Some may know Basil February (1) (1943-1967) as a freedom fighter and hero who fell, whilst fighting against the Apartheid regime. In this interview, I spoke to James April (1940-) who became February’s best friend and close comrade - about February and the political times they lived through.
February’s family were originally from Somerset West. His mother was a midwife and his father an administration clerk. The family first lived in Elsies River and later moved to Stompneus Bay on the West Coast, where they lived for a while.
February was a brilliant student who attended Trafalgar High School and had passed matric with five distinctions in 1960. Although February wished to study Law at the University of Cape Town (UCT), he was refused a permit to do so by BJ Vorster and instead registered as a medical student. In 1962, due to his involvement in politics, he later dropped his studies in his second year.
February and April, both had their anti-apartheid political roots in the Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM). However, the non-participation of the NEUM in mass struggles following the 1960 Sharpeville massacre and the concomitant political repression from the state, saw both February and April leave the NEUM to first join the Coloured People’s Congress (CPC) (2) inside the country and eventually the ANC’s army, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in exile in 1964.
In August 1963 - three years after the ANC and the PAC were banned and could not hold public meetings - February, April, Neville Andrews and John Fisher, decided to slogan paint protest messages against apartheid.
After successfully slogan painting in Claremont, they drove a few kilometres to Wynberg and identified a wall under a bridge to paint more messages.
Andrews was both the driver and a look-out for police and made several drives around the block. Fisher was sent on foot to scan the area for police whilst April watched February paint two slogans on the wall, simultaneously keeping an eye out for any police.
February had just completed painting two slogans, namely, ‘Free Detainees’ and ‘Resist for your Liberty’ when a policeman came by on a bicycle. February, realising that he had the evidence of fresh paint on his pants, started to run away and was joined by April with the cycling policeman in pursuit. They ran into a neighbouring property where the policeman confronted them with a gun, and they surrendered.
By this time Fisher and Andrews had gotten away and February and April were arrested. They were taken to Wynberg Police Station and appeared in Wynberg Court. February and April could not afford to pay the bail and were taken to Roeland Street Prison for 10 days, when bail was eventually raised for them, from family, friends, and comrades.
February and April were out on bail and free, when some person, or persons, planted explosives at signal boxes around Cape Town’s railway stations. This disrupted the train service and the travel of workers to and from their places of employment. Suspicion for the signal box explosions fell on a group of people who had attended an MK sabotage training camp in Mamre in 1962. April was part of this group.
February and April were detained once again and kept at Caledon Square Police Station and held in a cell with common-law prisoners. By this time, the Security Branch had learnt that Andrews and Fisher were also involved in the slogan painting incident. February was taken to court to appear with Andrews, and both were charged with damage to property for their slogan painting saga. As both were minors at the time, they were allowed to pay a fine and pay reparations for the damage they had caused to property. Fisher turned state witness against February and Andrews.
The Security Branch now turned their sights on those who had undergone MK sabotage training. Basil Mpololo, Kiwu Mdolo, Hennie Ferris, Mustapha Satardien, Cardiff Manie and April were charged with undergoing military training and were remanded to Roeland Street Prison.
Nonetheless all those charged with undergoing military training were allowed bail but waited as their family, friends and comrades scraped money together to bail them out. All the MK people were eventually out on bail.
Due to ongoing police harassment, April and February experienced at this time, they decided to leave the country for political exile in 1964. The two did not bid family and friends farewell. They feared for people’s safety and instead quietly skipped the country and entered Botswana.
Whilst in Botswana, the news filtered through to them about the conviction and harsh sentencing of the National Liberation Front (NLF) members. February’s sister, Ursula, was married to Lesley Van Der Heyden, an anti-apartheid activist. The latter was convicted alongside his siblings, Doris and Elizabeth Van Der Heyden as they were all members of the NLF.
At first, February and April had not immediately decided on joining MK, and even though April had undergone some MK training in Mamre in 1962, he had not taken the MK oath. As a result of the harsh NLF sentences, February and April decided to undergo military training as more needed to be done to topple the apartheid regime. They later both took the MK oath.
