Oupa Gqozo
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Joshua Oupa Gqozo (10 March 1952 - ) was a Ciskei military ruler. Gqozo is married to Corinthian Nomziwakhe and they have four children. He is currently living in a dilapidated house on his farm, 13 km from King William’s Town, which he held onto despite Judge Willem Heath's probe into the Ciskei government land deals.
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[edit] Early life
Oupa Gqozo was born in Kroonstad on 10 March 1952 to a religious minister. He was sent away at a young age to stay with a relative living in Witgatboom in Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province). There he completed his primary education at Seabe Community School. Gqozo returned to Kroonstad where he attended the Phomolong Junior and Bodibeng Senior High School. He dropped out of school in 1972 and went to work as a warder at Kroonstad prison. He later matriculated through correspondence in 1975.
[edit] Military career
The Prisons Department sent Gqozo to study at the Baviaanspoort Training College and upon completion he worked at Klerksdorp prison. He joined the South African Defence Force (SADF) and worked as a soldier and chief clerk of 21 Battalion based in Lenasia, Johannesburg.
[edit] Ciskei
The Ciskei Defence Force (CDF) was established during March 1981 from 141 Battalion of the SADF as part of 21 Battalion. Gqozo was moved from the SADF to the CDF as part of the officer core. On 4 December 1981, Ciskei was granted nominal independence from South Africa and became a Bantustan with Lennox Sebe as president.
In 1983, Sebe's brother, Lieutenant General Charles Sebe, head of Ciskei's intelligence service, attempted a coup. He was arrested but later in 1986 he escaped from prison and made his way to nearby Transkei. Charles, in 1987, orchestrated the kidnapping of Lennox Sebe's son Kwame.
During this time Colonel Oupa Gqozo was sent to Pretoria as military attaché. He became a brigadier on 1 April, 1988. Brigadier Gqozo returned to Ciskei as Chief of Staff Intelligence during December 1989. In January 1990, Gqozo completed his term of duty and was honoured with the Order of Good Hope.
On 4 March, 1990, he staged his own coup in Ciskei in the absence of Lennox Sebe who was on state visit to Hong Kong. Kwame Sebe was also planning to stage a coup, but failed to get it off the ground and was kept in military custody together with other government officials. In November of the same year, another coup planned by Colonel Guzana and former military council member Major Peter Howsa was stopped. Again in February 1991, another coup was attempted, this time by the head of Ciskei’s Defence Force, Brigadier Aaron Jamangile.
In mid-1991 Gqozo formed the African Democratic Movement to counter the influence of the African National Congress in the region. In December of that year, he formed part of the delegation at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) to discuss South Africa's new political dispensation. In March 1992 Gqozo accused the African National Congress of planning to remove him from power in Ciskei.
[edit] Bisho massacre
In August 1992 he tried to prevent the African National Congress marchers from King Williams Town entering Ciskei. "On 7 September 1992, this small town became the scene of what is known as the Bisho Massacre, when about 100 000 people marched on Bisho protesting for the removal of Ciskei leader Brigadier Oupa Gqozo. The Ciskei Defence Force opened fire, shooting dead 29 civilians. The massacre came at a critical time and threatened to halt negotiations towards democracy. "
However the march of about 80,000 people led by South African Communist Party General Secretary Chris Hani, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Harry Gwala took place on 7 September 1992. When Ronnie Kasrils led a group in trying to break through the Ciskei Defence Force lines to enter Bisho stadium, the soldiers opened fire on marchers, killing 29 people and injuring over 200.
On 13 December, 1993, Brigadier Oupa Gqozo, together with Sergeant-Major Thozamile Veliti, was acquitted of the murder of Charles Sebe by the Ciskei Supreme Court.
[edit] Resignation as leader of Ciskei
On 22 March, 1994 Gqozo contacted the South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha and resigned as leader of Ciskei. The Transitional Executive Council appointed two administrators to govern Ciskei until the first democratic elections.
[edit] Present
Since the advent of democracy, Gqozo’s life has turned into a misery. In 1996, before he could appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Bisho massacre in 1992, he was admitted to a psychiatric ward after suffering from depression. In 1998 he was convicted and fined R10,000 for illicit diamond trafficking.
Gqozo sustained bullet wounds to his head and back while trying to protect traditional healer Keke “Gonondo” Mama in Middledrift in 2001. Mr. Mama died in hospital after the shooting. It was believed that Gqozo was Mr. Mama’s bodyguard – a job he took after his finances took a nosedive.
He was hospitalised again after burning his hands and face. This time he had mistakenly refilled a heater with petrol instead of paraffin which burst into flames. The fire caused an estimated R60,000 damage to his farmhouse, outside King William’s Town.
