Mamokgalake Lesiba John Choene’s banishment documents stated that he was dismissed from the Chieftainship for not paying back money borrowed from certain white people under false pretenses. Additionally, he allegedly disregarded orders from the Chief Native Commissioner (CNC).
He vowednot to return to the Pietersburg District, [Northern] Transvaal [now Polokwane, Limpopo Province] after his time in goal and pledged to go work in Springs [East Rand, now Gauteng].
At a meeting in February 1957, in Mohlaletsi, Sekhukhuneland, [Northern] Transvaal [now Limpopo Province], councillors accused of collaborating with the state were voted out. Other figures that were firm in their opposition to state policies were appointed to a new inner council of the Paramount Chief (PC), including Arthur Phetedi Thulare “a senior royal.”
Babalekile Anderson Gigaba, from Nqabeni, Alfred District, Natal [now KwaZulu-Natal] was one of four people to put forward a claim to be appointed as a chief. A local ethnologist recommended EG Mavundla, who was appointed Chief.
Gigaba allegedly took exception to the appointment and did everything “in his power to undermine” Mavundla’s authority. Unrest and confusion reportedly ensued. Gigaba was, at that time, out on bail on a charge of conspiring to commit murder.
Franco Frescura was born in Trieste, Italy, on 28 September 1946. Both his parents originally came from Fiume, today known as Rijeka, in present-day Croatia. His father, Umberto, practiced as a civil engineer, while his mother, Fiore (nee Cottiero), came from a family of small industrialists and landowners. A second son, Fabio, was born in 1950. In about November 1953 the family moved to Rome, where they lived until February 1956, when they immigrated to South Africa.
Magwaza Alfred Maphalala was born on 6 April 1948 in Bergville, Ladysmith in Natal. He was an only son. Maphalala completed his schooling and matriculated in Bergville. He then moved to Durban to look for work.
John Jacques William Aitchison was born to Harold Aitchison and Phyllis Jacques, in Durban, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal) on 2 June 1944. He was brought up by his grandparents as his mother passed away a few days after he was born.
Aitchison grew up in Durban where he attended the Durban Prepartory High School for his primary education and Durban High School for Secondary education. He then went to Pietermaritzburg to study at the University of Natal and remained in Pietermaritzburg until relocating to Durban in 2011.
Job Shimankana Tabane (largely known as Cassius Make, his alias name) was born in Maile village (Diepkuil) just outside Rustenburg on 6 December 1942. Tabane began his primary education in 1949 at Diepkuil Primary School and had to balance his school work with tending his grandfather’s cattle. At the age of 12 he left his paternal home in Mosenthal and enrolled for Standard two at Tweetepoort Bantu School where he studied until completing Standard five in 1956.
Leo Linda Sihlali was born on 9 September 1915 in Butterworth. He went to primary school in Tarkastad where his mother worked as a teacher. On completion he went to Lovedale to commence his secondary school education. Sihlali then enrolled at the University of Fort Hare for his tertiary education, and also later received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA).
Abdul Samad Minty was born on 31 October 1933 in Hartebeesfontein, Northern Transvaal (now known as Limpopo Province). Minty grew up in Johannesburg where he completed his schooling. He left South Africa in June 1958, for Britain, to further his studies.
