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Anti-apartheid activist and former leader of the Pan Africanist Congress and Black Consciousness Movement, Dr. Nchaupe Aubrey Mokoape, will be buried on Friday.
He died of complications from Covid-19 at a Durban hospital over the weekend. He was 76 years old.
His funeral takes place at his home in Kloof, west of Durban.
Mokoape is often regarded as the youngest political prisoner in the history of the anti-apartheid movement after he was Cconvicted and imprisoned at the age of 16 for his participation in the anti-pass campaign of March 21, 1960, led by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.
After enrolling at Orlando High School, he enrolled at the University of Natal School of Medicine, where he met anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko.
Together, the couple, along with “Gees” Goolam Abram Mayet, Mamphela Ramphele, Joel “China” Matsipa, Harry Nengwekhulu and others, would found the Black Consciousness Movement.
In 1974, members of the SA Students’ Organization (SASO) and Black People’s Convention (BPC) were arrested for organizing Viva Frelimo demonstrations at Curries Fountain and Turfloop University, and were charged.
Known as the State v. Cooper and Eight Others, the trial lasted from 1975 to 1976. The defendants were Saths Cooper, Muntu Myeza, Strini Moodley, Patrick Terror Lekota, Nchaupe Mokoape, Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, Nkwenkwe Nkomo, Kaborone Sedibe, and Zithulele Cindi. They were found guilty and sentenced to five and six years on Robben Island.
According to historical documents from Wits University, Biko appeared as one of the defense witnesses at the May 1976 trial, and his testimony is included in court records. The records also include ‘The Definition of Black Consciousness’.
Mokoape was released from Robben Island on December 20, 1982 after serving six years.
See Dr. Mokoape’s funeral live
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