Cornelius Judah Fazzie

Cornelius Judah Fazzie  was born in 1924 Queenstown Eastern Cape,but grew up largely in Tsolo.His migrant father worked in the Western Cape.He began school at age 15,eventually completing three years at Welsh High School in East London where he came under the influence of the deputy headmaster who was an ardent African Nationalist .A member of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in East London in the late 1940s and secretary of the Cape Youth League during the 1952 Defiance Campaign. After 1952 he continued his political activities circumspectly and became involved in publishing the clan­destine bulletin of the Africanist Bureau of African Nationalism. He was elected to the national executive committee of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in April 1959 and headed the PAC's organization in East London, a traditional African National Congress(ANC) strong­hold. With other PAC leaders he signed a statement in 1961 denouncing preparations for the ANC-sponsored "all-in" conference. In the late 1960s he was living in East London.

In 1949 Fazzie by then a teacher, had been elected Cape provincial secretary of the ANCYL and become close to eastern cape leaders James Njongwe,Alcott Gwentshe,and Joel Lengisi.In March 1953 he was given a nine-month suspended sentence,he was also tried under the Suppression of Communism Act with other campaign leaders.In the late 1950s Fazzie was the manager of a general dealer's store in Ducan Village township,but was under a banning order that forbade of the PAC in Johannesburg in April 1959,he disguised himself as a greasy car mechanic and was able to attend the event. The PACanti-pass campaign of March 1960 drew few supporters in East London an ANC stronghold,but Fazzie was jailed for a year then banned and placed under partial house arrest for another five years after his release with Z.B Molete,Joe Molefi and others formerly in the banned PAC,he signed a statement withdrawing support for the March 1961 All-In conference in Pietermarizburg on the grounds that non-Africans were being invited.He eventually found work as a timekeeper in a textile factory,he did not resume active political activity,he was an organizer for the Federation of South Africa Trade Unions (FOSATU) in the early 1980s.