Johannesburg - This is the untold story of two Umkhonto we-Sizwe (MK) soldiers who needed R20 each to go into exile and join the ANC’s military wing to fight apartheid.
Leonard Tebogo Tume, from Galeshewe in Kimberley, and Charles Sandile Ngqobe, of Ramosadi village near Mahikeng, had never met before they joined MK.
Tume left his home in November 1976 and enlisted in the ANC’s much-celebrated 1976 G5 detachment unit.
Ngqobe left in June 1977 and became part of the Johannes Mosolodi unit.
Both were killed in bloody battles with the police in Soweto while on MK missions.
Their journey into exile had striking similarities.
Both asked their family members for R20 to skip the country via Botswana.
Puleng Tume last saw her brother in November 1976.
“It was on a Friday. He came home from work, where he worked as a railway police officer. He bought Christmas clothes for Dineo and Meso (her children) and furniture for our mother.
“Later that night, I saw him shoving his new clothes into a pillowcase. He opened the door and told me that he was coming back soon.
“I peeped through the window and saw Tebogo and his friend Mannikie Mahae also carrying his clothes in a pillowcase. Tebogo never returned home. It was the last time,” Puleng remembered.
The family said Tebogo had visited the home of his other sister and asked her for R20. The sister gave him R14.75.
Family members said Tebogo promised to return the cash that Monday - his payday - but he never appeared.
Unlike Tume, Ngqobe was forthright about his intention to leave the country to escape the police.
Nontombi Ngqobe, recalling the last day she saw her younger brother, said Sandile came home and asked her mother Nonkosi for R20, saying he wanted to escape to Botswana because the police were looking for him.
“She (the mother) said ‘No. What did you do?’ My mother was not aware of his political activities,” Nontombi said.
It was the last time Nontombi saw her brother alive.
On Friday, the two families got a clearer picture of their loved ones’ contribution to the fight against apartheid.
Tume fought alongside military giants like chief of the SANDF General Solly Shoke and Linda “Lion of Chiawelo” Jabane.
Tume was with Jabane, carrying paper bags containing machineguns, when police accosted them.
He died on June 13, 1980 and police buried him in an unmarked grave that became his home for almost 35 years without his family knowing.
Leonard Rasegatla, former commander of the 1976 G5 detachment unit, said Tume’s combat name was Norman Nkosi, but they preferred to call him “Communist” because of his bravery and selflessness.
“Tume did not join the Struggle for personal gain,” Rasegatla said. “He was a leader. He was our shield. We called him Communist because he showed leadership. He was our shield because he led from the front. You had to kill him first before killing any other person with him. That’s how dedicated to the cause he was.”
Tume launched a veiled attack on various ANC leaders facing allegations of corruption, saying they had betrayed the cause that led to Tume joining the Struggle.
Ngqobe entered the country in 1985 as part of a unit of nine MK members called the Johannes Mosolodi unit.
He was shot dead by security forces in Soweto on January 7, 1986.
Ngqobe was buried far from home in Dobsonville cemetery.
The unmarked grave became his home for 29 years without his family knowing.
They began searching for him after the ANC and PAC were unbanned in 1990.
In Kimberley, Tume’s niece Dineo, a former student activist, began the search for her uncle.
Dineo was a founder member of the Galeshewe Student Organisation and Galeshewe Youth Organisation.
After the fall of apartheid, Dineo channelled her efforts into finding her uncle.
She died in 2003 without finding any answers to her search.
The Ngqobe family also suffered the same fate until a relative, who was working in the office of former North West premier Popo Molefe, helped them to contact the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Tume’s family were lucky - General Shoke assisted them until they eventually made contact with the NPA.
The two Struggle fighters were exhumed on Friday.
Ngqobe was alone in his unmarked grave. Tume’s re-mains were found co-mingled with those of another person.
However, the NPA was confident that they would be separated by experts at the forensic laboratory.
In both instances, DNA samples taken from their siblings registered a hit with the remains found in the two graves.
The Star