Teboho "Tsietsi" Mashinini. Source: BAHA

Date: 5 July, 1990

On 5 July 1990, Teboho “Tsietsi” Mashinini died under strange circumstances in Conakry, Guinea. Mashinini was hospitalised with multiple injuries, apparently sustained following an attack – he died few days after his admission into hospital. According to reports Mashinini's left eye had fallen in, his left ear was bleeding, he had a deep mark on his face and a large scar on his forehead.

His body was transported from West Africa to South Africa for the burial. At his funeral service, held at the Amphitheatre Stadium at Jabulani in Soweto, former Azanian People Organisation(AZAPO) President, Professor Itumeleng Mosala said: “The student of 1976 took the struggle from the classroom to the streets; the students of today take the struggle from the streets into the classroom”. All leaders from the June 16 uprising spoke in praise of Mashinini and it was stated that he made a permanent mark in the history of South Africa.

The epitaph on his tombstone reads: “At the height of struggle, he gave impetus to the liberation struggle”. According to reports his tombstone at Avalon cemetery, in Soweto, was vandalised twice.

One of Mashinini's admirers was his compatriot Miriam Makeba, who was in exile in Guinea. Makeba had offered Mashinini a place to stay in her home in Conakry before his untimely death.

References:

Anon, (n.d.), ‘Teboho "Tsietsi" Macdonald Mashinini ,’from South African History Online, [online] Available at www.sahistory.org.za, [Last accessed: 31 May 2011]

Anon, (1990), ‘Teboho “Tsietsi” Mashinini dies,’from X Timeline, 5 July, [online] Available at www.xtimeline.com, [Last accessed: 31 May 2011]

Anon, (n.d.), ‘Map of Guinea,’from World Atlas, [online] Available at www.worldatlas.com, [Last accessed: 31 May 2011]