Teboho "Tsietsi" MacDonald Mashinini (born 27 January 1957 – 1990) was a South African anti-

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

activist and prominent student leader during the

Soweto Uprising The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from various schools began to p ...

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 a bright, popular and successful student at Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto, where he was the head of the

debate team Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

and president of the Methodist

Wesley Guild The Wesley Guild (also known as WG or Methodist Guild) is a worldwide Christian organisation, based in the United Kingdom, that aims to retain young people within the Methodist Church.Minutes of Several Conversations at the Yearly Conference o ...

. A move by South Africa's

government to make the language

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

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

English-speaking The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

South African students. A student himself, Mashinini planned a mass demonstration by students for 16 June 1976. This demonstration would become known as the

, lasting 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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

then later to various other African countries, including

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

, where he was briefly married to Miss Liberia 1977, Welma Campbell. Mashinini died under mysterious circumstances, possibly of

homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

, in the summer of 1990 while in exile in Guinea. On 4 August 1990, his body was repatriated to South Africa, where he was interred in Avalon Cemetery. His grave bears the epitaph "Black Power"."The homecoming that wasn't"
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Legacy

There is a statue of Teboho Mashinini by

Johannes Phokela Johannes Phokela (born 1966) is a South African painter and sculptor. Background Johannes Phokela was born in Soweto, South Africa in 1966 and trained under Durant Sihlali. When Phokela was a child he witnessed the Soweto uprising and later cr ...

in the grounds of his old school that was unveiled on 1 May 2010 by

Amos Masondo Nkosiyakhe Amos Masondo (born 21 April 1953 in Louwsburg) is a South African politician, who served as the Chairperson of South Africa's National Council of Provinces between 2019 and 2024. He was the mayor of the city of Johannesburg, South Af ...

, the

Mayor of Johannesburg The mayor of Johannesburg is the highest elected position in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Since 2000, they are the chief executive of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality council. On 16 August 2024, the council elected D ...

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 South African anti-apartheid activists People from Soweto 1957 births 1990 deaths Recipients of the Order of Luthuli South African Methodists Unsolved murders in Africa

Life

Legacy

See also

References

External links