Draft:Sizwe Kondile

Gcinisizwe Sylvester Khwezi Kondile (17 August 1948 - 19 July 1990) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and a member of uMkhonto we Sizwe.

Sizwe Kondile
Born	Gcinisizwe Sylvester Khwezi Kondile (1957-10-06)October 6, 1957 Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Died	August 10, 1981(1981-08-10) (aged 23) Komatipoort, Eastern Transvaal, South Africa
Cause of death	Drugged, abducted, tortured, shot dead and then burnt to ashes by police
Resting place	Spiritually repatriated to Zwide Cemetery, Ibhayi, Eastern Cape
Other names	Tshonyi
Education	Bachelor of Laws
Alma mater	Fort Hare University
Occupation	Freedom fighter
Organization	uMkhonto we Sizwe
Political party	African National Congress
Parents	Dumile Kondile (father) Charity Kondile (mother)
Awards	Order of Mendi for Bravery (2021)

Early life and political activism

He was born Gcinisizwe Sylvester Khwezi Kondile on 6 October 1957. His father, Dumile Kondile, who died at the age of 90 in February 2023, was a prominent lawyer, magistrate in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape and was later appointed as a judge for the Pietermaritzburg High Court, KwaZulu Natal (KZN).

The young Kondile matriculated in KZN, at the Amanzimtoti High School and his childhood friend was Vusi Pikoli, whom with he went to initiation school. The parents of Pikoli and Kondile's were friends and went to the same church. In his 2021 memoir, Pikoli speaks about how as kids Kondile always wished to work for the Ford Motor Company operation's assembly plant in Port Elizabeth.

While students at the Fort Hare University, Kondile and Pikoli were detained for planning a memorial lecture for Steve Biko, a murdered prominent anti-apartheid activist and intellectual, and soon after their release fled South Africa to Lesotho where they joined the African National Congress (ANC) and militarily trained with uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in the 1980s.

In Lesotho, Kondile was considered a confidante of Chris Hani, a popular senior leader of MK, and Hani trusted him with his personal belongings, such as allowing him to use his yellow Datsun Stanza SSS car frequently .

Capture

On 26 June 1981, Kondile used Chris Hani's car - a Datsun Stanza SSS - to go phone his girlfriend. When he battled to find a telephone booth, he drove to Van Rooyen's Gate to try make a call and was arrested by a team of Security Branch led by Colonel Hermanus Du Plessis.