Solly Matshumane gravesite at Motetema graveyard

Motetema township, located which is 11km outside the town of Groblersdal is one of the townships that experienced intense political violence. Added to that was the fact that nearer the township was a police training academy and could easily suppress any form of insurgency.

The Soweto generation of the area included Thabang Makwetla and Stanley Mathabatha. From the older generation were cadres like Brian Jantjie Kabini who was one of the first of M.K members. In the mid-1980s, when the struggle against apartheid intensified, the youth of the areas formed the Motetema Youth Congress. Some of the Youth Leaders at the time included Patrick Koma, Danny Msiza, Stanley Mathabatha, Moshe Ntuli, and Lionel Seloane. These often relied on the services of Priscilla Jana for their court cases and legal battles. In March 1986 members of the Youth Congress gathered at a local soccer field for a disciplinary hearing of one of their own. The security branch descended on the scene and demanded the youth to disperse. It was during the altercation that one of the policemen cocked his gun and fired at the youth, wounding two of them including Solly Matshumane. Some of the youth were arrested on the scene including Matshumane and thrown behind bars were they were tortured. Those who managed to escape raised alarm resulting in the burning of police houses in the township. 

The wounded Matshumane later died in police custody and that on its own resulted into political turmoil. Matshumane, who was a student at Ramohlakula High School in Motetema, became the first victim of political violence in Motetema. On the eve of Matshumane’ s funeral, many ANC supporters came as far as Johannesburg to pay their final respect but most of these were arrested and some were killed. The next day (funeral day) more youth were killed in the township and some disappeared without trace. In total, about 20 youth were killed.