The heat rises Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #321)

Pondoland and Nongoma in Zululand where the people had long fought against the culling of stock and the fencing and reclamation of land. In these areas, especially in Zeerust and Sekhukhuneland there were active branches of the ANC and right from the outset ANC men played a prominent part. For his activities in Zeerust trade unionist and ANC leader Kenneth Mosenyi was banished to Zululand. In spite of the severe repression a number of new ANC branches sprang up in the Zeerust area, one of them having recruited about 2,000 members. It ws not surprising that Sekhukhuneland and Zeerust were the first areas in South Africa where the ANC was banned, that is, some years before the whole organisation was illegalised in 1960. In the series of trials that followed these events legal men like Oliver Tambo, George Bizos, Ismail Mahomad, Duma Nokwe, Ebrahim Gani, Douglas Lukele, M.D. Naidoo, Roly Arenstein and several others appeared on behalf of the accused. Considerable service was rendered to the people of Zeerust by Anglican clergyman Reverend Hooper by way of helping to organise welfare work, legal defence and protecting refugees. For this Reverend Hooper invited the wrath of the Nats and he was ordered to move away from Zeerust. But the courage and resistance of a voteless and unarmed people against a brutal regime is always a very costly affair and even though we must fight to the bitter end for our rights, until we were able