A Tribute to Monageng Xoliso Mmakou, Alias Wonderboy “Wonder” Zitha (Born 4 May 1962, Died 4 June 1980, Buried 21 June 1980)
The Department of Military Veterans (DMV) will be hosting the Monageng Xoliso Mmakou Memorial Public Lecture on Thursday, 14 December 2023, at the Temba Campus of Tshwane North TVET College in Temba, Hammanskraal. Among the speakers at this memorial event will be the Deputy Minister of the Department of Military Veterans, Mr Thabang Makwetla, and the former Chief of the South Africa National Defence Force (SANDF), General Solly Shoke.
Before the public lecture, there will be a ceremony to unveil his refurbished tombstone at the Temba Cemetery, where he was laid to rest on Saturday, 21 June 1980, a few days after his tragic death. The unveiling of the refurbished tombstone will be attended by his family and friends, Umkhonto we Sizwe liberation veterans, civic and political organizations, as well as members of his community.
The life of Monageng Xoliso Mmakou, also known by his MK alias Wonderboy “Wonder” Zitha, was tragically cut short on Wednesday, 4 June 1980, in Manzini, eSwatini – almost 400km away from his hometown of Temba in Hammanskraal.
His death, as a martyr, was a planned act of revenge by the Apartheid security police following an MK sabotage mission in Secunda in the then Eastern Transvaal. On 1 June 1980, MK Special Force operatives planted limpet mine explosives on fuel tanks at the Sasol II Refinery complex in Secunda.
Around the same time, another group of MK Special Force operatives planted magnetic mine explosives on fuel storage tanks, gas cylinders, and refraction towers at the Sasol I Refinery complex, 135 km away in Sasolburg. Just before midnight (23:40/20:45) that night, both Sasol I and Sasol II went up in flames due to the explosives planted by the MK Special Force operatives.
Three days later, around 02:00 on 4 June 1980, Dirk Coetzee, Warrant Officer Paul van Dyk, and Sergeants Krappies Hattingh and Chris Rorich allegedly carried explosives, consisting of dough wrapped around cordite, which was attached to a detonator and a timing device in a plastic carrier bag. Dirk Coetzee also allegedly brought a sandbag, which was placed on top of the carrier bag containing the explosive device. The men took the cordite up a small embankment and across a neighbour’s lawn, close to the street, where they connected the battery.
At around 02:30, the men returned to their car after planting a bomb at Marwick Nkosi’s house and a small wooden house in Manzini, Swaziland. They then drove oppositely and parked under a tree near Manzini jail. There, they packed some beers and began drinking.
Between 03:00 and 03:15, a bright mushroom cloud appeared, followed by a massive explosion a second later. This disrupted the peaceful dawn of the town of Manzini. The twin blasts were so powerful that they could be heard as far as Elwandle, about 16km away on the eastern side of Manzini, and Lubamba, the traditional capital of the eSwatini monarchy, which was over 20km away. People in Elwandle reported seeing the second blast after rushing out of their houses upon hearing the initial explosion.
At the epicentre of the explosion, Mrs Hlubi woke up when the ceiling fell on top of her while she was sleeping. She groped in the dark to wake up a child who was also in the house. She encountered several confused people walking around. Blankets, sheets, and clothing from the neighbouring house were scattered everywhere, some hanging from blown-up and twisted pieces of corrugated iron.
Next door, four people, Seiso, Ali, Percy, and Wonder (Monageng Mmakou), were asleep when the explosion occurred. Monageng Mmakou’s body was torn in two, with one half remaining among the debris scattered on the property, while the other half was thrown into a neighbour’s house. The explosion at Marwick Nkosi’s house reduced it to fragments, instantly killing Patrick Nkosi, Marwick Nkosi’s grandson.
Marwick Nkosi’s daughter, Ms Eunice Dlamini, suffered severe lacerations, with her left arm and right leg bones completely exposed. Her hearing was also significantly impaired. After several months in the hospital, she tragically took her own life by locking herself in her home, dousing herself with petrol, and setting herself on fire. Marwick Nkosi himself was unharmed.
The Mmakou family learned about the brutal death of Monageng Xoliso Mmakou from two priests from St. Peter’s Seminary. Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa sent them from Khanya House, the headquarters of the South Africa Council of Churches (SACC) in Johannesburg. At the time of Monageng’s passing, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa was in the fourth year of a five-year restriction that had been imposed on him four years earlier on June 4, 1977.
Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa (80) remembers how Ms Shirley Lou, his secretary, helped the Mmakou family when they visited Khanya House seeking assistance to repatriate Monageng Mmakou’s remains from a mortuary in Manzini, Swaziland. The family also received legal assistance from the well-known law firm of Maluleke, Seriti, and Moseneke, which Judge Moseneke joined in 1978.
During the week leading up to his funeral service on June 21, 1980, Monageng’s late parents, Louis Mogongwe Mmakou (1924-2007) and Franklina Nobambo Mmakou (1932-2000), along with late Grace Sebokedi (1933-2008), late Dora “Biki” Mashiane (1914-1990), and other family members, went to identify his mutilated remains. His body was then boxed and shipped back home for burial in Temba, Hammanskraal.
On the morning of June 21, 1980, over 1500 mourners attended Monageng Mmakou’s funeral at St. John’s Anglican Church in Temba, Hammanskraal. After a solemn and highly emotional church service, the mourners carried his coffin on their shoulders, singing freedom songs with raised fists, all the way from St. John’s Anglican Church to the nearby Temba Cemetery.
Almost 21 years later, the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) granted amnesty to Dirk Coetzee et al for the murders of Monageng Mmakou and Patrick Nkosi on June 4, 1980, in Manzini, Swaziland.
Glory to the fallen martyrs of our revolution. For they shed their blood selflessly to liberate our land and bring to life the dream of a better future for their people. Your blood has nurtured the freedom of our country.
Robala ka kgotso Monageng Xoliso Mmakou. Lala ngoxolo, Mkhonto.
Disclaimer: The information presented in this article is based on reports from the eyewitness reports, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and has been researched and contributed by Mr Erik Segomotso Phetlhu, a respected scholar and historian who is a resident contributor of Moretele Times and hails from Temba. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the facts presented, readers are advised to independently verify the information and exercise their judgment. The author, publication and Moretele Times do not assume any responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of the information provided in this article.