Teboho "Tsietsi" MacDonald Mashinini (born 27 January 1957 – 1990) in Jabavu,

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, died summer, 1990 in

Conakry, Guinea Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its ...

), and buried

Avalon Cemetery Avalon Cemetery is one of the largest graveyards in South Africa. It was opened in 1972, during the height of apartheid, as a graveyard exclusively for black people. The huge extension was officially opened on 9 February by Matshidiso Mfikoe, at ...

, was the main student leader of the Soweto Uprising that began in Soweto and spread across South Africa in June, 1976.

Life

Teboho Tsietsi Mashinini known by his pet name "Mcdonald" was born in 1957, 27 January. He was the second of 13 children of Ramothibe (father) and Nomkhitha Virginia (mother) Mashinini. He was bright, popular and successful student at

Morris Isaacson High School Morris Isaacson High School is a government secondary school in Soweto. Founded in 1956, the school took an important role at the start of the Soweto Uprising in 1976. History The school was named for Morris Isaacson who was a Lithuanian Jewis ...

in Soweto where he was the head of the

debate team Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

and president of the Methodist Wesley Guild. A move by South Africa's

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 ...

government to make the language

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

an equal mandatory language of education for all South Africans in conjunction with English was extremely unpopular with black and

English-speaking Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...

South African students. A student himself, Mashinini planned a mass demonstration by students for 16 June 1976. This demonstration which would become known as the Soweto Uprising lasted for three days during which several hundred people were killed. Having been identified as the leader of the uprising by the South African government, Mashinini fled South Africa in exile, first to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

then later to various other African countries, including Liberia where he was briefly married to Miss Liberia 1977, Welma Campbell. He died under mysterious circumstances, possibly of homicide, in the summer of 1990 while in exile in Guinea. His body was repatriated to South Africa on 4 August 1990 where he was interred in

. His grave bears the epitaph "Black Power"."The homecoming that wasn't"
/ref>

Legacy

There is a statue of Teboho Mashinini by Johannes Phokela in the grounds of his old school that was unveiled on 1 May 2010 by Amos Masondo, the

Mayor of Johannesburg The Mayor of Johannesburg is the chief executive of the City Council and the highest elected position in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. List of mayors * Johan Zulch de Villiers (1897–1900) Appointed by South African Republic Executi ...

References

External links

* The African Activist Archive Project website includes a press releas
Leader of Soweto (South Africa) Uprising to Speak
(New York: American Committee on Africa, December 1976). *Teboho "Tsietsi" Mashinini Profile on SA History Online https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/teboho-tsietsi-mashinini {{DEFAULTSORT:Mashinini, Teboho Macdonald Anti-apartheid activists People from Soweto 1957 births 1990 deaths Members of the Order of Luthuli

Life

Legacy

See also

References

External links