Charles Sebe

Last updated

Xhanti Charles Sebe
Died27/28 January 1991
Ciskei
Known forCiskei state security head, rebel and murder victim
Relatives Lennox Sebe (brother)

Lt. General Xhanti Charles Sebe [1] was leader of the Ciskei Defence Force- the military of the Bantustan of Ciskei, and its Director of State Security. A former Security Branch policeman, he later joined the South African Bureau of State Security (B.O.S.S.) before founding the Ciskei state security apparatus. [2] Described as having created a police state in Ciskei, [3] [4] and being perceived as its de facto ruler, [5] he is the young brother of Lennox Sebe. He was subsequently arrested by his brother's government, and sentenced to prison by the Ciskei government for incitement, [6] [7] but was rescued from jail by white mercenaries, [8] and escaped to the nearby Bantustan of Transkei, where he began an organisation that aimed to overthrow his brother's government. [9]

Charles Sebe was lured together with Onward Guzana back to Ciskei in an operation orchestrated by South African security forces [10] [11] in 1991 27/28 January, during the rule of Oupa Gqozo, and, having been wounded in an ambush which killed an associate, was the subject of a manhunt, and he was subsequently shot to death in cold blood [12] by the Ciskei Security forces. [4] [11] [13] [14] Gqozo was tried in 1993 for the murder, by the Ciskei Supreme Court, and, together with his co-accused, Sergeant-Major Thozamile Veliti, Gqozo was acquitted. [15]

The killing of Sebe was later investigated by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ciskei</span> Former bantustan in South Africa (1981–94)

Ciskei, officially the Republic of Ciskei, was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people, located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of 7,700 square kilometres (3,000 sq mi), almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lennox Sebe</span> Chief minister and first president of Ciskei (1926–1994)

Lennox Leslie Wongama Ngweyesizwe Sebe was the chief minister of the Xhosa bantustan of Ciskei after its self-rule in 1972, and the nominally independent country's first president from 1983. His praise name (isikhahlelo) was Ngweyesizwe.

Joshua Oupa Gqozo was the military ruler of the former homeland of Ciskei in South Africa.

The Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), formerly known as Poqo, was the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress, an African nationalist movement in South Africa. In the Xhosa language, the word 'Poqo' means 'pure'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 Bophuthatswana crisis</span> Crisis in South Africa

The 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis was a major political crisis which began after Lucas Mangope, the president of Bophuthatswana, a nominally independent South African bantustan created under apartheid, attempted to crush widespread labour unrest and popular demonstrations demanding the incorporation of the territory into South Africa pending non-racial elections later that year. Violent protests immediately broke out following President Mangope's announcement on 7 March that Bophuthatswana would boycott the South African general elections. This was escalated by the arrival of right-wing Afrikaner militias seeking to preserve the Mangope government. The predominantly black Bophuthatswana Defence Force and police refused to cooperate with the white extremists and mutinied, then forced the Afrikaner militias to leave Bophuthatswana. The South African military entered Bophuthatswana and restored order on 12 March.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisho massacre</span> The 1992 apartheid massacre

The Bisho massacre occurred on 7 September 1992 in Bisho, in the then nominally independent homeland of Ciskei which is now part of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Twenty-eight African National Congress supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march when they attempted to enter Bisho to demand the reincorporation of Ciskei into South Africa during the final years of apartheid.

The South African Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), was a government-sponsored death squad, during the apartheid era. The CCB, operated under the authority of Defence Minister General Magnus Malan. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee pronounced the CCB guilty of numerous killings, and suspected more killings.

The Gugulethu Seven was an anti-apartheid group of men between the ages of 16 and 23 that were shot and killed on 3 March 1986 by members of the South African Police force. The seven men included Mandla Simon Mxinwa, Zanisile Zenith Mjobo, Zola Alfred Swelani, Godfrey Jabulani Miya, Christopher Piet, Themba Mlifi and Zabonke John Konile. It was later uncovered that the police operation that unearthed the Gugulethu Seven's plans had been in the works for some time.

Looksmart Khulile Ngudle [22 May 1922–5 September 1963 (aged 41)] was a South African politician. He was a Member of the African National Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party (SACP), an Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Commander and South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) leader in the Western Cape. Ngudle's death is controversial, as he was the first person to die in detention during South Africa's Apartheid Era.