And so begun their journey in exile: from Botswana to Zambia to Tanzania to Czechoslovakia, back to Tanzania and back to Zambia.
February and April spent 11 months (from 1964 to 1965) undergoing military training in Brno in Czechoslovakia. April says that February’s brilliance shone through for all to see in exile. One of their military training commanders was so impressed with February; insisting that February keep in touch with him via post.
The ANC leadership was also impressed with February, and he became the camp commissar soon after arriving in Kongwa, Tanzania after they returned from Czechoslovakia in 1965. February as the camp commissar, oversaw the morale and political education of the guerrillas, and acted to ensure there was no abuse from the camp commander. February also wrote for Dawn, the Kongwa camp publication at this time.
In 1966, February and April moved from Tanzania to Zambia, where February became a manager of an ANC farm in Livingstone. When February heard that there was a plan to go home and do underground work in South Africa, he immediately left the farm to join the other guerrillas in preparing for the long march home to South Africa. The preparations to go back took months. During this time, February and April lived at Dr Randeri’s place, under whose guidance February worked as a writer for the newly established Mayibuye journal of the ANC.
Soon it was time for the long march home with fellow guerrillas of the Zimbabwean African People’s Union (ZAPU). At night, on 31 July 1967, the joint ANC-ZAPU unit, named the Luthuli Detachment, crossed the Zambezi River at a dangerous point, from Zambia into then-Rhodesia and began their march through the Hwange Game Reserve. (3) Their march became known as the Wankie Campaign.
April recalls that on 8 August 1967, eight days after they commenced their crossing, February turned 24 whilst they were still moving through the Hwange Game Reserve. As a birthday gift, April gave February some chocolate; April had saved the chocolate from his ration, to give to February on his birthday and the latter was so appreciative of the gesture. On that day, both April and February could not have known that on 15 August 1967 - in a matter of a week - February would be killed in a shoot-out with the British South African Police (BSAP) (4).
April and I discuss the different versions about the circumstances of February’s death. It was claimed, first amongst ZAPU members, and then later amongst ANC members, that February died in combat after killing many Rhodesians; whereas members of the British South African Police (BSAP) said he died whilst protecting a white farmer’s wife and children, after a brief shoot-out with the BSAP. (5) April says that an aspect of the BSAP’s version of February’s death rings true to the kind of person he was - he would have protected women and children.
In 1967, February became the first ‘Coloured’ MK soldier to fall. April is rankled by the fact that February has not been recognised by the current ANC leadership (6) and what would have been his 80th birthday has gone unnoticed. However, he concedes that perhaps the younger ANC leadership may not know who February was and what he did in the struggle for freedom. (7)
April adds that February’s legacy is not widely known within the ‘Coloured’ community. “February was just not an ordinary chap. People should be reminded of him, of what he did and achieved in his short time on earth, and how he gave up his life for freedom. He was scarcely 24 when he died.”
Notes:
(1) He was also known as Paul Petersen.
(2) April says that February was scathing when he, April first joined the CPC. February said April had lost all his Marxism. The objection was that the CPC was organizing along colour lines. But later February also joined the CPC.
(3) Then called the Wankie Game Reserve.
(4) ‘Police shot one guerrilla near Figtree.’ Sitrep van Rhodesie, 25 August to 15 December, Taakmag 1, 78. S.N. 10. It seems likely that February was shot and killed on 15 August 1967 and that it was recorded the following day.
(5) Read more about the different versions of how February died @ https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/basil-february-a-hero-to-friend-and-foe-229908. Also see https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/former-rhodesian-police-help-fill-in-gaps-229909
(6) In years gone by February was recognised by some. A residence at the University of the Western Cape is named after him, as are six streets in South Africa (three in Cape Town, two on the West Coast and one in Durban). The Presidency also awarded February a posthumous Order of Mendi for Bravery in Gold in December 2003.
(7) April says that February is still remembered by a few individuals with ANC roots such as Sandi Sijake and Alfred Willie (Jumbo).
