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Anti-apartheid activist, Rev. Allan Boesak
Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, hosted a powerful commemorative event marking the 35th anniversary of the 1990 Northern Areas Uprising.
Delivering a keynote address, Reverend Allan Boesak rejected the term “uprising,” insisting it should be called what it truly was – a massacre.
He condemned the killing of over 50 people by apartheid forces and criticised the historical silence that has surrounded the tragedy.
Boesak drew sharp comparisons with the widely remembered Sharpeville and Langa massacres, questioning why the Northern Areas tragedy has remained largely unacknowledged.
“This is called an uprising, but in fact, it was a massacre. If you kill more than 60 people, then we must talk about a massacre and ask the question that, while we know about the Sharpeville massacre and we know about the Langa massacre in Uitenhage, why is there so little known about this massacre? There is a certain erasure of serving people with power and people who don’t want this to be known.”
He further warned that this is a deliberate erasure of non white working-class resistance in South Africa, arguing that such silence benefits those in power.
1990 Northern Areas uprising | A call for economic freedom to honour the dead
Northern Areas leader Edwin Stuurman says, “It’s really sad how, after many years of people dying, no amount of justice has ever been achieved. Our people are still poor; there’s been no compensation in any way. Many people are still suffering from emotional scars of the uprising. It was painful, it was hard and we seem to still be left in the dark and marginalised.”
Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Nelson Mandela University, Pamela Maseko says, “As a university, it’s important that we have people from the Northern Areas and the centre of such dialogues. There is no better way to tell a story than through lived experiences. So we want to take all the information that they have given us and document it so that the next generation can benefit from it.”
The organisations from the Northern Areas have also called for the University to conduct more dialogues where the history of the Northern Areas and the Khoi-san can be spoken about, researched, and books written for curriculum purposes.
Today, we honoured the courage & resilience of the Northern Areas community during a moving commemoration ceremony hosted at Mandela Uni.
Anti-apartheid activist, Rev. Allan Boesak delivered a powerful message about justice, sacrifice & the ongoing struggle for equality.
[1] pic.twitter.com/F6vj4IIjfe
— Mandela University (@MandelaUni) August 6, 2025
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