Richard "Gert" Sibande (born 1907 near

Ermelo, Mpumalanga Ermelo () is the educational, industrial and commercial town of the 7,750 km2 Gert Sibande District Municipality in Mpumalanga province, Republic of South Africa. It is both a mixed agriculture and mining region. It is located 210 km east ...

, died 1987) was a South African political activist. He was one of the

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election installe ...

co-accused to stand trial in the

treason trial The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956. The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not gu ...

of 1956-61 alongside

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

and 154 others. Sibande played a critical role in the Potato Boycott of 1959. The

Gert Sibande Richard "Gert" Sibande (born 1907 near Ermelo, Mpumalanga, died 1987) was a South African political activist. He was one of the ANC co-accused to stand trial in the treason trial of 1956-61 alongside Nelson Mandela and 154 others. Sibande played ...

district in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

province of South Africa is named after him. He was born in the district and spent a large part of his life there.

Early life

Gert Sibande was born in the Ermelo District in 1907. He was the son of a tenant farmer. Gert Sibande did not receive any form of formal schooling. He taught himself to be literate in

isiZulu Zulu (), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 12 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal of ...

Activism

Gert Sibande was nicknamed 'Lion of the East' due to his political activities in

.South Africa. Department of Education. FET Colleges: Institutions of First Choice : National Certificate Vocational https://books.google.com/books?id=STDwsy-Hrz8C&dq=lion+of+the+east+gert+sibande+nickname&pg=PA126 Accessed 19 July 2017 As a farm labourer in the Bethel District, Gert Sibande began to organise farmworkers against unsatisfactory working conditions in

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

. He founded a farm workers association and was a local

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

spokesperson. In 1947, he disguised himself as a farmworker to investigate the working conditions of farmworkers in

. He invited journalist,

Ruth First Heloise Ruth First (4 May 1925 – 17 August 1982) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar. She was assassinated in Mozambique, where she was working in exile, by a parcel bomb built by South African police. Family and edu ...

as well as

Michael Scott (priest) Guthrie Michael Scott (30 July 1907 – 14 September 1983) was an Anglican priest and anti-apartheid activist, who joined in the defiance of the apartheid system in South Africa in the 1940s – a long struggle for social justice in that ...

to assist him in exposing the near slavery conditions of farmworkers in Bethal farms . The findings were published in the ''New Age''. ''The Guardian'' released a second article related to Gert Sibande's findings on the 25th of December 1947. ''Drum Magazine'' released a similar article in 1952, the journalist

Henry Nxumalo Henry Nxumalo (1917 – 31 December 1957), also known as Henry "Mr Drum" Nxumalo, was a pioneering South African investigative journalist under apartheid. Early life He was born in 1917 in Margate, Natal, South Africa, and attended the Fasca ...

and photographer Jurgen Schoodeberg played an active role in documenting the conditions of potato farm labourers in Bethel. This article received national and international attention however, the reports were dismissed by the Minister of Native affairs,

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was a South African politician, a scholar of applied psychology and sociology, and chief editor of ''Die Transvaler'' newspaper. He is commonly regarded as the architect ...

in Parliament. He was deported from Bethel by authorities in 1953 due to his political activism. He later moved to

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

where he assisted the ANC military wing uMkhonto we Sizwe. In 1959, twelve years after Gert Sibande revealed the labourers conditions, the

reported similar conditions in maize and other potato farms.http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/gert-sibande Accessed 20 July 2017 He was an active participant of the

defiance campaign The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa in December 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conference. The demonstrations, ...

, the campaign against Bantu education and also helped draft the

Freedom Charter The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats ...

. He worked closely with

Chief Albert Luthuli Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli ( – 21 July 1967) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, traditional leader, and politician who served as the President-General of the African National Congress from 1952 until his death in 1967. Luthuli was ...

Moses Kotane Moses Mauane Kotane (9 August 190519 May 1978) was a South African politician and activist. Kotane was secretary general of the South African Communist Party from 1939 until his death in 1978.

and

Moses Mabhida Moses Mncane Mbheki Mabhida (11 October 1923 – 8 March 1986) was a South African politician. Mabhida was leader of the South African Communist Party from 1978 until his death in 1986. Biography Mabhida was born in Thornville, Natal to a pe ...

. He was a member of the National Executive Council of the

and during his term of leadership, was accused in the

Treason Trial The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956. The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not gu ...

of 1956-1961. He was one of the few accused that took the witness stand during the trial. He was elected to be the provincial president of the Transvaal ANC in 1958 and again re-elected in 1959. He died in

in 1987. He was buried in

Manzini Manzini may refer to: *Manzini, Eswatini, a town in the Manzini Region of Eswatini *Manzini Region, a region of Eswatini *Manzini (surname), an Italian surname See also *Roman Catholic Diocese of Manzini The Diocese of Manzini ( la, Manzinien(si ...

in central Swaziland.

Honours

The local municipality changed its name from the "Eastvaal" (Afrikaans: Oosvaal) to "Gert Sibande" District Municipality in October 2004. There is a Gert Sibande TVET College with various campus sites. There is a bronze statue of Gert Sibande that looks at another statue of Nokuthula Simelane in

. The statues are just outside the Nomoya Masilela Museum which is dedicated to freedom fighters including Gert Sibande, Nokuthula Simelane,

and

Mbongeni Ngema Mbongeni Ngema (born 1 June 1956) is a South African writer, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer and theatre producer, born in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal (near Durban). He started his career as a theatre backing guitarist. He wrote the mul ...

wrote and directed the R22 million budget stage production 'Lion of the East' which was centralised around the potato boycott and Gert Sibande's contributions. The production also had bookings in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. Sibande's family issued an interdict against the musical production as they claimed that they had not been consulted. The interdict was set aside soon before the release of the production.https://mg.co.za/article/2012-01-18-mbongeni-ngema-lion-of-the-stage 19 July 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sibande, Gert 1907 births 1987 deaths People from Gert Sibande District Municipality African National Congress politicians South African activists Opposition to apartheid in South Africa Events associated with apartheid Civil disobedience Protests in South Africa Members of the Order of Luthuli