Justice Minister Francios Christiaan Erasmus informed the National Assembly that 4 769 Africans, 2 Europeans and 2 others had been taken into custody during the recent disturbances from November to December 1960 in Pondoland, with 2 067 eventually brought to trial.
While the South African Defence Force (SADF) was present in support of the police during at least part of this period, it is clear that it was the police who had primary responsibility for dealing with the revolt. The main tool used was mass detentions. Statements made to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission indicate that torture was a key part of those detentions. This was supported both by the submissions handed to the Commission by Kairos and by literature on the Pondoland Revolt.
eventREF E-0011919Revised
Event record
Mass arrests in Pondoland
- Date
- 27 Jan 1961
- Updated
- 27 Jan 2020
Pondoland resistance, photo source: unknown
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How we know this
- 01SAHO, General South African History Timeline: 1960's, from South African History Online, [online], Available at www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed: 08 January 2014]
- 02Hannah Arendt, Pondoland, from Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, [online], Available at www.hannaharendtcenter.org
Last updated · 27 Jan 2020
South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Mass arrests in Pondoland. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0011919
South African History Online (2011) 'Mass arrests in Pondoland', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0011919 (Accessed: 22 July 2026).
South African History Online, Mass arrests in Pondoland [website], https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0011919, (accessed 22 July 2026).
"Mass arrests in Pondoland." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0011919. Accessed 22 July 2026.
South African History Online. "Mass arrests in Pondoland." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0011919.
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