Gugulethu
Gugulethu or Guguletu is a township 15 km from Cape Town, South Africa. Though much more tranquil than it was under apartheid, Gugulethu is still a troubled area.
Geography
The main route, Steve Biko Drive (formerly known as NY1), runs through the township. The town planners did not give names to any of the roads, all were simply numbered. NY1 stood for "Native Yard 1", Gugulethu at the time not having been named as such and being considered simply as an extension of the adjoining township of Nyanga. There has been strong pressure for the NY terminology to be dropped and for the streets to be renamed. This resulted in the City of Cape Town renaming NY1 as Steve Biko Drive in September 2012. The renaming process continues and the City recently announced that streets will be named after, amongst others, Albert Luthuli, Amy Biehl, Ray Alexander and the "Gugulethu Seven" (the latter being a group who were fatally ambushed by security police in Gugulethu in 1986).Currently all the streets have new names but the NY terminology is still predominant as residents are used to it.
The Gugulethu Seven
The Gugulethu Seven was an anti-apartheid group of men between the ages of 16 and 23 that were shot and killed on 3 March 1986 by members of the South African Police force. The seven men included Mandla Simon Mxinwa, Zanisile Zenith Mjobo, Zola Alfred Swelani, Godfrey Jabulani Miya, Christopher Piet, Themba Mlifi and Zabonke John Konile. It was later uncovered that the police operation that unearthed the Gugulethu Seven's plans, had been in the works for some time.
Leading Up to the Incident
In the mid 1980s, there was a rise in Umkhonto we Sizwe or MK operatives, the 1961-founded, armed wing of the ANC. In response, General Griebenouw of the Western Cape Security called upon Brigadier Schoon of the Security Branch Headquarters in Pretoria as well as the assistance of the Vlakplaas, a government death squad. Vlakplaas commander, Eugene de Kock chose Rian Bellingan to lead an operative team ordered to intervene with anti-apartheid operations. The men chosen as part of the team were Thapelo Johannes Mbelo, Joe Coetzer, and other Vlakplaas askaris like Gladstone Moss, Eric 'Shakes' Maluleke and Jimmy Mbane.
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