Pain and trauma when northern areas erupted

TWENTY-FOUR years ago today, dozens of men, women and children were brutally killed in the 1990 Northern Areas Uprising in Port Elizabeth.

A peaceful march by residents in Bloemendal on August 6 against evictions and exorbitant rent increases, saw riot police fire rubber bullets and teargas that stoked a violent five-day battle with residents.

This, as world icon Nelson Mandela and then-president FW de Klerk were holding peace talks in Pretoria.

The riots saw more than 2000 people going on the rampage, blocking roads, hurling stones, and looting and burning down shops to show their anger.

The rioting spread like wildfire to other northern areas suburbs, including Arcadia, West End, Salsoneville, Hillside, Windvogel, Helenvale, Gelvandale and Schauderville.

Hospitals and doctors' surgeries were flooded with the injured and dying during the bloody clashes.

By August 11, 59 people were dead, including innocent bystanders.

At least 400 people were seriously injured and even to this day the remains of some residents' family members have not been found.

Protest leader Godfrey Ackley, 51, from Bloemendal, described the events as a massacre by the police.

"I was 27 and an executive member of the Chatty Action Committee," Ackley said. "Activists like Terence Primo, Elvis Plaatjies and Randall Arnolds, all from the ANC, were asked by residents to organise a march against the evictions and rent increases that had seen so many coloured people kicked to the kerb.

"In those days, the oubaas with the tangetjie [pliers] came at any time to cut off our electricity if we fell back on paying rent, which went up as the officials pleased.

"The evictions were the worst, and we felt it was time we raised our concerns." Ackley said the march had been organised legitimately, with the organisers following all the proper legal procedures.

"We were given from 9am to 11.30am to handle our business that Monday," he said.

"At 9am, we marched to the Chatty rent office to hand over our memorandum of understanding to the manager, James Warner, as well as the director, Andrew Gibbon, and the then town clerk, PK Botha. "From there, we moved to the Greenville Primary School's sports field where we were scheduled to address the crowd.

"Just after 11am, police 'hippos' came riding in our direction.

"I went to speak to the captain in charge and explained to him that we still had some time to conclude our business.

"He told me he would give us five minutes to disperse before they would start shooting.

"The thing is, though, he literally just counted to five and the police let loose with teargas and rubber bullets."

Ackley recalls how as the crowd fled, the police hit him through the face and arrested him.

"I was detained for three days on a charge of organising an illegal gathering, although I showed him [the captain] our permission letter," he said.

"When I was released, I rode through the northern areas and witnessed the chaos, the burning – the northern areas was in shambles.

"Sadly, we never really recovered from this blow."

Residents tell how they watched through their windows as armoured police vehicles shot at random into the crowds for days.

They said police monitoring the riots shot at anyone roaming the streets, even at night.

Then-activist Dawid Abrahams, 78, chairman of the Gelvandale Street and Action Committee at the time, said although the uprising began in Bloemendal, the entire northern areas supported the rent boycott.

"I lost my son, Derrick, during that time," he said. "The committee ordered him to safeguard Dr Jeff Govender's surgery in Zimdahl Street where so many of the injured were being treated.

"Police chased him and shot him. The autopsy report said eight bullets [were fired into] his back and went out through his abdomen.

"That week, parents lost their children, women lost their husbands and the community lost their dignity.

"All of us who pursued court cases against the police were unsuccessful. It was apartheid and we were coloured."

For Abrahams, the only part of the unrest that could be blamed on the people from the northern areas was the looting of shops.

"It was chaotic and people were opportunistic, I must admit," he said.

"But the pain and trauma we suffered due to those riots will always be remembered.

"We hope it will never, ever be repeated as long as this earth shall stand." - Alvené du Plessis