Accused No.11 Zonga Mokgathla

Zonga Mokgatlha was one of the “Upington 14,” anti-apartheid activists tried under the apartheid-era “common purpose” law following the 1985 killing of municipal policeman Lucas Sethwala during protests in Paballelo, Upington. Born in 1958, Mokgatlha was raised by his grandmother. He left school at age 15 after getting a girl pregnant and trained as a railway waiter.

Unable to find stable work as a waiter, Mokgatlha worked as a labourer and sales assistant before securing a better-paid position at the Coca-Cola factory, which he left after a year. At the time of his arrest, he was employed in a shebeen. Mokgatlha had a child and lived with his family in a zinc shack behind his grandmother’s house in Paballelo.

The court found Mokgatlha guilty of murder under the apartheid-era “common purpose” law for stoning Sethwala’s house and participating in the attack on his body. Sentenced to death in 1989, his sentence was later overturned. His story reflects the socio-economic hardships and systemic legal repression faced by Black South Africans during apartheid, as well as the consequences of political activism under extreme oppression.