Mapetla Mohapi Memorial

This memorial was officially opened in 2002 in memory of Mapetla Mohapi, who was born at Jozanashoek, Sterkspruit on 2 September 1947. He studied at the University of the North (Turfloop), where he graduated with a degree in Social Work in the early 1970s. While studying at Turfloop, he was drawn to the philosophy of Black Consciousness, becoming active in SASO. After students at several black universities held pro-Frelimo rallies in October 1974 to celebrate the independence of Mozambique, Mohapi and several other leaders of SASO and the Black People’s Convention, were detained. He was released in April 1975 without charge. Three months after he was elected the permanent Secretary of SASO and while serving as an administrator of a trust that took care of ex-political prisoners and their families, he was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act and confined to the areas of King William’s Town and Zwelitsha. A month after the start of the 1976 Soweto uprising, in a swoop of Black Consciousness activists, Mapetla was again detained without charge on 16 July. Twenty days later, on 5 August 1976, Mohapi died in police custody.