SASO leader, Abram Tiro is assassinated
Abram Tiro
Date: 1 February, 1974
Onkgopotse Abram Tiro, a leader of the South African Students' Organisation (SASO), was killed by a parcel bomb near Gaborone, Botswana. Tiro was completing an application form to continue his studies through the University of South Africa (Unisa) when a student known only as Lawrence handed him a parcel supposedly forwarded by the international University Exchange Programme. As he was opening it, the bomb exploded, killing him instantly. A Bureau of State Security (BOSS) hit squad, also known as the Z-Squad, was allegedly responsible for sending him the parcel bomb. As a result, Black students boycott lectures and their institutions were forced to shut down. Tiro's remains were exhumed by the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) and his family and returned to Dinokana for reburial in 1998. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) failed to conduct an in-depth formal investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
Click here to read a speech which was delivered at a commemoration of the life of Onkgopotse Abram Tiro.
Click here to read Graduation Speech by Onkgopotse Tiro at the University of the North (Turfloop), 29 April 1972, which led to his expulsion
References: