- Nyameka Goniwe, the speaker of the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality in Cradock, has died.
- Nyameka Goniwe was the widow of Matthew Goniwe who was murdered during apartheid.
- She had been isolation pending a Covid-19 test result when she died.
- The municipality said her death is devastating.
Nyameka Goniwe, the speaker of the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality in Cradock, and widow of Matthew Goniwe has died.
The municipality announced on Saturday night she had shown signs of illness, shortness of breath and headaches over the past few days.
She took a Covid-19 test and died while in isolation waiting for her results.
A statement from the mayor’s office said everybody was devastated by her death, and called her a visionary leader.
“She was such a very humble soul that you would never hear talking with a loud voice.”
Funeral arrangements will be announced later.
At her presentation to the Truth and Reconcilation Commission, Nyameka provided an insight into the events she and her late husband had to cope with as he was hounded over his anti-apartheid activism.
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She opened by saying: “The talk about Matthew Goniwe, including my life, was quite a daunting task because I didn’t know where to begin, to piece together this story and our story.
“I tried my best last night to bring together the events which eventually led to his death.”
She explained they married in 1975 and her late husband, a teacher and school principal, was constantly hounded over his political views and activism against apartheid. He was imprisoned when she was studying at the University of Fort Hare, and also had to care for their young baby.
Supporting her husband, who was in prison, studying, and raising her baby was one of the toughest years of her life, Nyameka said.
Her husband’s activism resulted in him being detained for six months but eventually released due to community pressure that turned Cradock into a “flashpoint”. After that he was marked by the security forces as she did her social work.
She said: “”The whole family bore the wrath of the security police which took the form of harassment, early morning house raids, constant surveillance, death threats, phone bugging, short-term detentions for questioning, mysterious phone calls, tampering with cars, etc.”
One morning when Matthew was taking her to work, a security policeman stopped them and put a gun to her husband’s head, and they were taken to the police station to be searched.
“On the 27th of June 1985, he left for Port Elizabeth in the company of his friends, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlawuli, and Sparrow Mkhonto and that was the last time we saw them. They were due back on the same night and when they did not come back, we knew that something serious had happened.”
A search was conducted, but they could not be found.
“On Saturday the 29th June 1985, the bodies of Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicele Mhlawuli were found first and those of Matthew and Fort [Calata] were found on the 2nd of July 1985. All the bodies had multiple stab wounds and were badly burned.”
The reaction to Nyameka’s death on Saturday night expressed sadness that she had never seen justice over her husband’s death.
– Compiled by Jenni Evans
