police Station, and it is where the police beat me like hell. There were about four black policemen and one white policeman. That was my first arrest and first torture by the police.” Mr Morero Sekonyela remembers: “They used different kinds of tortures. They used chokes, handcuffing, tubes for suffocation, but the main thing they wanted to know was whom I [had] contact with, because what they wanted to know about people from exile who are inside the country.

Uncontrolled trauma took place in the environment where the state security agents had neither authority nor direct control over the political activists. The TRC termed those forms of violence that occurred outside the context of detention or incarceration as ‘severe ill-treatment’. The commonest examples of known severe ill-treatment were arson, being beaten or shot at by state security agents during mass protests.

Mr Modise Phekonyane states: “The follow-up of 1976, so, in 1977 June/July we had that kind of thing [student riots] in Bloemfontein… A friend of mine was the architect Sebuko. I remember a year ago he said to me, to this day he cannot say that he is proud to have led kids even younger than me [Mr Phekonyane] out of classes to protest peacefully and only to have led to be slaughtered by the savages of apartheid.” Mrs Esther Jali remembers: “He Papi [Makotoko] wasn’t that involved in politics but because there were a lot of people who went there [students protesting] and he also went there. He was shot dead because of that political protest.” Ms Yvonne Moloisane says: “Yes, they burned the school of Sehunelo, the offices of the school and it became rough. Then he [Luckyboy] left for Lesotho. Now, I was left in trouble because you know when you are family of someone who was active in politics back in those days, the police would assume that you are also involved in politics. That is when I suffered a lot.” Mr Sidwell Saila recalls: “There were school learners at that funeral [Papi Makotoko] and the police were there, and they are the ones who started these things. Even if there were no learners who disturbed the police, the police would use teargas at the funeral. They shot the teargas at the people who attended the funeral.”

Incarceration without trial was the most prevalent form of repression carried out by the South African state during the apartheid era. Political imprisonment was an extremely traumatic experience, not only because the conditions in detention were severely unpleasant, but also because apartheid security laws implied that such detention could go on indefinitely. Many of those who were arrested during apartheid were subjected to torture, for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession and punishing the person for suspected anti-apartheid activities. Mr Morwe Setilo shares: “I was arrested for five months without any appearance at court. They only interrogated me on my arrival and from there, they would enquire certain information which I did not know.” Mr James Tlhole experienced the following: “I was interrogated and harassed by the police many times. They put a tube on my head so that I cannot breathe well, and they used electrical shocks because they wanted information about Bloemfontein politics and about my involvement as well.” Mr Isaac Moroe recalls: “I spent almost 180 days in solitary confinement, brutally tortured. The first few days of those 180 days I spent them in Bayswater Police Station. Those whole police station, I was isolated, I was the only person kept there…”

Political activists living with a traumatic past, their identity is raptured by those painful experiences. They violated the boundaries that protected the definition of self, leaving the individual stripped of many of the things that bestowed respect, dignity, and self-worth. Anger and resentment become the only personal ‘possessions’ that the individual now has. Mr Isaac Moroe further shares: “Sometimes I get very angry, very angry when I am on my own, you know, torture is not a very easy thing. I do not like going out and talking to people, sometimes bad memories come, and I do not want them to come back. I used to be quite explosive when I am angry, but I think without necessarily going to a psychologist because everyone wants to debrief me.” South Africans face the test of how to embrace the past without being absorbed by the tide of vengeful thinking.

In conclusion, political activists of Mangaung have experienced trauma that was inflicted upon them by the state security agents. This trauma was endured differently in controlled and uncontrolled settings, which both had devastating effects on the victims. The trauma that was caused by detention without trial—controlled trauma—crippled political activists in the sense that they were at the mercy of the state security agents. Whilst uncontrolled trauma took place in environments where the state security agents had no direct control, irreparable damage was still done. Some political activists lost their lives and others suffered at the cruel hands of the apartheid state, so their lives changed forever. The trauma carried by survivors keeps connecting them to their distressing past.

Sources

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Gobodo-Madikizela, P. 2004. A human being died that night: A South African woman confronts the legacy of apartheid. Boston, MA, USA: Houghton Mifflin.

Herman, J. 1990. Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of violence from domestic abuse to political terror. New York, NY, USA: Basic Books.

Le Roux, C. 2011. The ethnic conflict in Mangaung at Bloemfontein in 1957. Southern Journal of Contemporary History 36(1): 20-39. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/jch/article/view/83

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 1998. Regional Profile Orange Free State. In: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report. Vol. 3, chapter 4, pp. 329-389. https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/report/finalreport/volume%203.pdf

Wastell, C. 2005. Understanding Trauma and Emotion: dealing with trauma using an emotion-focused approach. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003118374

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National Museum Oral History Collection:

Oral Interview: Sidwell Lebakeng Saila, Batho, Bloemfontein, 30 July 2018.

Oral Interview: Esther Molatuoa Jali & Masabata Florence Mafata, National Museum, Bloemfontein, 30 July 2021.

Oral Interview: Modise Phekonyane, National Museum, Bloemfontein, 23 November 2020.

Oral Interview: Isaac Kgophu Moroe, Dan Pienaar, Bloemfontein, 24 March 2021.

Oral Interview: Tshidi Yvonne Moloisane, Batho, Bloemfontein, 19 June 2014

Oral Interview: Lieutenant-General Morris Moadira, Pres Kruger Ave, Bloemfontein, 14 February 2020.

Oral History Transcriptions from Free State Provincial Archives:

Oral Interview: James Kgosietsile Tlhole, FAR/OHI No. 66 (MSV), 13 July 2005.

Oral Interview: Matshilisho Alexander Malebo, FAR/OHI NO. 64 (MSV), 22 April 2005.

Oral Interview: Morero Petrus Sekonyela, FAR/OHI NO. 68 (MSV), 15 July 2005.

Oral Interview: White Mosoeunyane Mohapi, FAR/OHI NO. 52 (MSV), 19 August 2004.

Images

Image: Lieutenant General Morris Moadira
Image: Mr Modise Phekonyane
Image: Mrs Esther Jali.
Image: Ms Yvonne Moloisane
Image: Mr Sidwell Saila
Image: Mr Isaac Moroe
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