Gert Sibande

Richard Gert Shadrack Sibande (* 1901 in Ermelo, South Africa, † March 13, 1987 in Manzini, Swaziland ) was a South African fighter for better living conditions of the black farm workers during the apartheid era.

Life

Gert Sibande was born in 1901 near the town of Ermelo in the then Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga). His father was a farmer lease. Gert Sibande also hired himself in agriculture and represented from the 1930s as a " grassroots activist " the interests of the black farm workers on the potato farms around Bethal, their working conditions were poor. He founded the Farm Workers Association ( " Farm Workers Association"), the first of its kind in South Africa. Sibandes nickname was Lion of the East, German: "Lion of the East". In 1942 he joined the ANC. One of his goals was a more equitable distribution of land in South Africa, similar to the ideas of the former President Pixley ka Isaka ANC Seme. In addition to Ruth First, he was the first to enlightening the public about the appalling conditions of farm workers. From 1952 Sibande took part in the Defiance Campaign of the ANC.

1956 Sibande was elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC. From 1956 to 1961 he was one of the 156 accused in the Treason Trials. In 1958 he was elected during the trial for ANC chairman of the province of Transvaal, 1959, he was re-elected by a narrow majority. In the same year he organized in cooperation with the ANC and the trade union federation South African Congress of Trade Unions in Bethal the " Potato Boycott ", which was triggered by a report from the magazine drum and forced the white potato farmer to make concessions in working conditions. Like the other defendants Sibande was acquitted in the Treason Trial. However, he had to pull Komatipoort and was banned. Nevertheless, there he founded the Allied Union Plantation and (about: " Union of Plantation Workers and similar professions " ) He went into exile in Manzini in Swaziland, where he died in 1987. He was buried in Manzini.

Honors

  • 2004: nomination of Gert Sibande district in Mpumalanga
  • 2007: Order of Luthuli in Gold ( posthumously )
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