Tryphina Mboxela Jokweni was a female operative of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), an armed military wing of the

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 ...

(ANC). The ANC is currently the governing party in

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

. Mrs Tryphina Mboxela Jokweni was popularly known as Mboxela in the neighbourhood. She died of illness at her house at Umlazi Township in the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

(KZN) Province at the age of 77 in 2002. Mboxela was the mother of three children.

Early life

Mboxela was recruited to the ANC by the late

Dorothy Nyembe Dorothy Nomzansi Nyembe (December 31, 1931 – December 17, 1998) was a South African activist and politician. Biography Born near Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, Nyembe was the daughter of Leeya Basolise Nyembe, whose father was Chief Ngedee Shezi. She ...

in 1951 when they were both residents of the informal settlement of Umkhumbane. Mboxela served the MK and ANC with loyalty and dedication over the years. While at Umkhumbane she worked as an ANC volunteer and regularly distributed informative pamphlets to the public (with the assistance of Dorothy Nyembe and Steve Dlamini) about ANC policies in order to drum up support for the ANC at the time.

Timeline

Mboxela took part in the historic 1956 Women's March to the Union Buildings against pass laws. Participation in this march was one of the factors that influenced her in subsequently joining Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1962 under the command of

Billy Nair Billy Nair (27 November 1929 – 23 October 2008) was a South African politician, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa, an anti-apartheid activist and a political prisoner in Robben Island. Nair was a long-serving political prison ...

. She served in the MK alongside cadres such as Curnick Ndlovu. Joining the MK made her the target of 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 ...

security police. Consequently, she fled temporarily to

Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ban ...

to avoid arrest but on her return to

(KZN) she was captured by the

police in 1966 and spent the next six months in prison. She probably moved to Umlazi Township in 1967 following the demolition of Umkhumbane informal settlement by the

government. Mboxela used her house at Umlazi Township as a safehouse for MK cadres who were operating in Durban and others areas of the country. In 1983, Mboxela together with Victoria Mxenge formed a Women's League which was affiliated to the United Democratic Front (UDF). The league was chaired by

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge Nozizwe Charlotte Madlala-Routledge (born 29 June 1952) is a South African politician who was South Africa's Deputy Minister of Defence from 1999 to April 2004 and Deputy Minister of Health from April 2004 to August 2007. President Thabo Mbek ...

. In April 1993 she was one of the VIP members at the funeral of Chris Hani, the former commander of MK, and former secretary general of the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

(SACP). In January 1993 a black police officer by the name of

Siphiwe Mvuyane Siphiwe Mvuyane was a South African police officer who died on 9 May 1993. During the period of "low intensity warfare" in South Africa which largely pitted the African National Congress (ANC) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Siphiwe Mvuyane was on ...

that was notorious for killing ANC activists allegedly came to Mboxela's house looking for her but she was not around. On learning about Siphiwe Mvuyane's visit, Mboxela fled Umlazi Township and proceeded to Clermont Township which was to be her hideout from Siphiwe Mvuyane. Mboxela returned to her house after Siphiwe Mvuyane had died in May 1993.

The 1987 bombing

On the evening of April 23, 1987 three MK operatives travelled to Mboxela's house, unbeknown to them, they were under surveillance from the

intelligence. At midnight on that day, Mboxela's house was surrounded by members of the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South African Police (SAP). Crossfire ensued between the three MK operatives and the

security force. The fighting went on until the early hours of the next day i.e. April 24, 1987. Before the house was destroyed with explosives the three MK operatives were given the last chance to come out of the house. The three MK operatives refused the offer. The apartheid security force then bombed the house reducing it to rubble and the three MK operatives perished accordingly. Mboxela survived because she did come out of the house when the last offer was made and handed herself over to the police. For this incident, Mboxela was arrested and detained for nine months in prison and endured the most horrendous form of torture (including electrocution) from the apartheid police in Amanzimtoti. After her release she told community members that the young white men who electrocuted her in the genitals would never see the Kingdom of God. She quipped: How dare can they touch and force open genitals of a person of my age? I am a mother to these young white men. After her release from prison she did not have a place to stay as her house had been destroyed with explosives. The late Mr David Majola, from the neighbourhood, who ran a construction business, built Mboxela a shack ''pro bono'' in her yard next to her destroyed house. She stayed at this shack for many years until the ANC re-constructed her house after the 1994 democratic elections. The ANC had become the governing party in South Africa after 1994.

Views on education

Mboxela admired young people who were furthering their studies. She believed that the new generation would only realize the hard earned freedom if they got themselves educated. She personally lamented the fact that she could not (after the dawn of democracy) rise to senior positions in the ANC and in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Council because she lacked the requisite knowledge and skills as a result of poor education she had.

Legacy

She was commemorated by the ANC on August 29, 2012. A cow donated by the ANC was slaughtered at her house as a ritual in her remembrance. She is laid to rest at

Wentworth Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...

Cemetery. In commemoration of Mboxela, the spokesperson of the ANC, Mtholephi Mthimkhulu, said: The spirit of Jokweni should lead us to step up the fight against poverty to ensure a better life for all. Mboxela is one of the many unsung heroes and heroines of the South African liberation struggle who operated underground. She will be remembered as a loyal cadre of MK and the ANC in the underground world that played a significant role in the South African liberation struggle which struggle culminated in the first South African democratic elections in 1994.

References