Nyameka Goniwe mourned
Fighter for justice Nyameka Goniwe dies
SOUTH Africa and the ANC are mourning Nyameka Goniwe, a Struggle icon for justice and women’s rights.
Goniwe died on Saturday due to a suspected Covid-19-related illness.
Her life history under apartheid was that of misery, pain and a desire for those who brutally murdered her husband, Matthew Goniwe, in cold blood in June 1985 to face justice.
Anti-apartheid activists Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkhonto, the Cradock Four, were abducted and murdered by South African security police.
Nyameka, and the wives of the three other activists, testified about the murder of their husbands and the grief this caused them at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings in April 1996.
Nyameka and Matthew were married in 1975, and were often separated by detentions and through police harassment. Like the other women, she had to fend for their two children while her husband was incarcerated.
Recounting her ordeal, Nyameka Goniwe told TRC chairperson Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and other commissioners: “The situation in the (Cradock) township worsened in their absence, and violence escalated on a scale which was never experienced before. All school committees resigned. The pressure forced the security police to release Matthew and his colleagues. They were released on October 10, 1984 and were given a hero’s welcome by the community.”
Matthew Goniwe’s unpopularity with the security forces intensified and he was regarded as an enemy of the state.
This was proved in evidence led during inquest proceedings in 1995.
He was denied the right to own a house by the Lingelihle Town Council for a long time, forcing him to live with his mother-in-law and his family in an extended-family home.
Nyameka Goniwe told the TRC that she last saw her husband alive on June 27, 1985 when he went to a United Democratic Front meeting in Port Elizabeth.
Matthew Goniwe, Calata, Mkhonto and Mhlauli were abducted by the security police near Bluewater Bay shortly after their departure from Port Elizabeth, and were then murdered by the security police. All of them suffered multiple stab wounds, and were found a number of days later.
Nyameka Goniwe said: “He was also accused of mobilising the people of Cradock and the neighbouring towns under the banner of the then banned ANC. They hated him for raising the level of political awareness of people in the rural areas. He was seen as a communist, a terrorist and therefore a dangerous man who was a threat to the state.”
In paying tribute to her, Chris Hani district municipality mayor Wongama Gela described Nyameka Goniwe as a selfless leader and councillor of Inxuba Yethemba local municipality.
“On behalf of Chris Hani district municipality, we offer our heartfelt condolences and sympathy to her children, Nobuzwe and Nyaniso, and their beloved family at this difficult moment. We also extend our deepest sympathy to the community of Inxuba Yethemba local municipality, which councillor Goniwe had worked with for so many years. We have lost a colleague, a friend, a great leader.”