South Africa's May Day, Part 3 May Day Massacre, 1950 "A Lerumo" continues: "It will always be to the credit of the African National Congress that when the first major onslaught was launched to illegalise the Party of the working class, it did not stand aside but courageously took the lead and threw all its resources into the fight for the legal existence of the Communist Party. "...the strike was an outstanding success. Virtually all industry on the Witwatersrand came to a stop; hardly a dark-skinned face was to be seen in the streets of Johannesburg, Springs, Randfontein and other Reef towns. "The police had banned all meetings and gatherings on the day; and for the most part the non-white public remained quietly in their homes, following the call of the leadership to do so. But in the evening the trigger-happy police opened fire on small groups of young Africans in Alexandra Township and elsewhere. Eighteen were killed and over thirty wounded. A wave of anger and indignation spread throughout the country." "Bantu World" of 6 May 1950 The Bantu World of 6 May 1950 said: "Disregarding warnings repeated several times last week by African leaders, police officials, Ministers of the Crown and the press, Africans in several Reef centres bent on "Freedom Day" celebrations on Monday, May 1, landed themselves in trouble by their action. Thirty-eight sustained injury and eighteen died. Areas particularly affected were Brakpan and Benoni on the East Rand, Sophiatown and Newclare in the Johannesburg western zone, as well as the Orlando area. "Among those who died on Monday are the following from Alexandra Township: Hilaria Zulu (17 years). He was returning from a shop when he met his death; David Crooke (54) killed returning from work; Mandlenkosi Lukele (15) shot dead; Koos Rabie (49) killed while returning from work; an unknown adult and two children. Also dead are one male and female adults suffocated at the Plaza Cinema which had been set on fire by rioters. "Among the injured at Alexandra Township are Michael Dlamini (24) shot through the thigh; Oscar Mashigo, a school child aged 10; Luca Mathibe, (54), who sustained head injuries, Jantjie Malaba (35) and Maduti aged about 30; Samuel Modiba injuries on the left shoulder blade; John (26) with abdominal wounds; an unknown boy of 12 suffering from multiple head injuries; two unknown men picked up by ambulance on their way home from work. All the injured were admitted at Baragwanath Hospital." These are some of the martyrs of South Africa's May Day. "Communist meeting, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1950." Margaret Bourke-White, Life Magazine <http://johnedwinmason.typepad.com/john_edwin_mason_photogra/2012/08/margare t-bourke-white-south-africa-p2.html> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 15037 (20170305) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/yclsa-eom-forum/000001d295c5%24b531ee50%241f95caf0%24%40com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
