Thomas Madikwe Manthata (29 November 1939 – 10 July 2020) was a South African activist who was active in the anti-apartheid movement. After the end of apartheid, he served as a member both of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and of the

South African Human Rights Commission The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was inaugurated in October 1995 as an independent chapter nine institution. It draws its mandate from the South African Constitution by way of the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994. Commissioner ...

. During apartheid, Manthata was a teacher in Soweto and worked for the South African Council of Churches. A stalwart of the Black Consciousness movement, he was a founding member and one-time general secretary of the Azanian People's Organisation. He was one of the defendants in the Delmas Treason Trial and in November 1988 was convicted of treason for his political activity. He served one year of a six-year sentence before the verdict was overturned on appeal in 1989.

Early life and activism

Manthata was born on 29 November 1939 in

Soekmekaar Morebeng, formerly known as Soekmekaar, is a small, rural town in the Molemole Local Municipality of the Capricorn District Municipality of the Limpopo province of South Africa. It is located about 65 km southeast of Louis Trichardt Louis may ref ...

in the former Northern Transvaal. In 1967, after being expelled from a Catholic seminary, he began teaching at Sekano Ntoane High School in Soweto outside Johannesburg, where his students included

Amos Masondo Nkosiyakhe Amos Masondo (born 21 April 1953 in Louwsburg) is a South African politician, who has served as the Chairperson of South Africa's National Council of Provinces since 23 May 2019. He was the mayor of the city of Johannesburg, South Afr ...

and future president Cyril Ramaphosa. During the same period, he also studied part-time at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and became active in the burgeoning Black Consciousness movement, initially through the South African Students' Organisation. He used his connections with the Black Consciousness movement to facilitate the political education of his high school students. From 1974, he worked at the South African Council of Churches (SACC), primarily involved with assisting the families of political detainees. Three years after that, in 1977, the apartheid government severely prohibited Black Consciousness organising, banning all of the movement's major organisations in the aftermath of the Soweto uprising. Manthata subsequently became a founding member of the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO), where he later served as general secretary. He was detained for his political activity on several occasions.

Delmas Treason Trial

In June 1985 he became one of 22 activists indicted in the Delmas Treason Trial, accused of having committed treason by inciting the 1984 uprising in the Vaal Triangle.

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

, then the general secretary of the SACC, later said that Manthata had only been in the Vaal to monitor the protests on his orders. Nonetheless, on 18 November 1988, Manthata – with Moss Chikane, Popo Molefe, and Mosiuoa Lekota of the United Democratic Front – was among the four defendants convicted of treason. Tutu published an op-ed in Manthata's defence in the '' New York Times'', writing:

If there is one person in South Africa for whom I would unhesitatingly put my head on a block, it is Tom Manthata. Tom is a person who, after being tortured while in police custody, after spending more than 200 days detained without trial, after being in ' preventive detention' for nearly a year, came out of prison to say to his friends in the council: 'Let's not be consumed by bitterness.'

On 8 December, Manthata was sentenced to serve six years in prison; the judge said that he had imposed a lenient sentence in the hope that Manthata would assume a constructive leadership role once released. However, he served only one year: on 15 December 1989, the sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal on a technicality.

Post-apartheid career

After the abolition of apartheid in 1994, Manthata served as a commissioner in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He was also a commissioner at the

, initially for the province of the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

; he began a seven-year term as a national commissioner in October 2002, under chairperson Jody Kollapen.

Personal life and death

Manthata died of COVID-19-related illness at One Military Hospital outside Pretoria on 10 July 2020. He was married. In November 2021, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli in Gold by President Cyril Ramaphosa, "for his active participation in human rights matters, ranging from the rights of the elderly and land issues to traditional leadership".

References

External links

Funeral service
at SABC 1939 births 2020 deaths South African anti-apartheid activists Inmates of Robben Island Black Consciousness Movement Azanian People's Organisation politicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa South African human rights activists People from Capricorn District Municipality Members of the Order of Luthuli {{DEFAULTSORT:Manthata, Tom People convicted of treason against South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) people