Oscar Mpetha
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Oscar Mafakafaka Mpetha was born in
Mount Fletcher Mount Fletcher (officially Tlokoeng) is a town in Joe Gqabi District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, 69 km north-north-east of Maclear. Founded in 1882, it takes its name from the mountain nearby. This was probabl ...
5 August 1909 and died on 15 November 1994. He was a South African trade unionist and political activist.


Personal life

Mpetha was educated at local schools and at
Adams College Adams College is a historic Christian mission school in South Africa, associated with the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA). It was founded in 1853 at Amanzimtoti a settlement just over south of Durban by an American missio ...
. In the 1930s, he married Rose Constance Nombunga Mpetha, they had two children. He died on 15 November 1994 at his
Gugulethu Gugulethu is a township in the Western Cape, South Africa and is 15 km from Cape Town. Its name is a contraction of ''igugu lethu'', which is Xhosa for ''our pride''. The township was established along with Nyanga in the 1960s. History The ...
home.


Political career

In 1934 he went to Cape Town as a migrant worker. He started his union activities when he was a road labourer in 1940 and began working as an assistant foreman. He had also previously been employed as a dock worker, waiter, hospital orderly, and later as a factory worker. He joined the
Food and Canning Workers' Union The Food and Canning Workers' Union (FCWU) was a trade union representing food processing workers in South Africa. Its members were mainly based in the Western and Eastern Cape. It was affiliate with the African Food and Canning Workers' Union (AFC ...
when he worked at a fish canning factory in
Laaiplek Velddrif (the name of the town) or Velddrift (the name of the farm on which the town was established), is a coastal fishing town in the Bergrivier Local Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. The town had a population 7800 in 2007 and is located ...
, he was involved as a trade unionist and political leader in the AFCWU in the late 1940s and early 1950s and in 1951 he became the General Secretary. In 1954, he joined the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
, he also attended the conference of the
South African Trades and Labour Council The South African Trades and Labour Council (SAT&LC) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The federation was founded in 1930, when the South African Trades Union Council merged with the Cape Federation of Labour Unions. ...
. The council was dissolved in October 1954 and the
Trade Union Council of South Africa The Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The council was founded in October 1954 by 61 unions which split from the South African Trades and Labour Council. They decided that on ...
(TUCSA) was established with a constitution that accepted and registered trade unions that excluded African trade unions. In 1955, he was part of a union delegation that denounced the exclusionary racial policies of the newly formed TUCSA. He then became one of the founding members of the first non-racial trade union body in South Africa, the
South African Congress of Trade Unions The South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The federation was established in March 1955, after right wing unions dissolved the South African Trades and Labour Council in 1954 to ...
(SACTU) Between 1958 and 1960, He led the Cape ANC, until it was banned. He was detained and banned under the
Suppression of Communism Act The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed ...
until the late 1970s. After his banning order lapsed, he assisted in the successful Fatti's and Moni's strike of 1978. In August 1980 he became a founding member of the Nyanga Residents Association which campaigned for decent housing, health facilities and adequate transport for residents in the
Nyanga Nyanga may mean: *Nyanga Province, of Gabon * Nyanga River, in Gabon and Congo *Nyanga people, an ethnic group from Congo *Nyanga, Zimbabwe, a town *Nyanga District, Zimbabwe *Nyanga National Park in Zimbabwe * Nyanga, Western Cape, a township in S ...
area. In 1981 he was seen as a threat to the
Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
regime after he issued a statement condemning the role of the police in a fatal incident involving protestors which occurred on August 1980. In 1983 he was sentenced to five years in
Pollsmoor Prison Pollsmoor Prison, officially known as Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, is located in the Cape Town suburb of Tokai in South Africa. Pollsmoor is a maximum security penal facility that continues to hold some of South Africa's most dangerous c ...
after being convicted of terrorism and inciting a riot at the
Crossroads Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to: * Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...
squatter camp in August 1980. In the same year he was elected as one of three co-presidents along with
Archie Gumede Archibald Jacob Gumede (1914–1998) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, lawyer and politician. Gumede was born in Pietermaritzburg to Josiah Tshangana Gumede, an early African National Congress leader. Archie Gumede led the Natal del ...
and
Albertina Sisulu Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu ( Thethiwe; 21 October 1918 – 2 June 2011) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, and the wife of fellow activist Walter Sisulu (1912–2003). She was affectionately known as "Ma Sisulu" throughout her li ...
of the United Democratic Front, a new umbrella group of anti-government forces. When FAWU was established in 1986, he was elected as a leader. Later in 1981, he was released from
Pollsmoor Prison Pollsmoor Prison, officially known as Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, is located in the Cape Town suburb of Tokai in South Africa. Pollsmoor is a maximum security penal facility that continues to hold some of South Africa's most dangerous c ...
on bail pending an appeal but, he was re-arrested in 1985 to become the country's oldest ever political prisoner when he was 76. During this time he was held at
Groote Schuur Groote Schuur (, Dutch for "big shed") is an estate in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1657, the estate was owned by the Dutch East India Company which used it partly as a granary. Later, the farm and farmhouse was sold into private hands. Groote Sc ...
Hospital under armed guard. He suffered from partial blindness, lung problems, kidney problems and diabetes, which resulted in the amputation of both his legs. He was released from hospital detention on 15 October 1989 and despite his poor health, he took on an active role in the lead-up to the first democratic election in 1994. His wife died in 1986 while he was at the hospital. He was eventually released from prison in October 1989 and he continued to speak at rallies around South Africa.


See also

*
South African Trades Union Council The South African Trades Union Congress (TUC) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. The council was established in 1924, as the South African Association of Employees' Organisations. It was founded at a special congress, held aft ...
*
South African Congress of Trade Unions The South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The federation was established in March 1955, after right wing unions dissolved the South African Trades and Labour Council in 1954 to ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mpetha, Oscar Members of the African National Congress South African trade unionists 1909 births 1994 deaths