Nzimeni Elliot Mfaxa with his daughter-in-law, Sibongile Mfaxa, at the Foundation earlier this year
Oct 21, 2008 – One of the former 1956 Treason Trialists who took part in a reunion with Nelson Mandela in March this year, has passed away.
Nzimeni Elliot Mfaxa passed away on October 16 at home in Tyutyu Village, outside King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape, after an asthma attack. He was 83.
On March 14 this year, he joined a group of individuals who had been accused, with Mr Mandela, in the 1952 Defiance Campaign, the 1956 Treason Trial and the Rivonia Trial. Mfaxa had been one of the 156 accused, including Mr Mandela, in the 1956 Treason Trial. By the end of the trial in 1961 all the accused had been acquitted.
Mfaxa was born at KwaGusha Farm in Somerset West. In 1949 he was recruited into the African National Congress in Port Elizabeth by the late Comrade Raymond Mhlaba, who was later sentenced to life imprisonment with Mr Mandela.
Mfaxa was part of the 1952 Defiance Campaign committee and was nominated as volunteer-in-chief in the Eastern Cape. The same year he was elected chairman of the ANC’s Border Region. He was arrested and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and was banned from attending political meetings.
In 1953 he was arrested and sentenced to nine months for addressing a meeting. He began mobilising again in 1955. He was arrested in December 1956 and charged with treason. Charges against him and 64 others were withdrawn against him about a year later.
Mfaxa joined a group of Africanists who broke away from the ANC and formed the Pan Africanist Congress under President Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe in 1959. Mfaxa became the PAC’s first national organiser. He was part of the group that launched the 1960 “Decisive Positive Anti-Pass Campaign” that resulted in the Sharpeville and Langa Massacres. He was arrested and sentenced to two-and-half years in jail. He went into exile in Lesotho, where he worked as a teacher.
From 1981 to 1991 he headed the PAC’s Department of Education from Dar es Salaam and from 1992 to 1993 he served as the PAC’s first secretary for the PAC’s Border Region from 1993 to 1995. From 1993 to 1998 he taught at Mzontsudu Senior Secondary School, Quzini, King William’s Town, under the leadership of Mr Kakaza. He later served in the local Veterans’ Association and kept busy by farming.
He leaves a son, Sizwe, and a daughter, Xoliswa, and 16 grandchildren
Letter of condolence to the Mfaxa family from Nelson Mandela:
“Dear Sizwe, Xoliswa and family,
It is not long ago that Nzimeni Elliot Mfaxa was strong enough to come and celebrate our birthday with us in Johannesburg. The news that he passed away a few days ago has saddened us deeply.
We remember well his great contributions in the 1950s to the Defiance Campaign and the Treason Trial. Later he became a formidable leader in the Pan Africanist Congress, in which movement he served with distinction over many decades.
He will be missed by South Africa, and remembered as one who dedicated his life to the struggles for justice in our country.
We wish you strength and solidarity during this difficult time.
Sincerely,
NR Mandela”