User talk:Neostropos

Fezile Shadreck Johannes Dangala (17.03.1933-28.06.1994) an anti-apartheid activist. Dangala was born in Ladyfrere(a small town near Queenstown)in the village called Makhaysnek.He attended school in the Freemantle boy school where he complited his Junior certificate(JC). He became political active in the early 1950's, recruited into the ANC by Titi Hobo who later became a prisoner on Robben Island.Dangala met Hobo in Port Elizabeth and they became members of the ANC and ANCYL. In 1956 he met Vuyisile Mini and Wilton Mkwayi and he was recruited into the ranks of SACTU (a union federation that existed during that time). It was during this time that he was introduced to the Marxist theory. After the banning of the ANC and other liberation movements by the fascist apartheid regime, he worked underground with his comrade Mxolisi Jackson Fuzile. In 1965 he was arrested in his attempt to leave the country illegally. There were five of them as co-trialits and three of them (Jackson Fuzile,Johannes Dangala and George Mokgoro) were sentenced in longer prison terms which they served on Robben Island. They had spent all of their prison sentence in the isolation/B section of the island prison. His cellmate John Ganya of the PAC nicknamed him "Nomadanga". He was in the music entertainment with Selby Ngendane of the PAC, Hennie Ferris, Jackson Fuzile and Herbert Mkole. It was on Robben Island where he furthered his studies to the matric level, he also got an opportunity of being taught Marxism by Govan Mbeki who used to call him "Sheddy", and the history of the ANC by Walter Sisulu whom he called uncle because of the Xhosa clan name of "Xhamela". At his release in November 1972 he was deported to Mdantsane a township in the Ciskei Bantustan. He continued his activism and stood opposed to the system of the Ciskeian bantustan of Lennox Sebe. He was consistently getting arrested, detained without trial. He once got detained in 1982 during the funeral of Stanford Hlekani (another islander) in Mdantsane for having defied restrictions on the number of attendees. He continued with the underground work of the ANC and SACTU (South African Congress of Trade Union). He was also tasked to form underground structures of the Communist Party (SACP). In 1982 Charles Sebe chased him out of his Mdantsane zone 10 house because of his involvement to a NO-rent campaign that wa spearheaded mostly by former Robben Islanders. He became active in the UDF in 1983, during this time he was also the member of SAAWU (South African Allied Workers Union) that was led by Thozamile Gqweta. After the unbanning of the ANC, Dangala rejoined the ANC and became one of its leaders in the area of East London. He was also involved in the South Africa Communist Party (SACP) and served in its various structures. He led a branch of the SACP as chairperson and he named it after his Port Elizabeth comrade Vuyisile Mini. He died on the 28th of June 1994, immediately after the first democratic elections in South Africa.