Every revolution has its own traitors: Bruno Mtolos of our times.
It is not a secret that part of the inspiration to the current generation of Economic Freedom Fighters are the Freedom Fighters of the early 1940s in the ANC-led liberation movement, who during the formation of the ANC Youth League proclaimed Freedom in Our Lifetime. This generation of Freedom Fighters is indisputably the most outstanding generation of Freedom Fighters in South Africa, and possibly Africa and the world’s political history. The generational commitment for economic freedom in our lifetime is in no doubt inspired by the generation of Freedom Fighters who proclaimed Freedom in Our Lifetime.
The early 1940s generation of Freedom Fighters is constituted of giant figures such as Mxolisi Majombozi, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, AP Mda, Robert Sobukwe, Congress Mbatha, Robert Resha, Anton Lambede, William Nkomo and many others. The outstanding features of this generation of this generation are 1) ideological clarity in that they were able to give proper meaning to the struggle for national liberation and gave a clearer context and meaning of what is meant by African nationalism, 2) fearlessness and militancy, in that in everything they did, the resounding fearlessness was un-parralled as this is the generation which dared the apartheid regime through utter defiance of petty segregationist laws, 3) unity in that for many years, this generation understood and accepted that they carry a generational mission of freedom in our lifetime, literally meaning that they were determined to attain political freedom before they die.
The subjective contributions of Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Robert Sobukwe, Nelson Mandela led to the defiance campaign, the Sharpeville and Langa uprisings, the Rivonia Trial, and massive internal solidarity programmes carried out by the world against apartheid. This, of course is in recognition of the reality that whilst objective conditions allow for revolutions to occur, the subjective revolutionary determination and will of those leading the revolution is also necessary to make the revolution occur. Che Guevara says, “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall”. Like the current generation of economic freedom fighters, this is a generation which refused to fail.
Of course, the route towards freedom was not easy and was threatened by many developments, the major being the life imprisonment of the Freedom Fighters and banishment/isolation of Robert Sobukwe depriving the Pan Africanist Congress the necessary ideological and political guidance Sobukwe could have provided. The major disruption though was the Rivonia Trial and its possibilities, as it could have culminated in either life imprisonment or execution through capital punishment of these political giants. During the trial, the whole world was persuaded that the ultimate sentence will be capital punishment, because the apartheid machinery was brutal and upping the gear in suppressing dissenting voices.
To secure conviction of the Rivonia Trialists, the State needed evidence from inside operations of the MK, and one that came in handy was Bruno Mtolo who was part of the Natal Regional Command. Bruno Mtolo was an Activist from KwaZulu Natal and appeared more committed and determined than the rest of the Freedom Fighters in KwaZulu Natal. Bruno Mtolo was considered one of the most outstanding cadres and fighters for liberation, who dedicated his life to the struggle for political freedom in our lifetime. His generation never thought nor believed that he would ever define himself outside the struggles for the liberation of the people.