- References:
- Naidoo, P. (2006) 156 Hands that built South Africa. Published by the author. p. 91 – 93
- Sapa (2006) “Former PAC leader Vusi Make dies in Pretoria”. Mail and Guardian [online] Available at: mg.co.za [Accessed 17 March 2009]
- Vusumzi Make [online] Available at: wikipedia.org [Accessed 17 March 2009]
Names: Make, Vusimuzi (Vusi) Linda
Born: 1931, Boksburg, Gauteng (then Transvaal), South Africa
Died: 15 April 2006, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
In Summary: Civil Rights Activist, member of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League, active in the Evaton bus boycotts in 1955 and an accused in the 1956 Treason Trial. Make was also a Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) representative in Cairo, and a member of the ANC and PAC alliance SAUF.
Vusimuzi Linda Make was born in Boksburg in 1931, the son of a priest, and later moved to Evaton.
When Make was still a student in high school, he joined the ANC Youth League. He was elected as secretary for the Evaton People’s Transport Council, and together with Joe Molefi, the chairman, they organised protests against bus fare increases. These protests took the form of bus boycotts in Evaton and Vereeniging in July 1955, and were organised by the ANC.
The boycotts took on a violent nature, as bus owners and the police had organised the Russians (a group of gangsters) to attack the boycotters. The boycotters were therefore forced to defend themselves against the violence, and several lives were lost. However, the Russians were not charged.
Make, and several others, including Mahomed “Bob” Asmal, Abie Nhlapo and Joe Molefi, were charged with treason in the Evaton trial. The leader of the Russian gang, Ralekeke, was used as a Crown witness in the 1956 Treason Trial, and informed the court that the ANC was a violent organisation.
On 5 December 1956, Make, Joe Molefi, Solly Nathie and Bob Asmal were re-arrested for treason. Make was the youngest accused in the Treason Trial, along with Nelson Mandela.
During the Treason Trial court adjournment in June 1957, Make, Joe Molefi, Solly Nathie and Bob Asmal appeared in the Supreme Court on reduced charges of public violence. Judge Kuyper found them not guilty, and discharged them.
In January 1958, charges were withdrawn against Make in the Treason Trial, and immediately, on 20 January 1958, he was summonsed to the Native Commissioner’s Office at Evaton.
This summons banished him to the remote area of Sibasa in the Northern Transvaal. However, sometime, in late 1958 he escaped from Sibasa, and undertook a horrendous journey through Africa.
Make then became the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) representative, and assistant head of the South African United Front (SAUF), in Cairo after the 1960 Sharpeville massacre. A member of the SAUF delegation (a PAC and ANC alliance), Make made a joint statement to the UN in October 1961.
Make was elected Chairman of the PAC in 1978. However, when Nyathi Phokela was released from Robben Island prison, and reunited with PAC leaders in Tanzania in 1980, Make handed over the leadership to him.
Make was married to American writer and poet Maya Angelou from 1960- 1963, during his time in Cairo. Make also held the position of lecturer at the University of Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia from 1968 to 1974, and was a member of the American Committee on Africa.
He died at the HF Verwoerd hospital in Pretoria on 15 April 2006 at the age of 75, allegedly due to injuries he sustained in a previous car accident.