Louis Marius Schoon was a white anti-apartheid activist of Afrikaner descent. Marius died from lung cancer, after a long call from Nelson Mandela, thanking him for his sacrifice against the struggle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">111 Battalion</span> Military unit

111 Battalion was a motorised infantry unit of the South African Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">113 Battalion</span> Military unit

113 Battalion was a motorised infantry unit of the South African Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">116 Battalion</span> Military unit

116 Battalion was a motorised infantry unit of the South African Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">151 Battalion</span> Military unit

151 South African Infantry Battalion was a motorised infantry unit of the South African Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">117 Battalion</span> Military unit

111 Battalion was a motorised infantry unit of the South African Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">115 Battalion</span> Military unit

115 South African Infantry Battalion was a motorised infantry unit of the South African Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">118 Battalion</span> Military unit

118 South African Infantry Battalion was a motorised infantry unit of the South African Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabelo Phama</span> South African revolutionary

Sabelo Victor Phama [born Sabelo Gqwetha] was an Anti-Aparthaid Activist, Military Commander of Azanian People's Liberation Army APLA and Secretary of Defense in the Pan African Congress PAC. He is best known for organising a campaign of politically and racially motivated attacks on white civilians that took place in 1993; resulting in 24 deaths and 122 serious injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990 Ciskei coup d'état</span> Bloodless military coup détat in Ciskei

The 1990 Ciskei coup d'état was a bloodless military coup in Ciskei, an unrecognised state and a nominally independent South African homeland for the Xhosa people, which took place on 4 March 1990. The coup was led by the then 37-year-old Brigadier Oupa Gqozo, the Chief of Staff Intelligence of the Ciskei Defence Force, against the government of President for Life Lennox Sebe (CNIP), who was on a state visit to Hong Kong at the time. The coup was followed by widespread rioting and looting, prompting Gqozo to request that the South African government send SADF troops to help restore order.

The Ciskei National Independence Party (CNIP) was a political party in the nominally independent South African homeland of Ciskei. It was founded and led by Lennox Sebe. The party advocated cooperation with the South African government. The party governed Ciskei from 1973 until the 1990 coup d'état by Oupa Gqozo.

References

  1. ↑ "Lt. Gen. Charles Xhanti Sebe: A few Famous Quotes". www.museum.za.net.
  2. ↑ "Truth Commission - Special Report - TRC Final Report - Volume 2, Section 1, Chapter". sabctrc.saha.org.za.
  3. ↑ Lelyveld, Joseph (25 September 1983). "MISERY IN A SOUTH AFRICAN 'HOMELAND'". The New York Times.
  4. 1 2 "South Africa: Ciskei: Ten Years on Human Rights and the Fiction of "Independence" (Human Rights Watch Report, December 20, 1991)". www.hrw.org.
  5. ↑ "Truth Commission - Special Report - TRC Final Report - Volume 2, Section 1, Chapter". sabctrc.saha.org.za.
  6. ↑ sahoboss (16 March 2011). "Former commander of the armed forces of the Ciskei, Major-General Charles Sebe is imprisoned".
  7. ↑ "Application in terms of section 18 of the promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, no. 34 of 1995 - Kwanele Enough Thoba applicant". Archived from the original on 19 August 2018.
  8. ↑ Times, Alan Cowell and Special To the New York (20 October 1986). "PRETORIA PUZZLE: 'HOMELANDS' AT ODDS". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ "SAPA - 29 Jul 96 - FORMER CISKEI RULER'S SON WAS MOST FEARED IN". www.justice.gov.za.
  10. 1 2 "Truth Commission - Special Report - TRC Final Report - Volume 3, Section 1, Chapter". sabctrc.saha.org.za.
  11. 1 2 "Pretoria's 'Divide and Rule' Strategy in Ciskei". Christian Science Monitor. 9 September 1992.
  12. ↑ Maclennan, Ben (7 April 2004). "Oupa Gqozo: An 'officer and a gentleman'".
  13. ↑ "The rule of brigadier Oupa Gqozo in Ciskei" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2018.[ bare URL PDF ]
  14. ↑ "South Africa: Second alleged Ciskei coup plotter killed".
  15. ↑ "Today In History - YFM - Yona Ke Yona". yworld.co.za. Archived from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2018.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.