Luthando Dyasop — Survivor, Activist, Author, Passionate South African
With Luthando Dyasop — Survivor, Activist, Author, Passionate South African
In short
Luthando Dyasop tells how a young artist barred from studying architecture under apartheid ended up in uMkhonto we Sizwe, fighting Angola's war, then imprisoned and tortured in the ANC's Quatro camp after calling for a national conference and intra-party democracy. His memoir, Out of Quatro, records comrades who died and the democracy he says the ANC still lacks. The one takeaway: Apartheid's exclusion of black students from architecture pushed Dyasop out of formal education and into politics he had never intended to enter.
How did politics end up shaping his life when he only wanted to be an artist?
He had a gift for art and later fell in love with architecture, but under apartheid architecture was not a faculty open to black people, only white people. That barrier pulled him into politics unintentionally, left him disillusioned with the education on offer, and led him to drop out of school and educate himself at the library.
How did he come to join uMkhonto we Sizwe?
Listening to Radio Freedom with friends, he learned that MK, the ANC's military wing, existed and wanted to be part of it. In 1977 going into exile was difficult and required connections. He eventually left on his own in 1980, joined MK in Lesotho, and went to Angola for training, starting on 17 December 1981.
What was he hoping for when he left South Africa?
He was idealistic and optimistic, imagining that when the ANC came to power the shacks, the matchbox houses and the dirty hostels would be gone and people would have better living standards. The Freedom Charter, he says, enshrined all those hopes, so everything looked rosy. There were warning signs in Lesotho, but they were not taken seriously.
When did things start to go wrong inside the camps?
When the criticism and self-criticism meetings were stopped. Those meetings had let members voice discontent in good spirit, and mattered because MK cadres were taught they were politicians first. After they were cancelled in a hostile way, people began being taken away secretly, said to be enemy agents sent to Quatro, and the open atmosphere disappeared.
Why were MK cadres sent to fight in Angola instead of inside South Africa?
After training in an anti-aircraft ground-to-air missile course, his group was told they would go to the eastern front for about three months before an insurrection inside South Africa. They became disillusioned because Angolans resented their presence and thought they were only keen on killing their own people, and MK suffered heavy casualties, 26 men dying in one ambush.
What were the mutineers actually demanding?
An elective national conference and accountability from ANC security. They wanted the security structures dissolved and answers about what happened at Quatro, and noted there had been no elective national conference since 1969. They insisted this did not mean they disliked the existing leaders, only that the constitution provided for conferences and the organisation was stagnating.
What happened on 12 February 1984?
A raid was organised by ANC leaders using Angolan FAPLA forces to crush the mutineers. Only one man, who must have woken late, was killed. The attackers had encircled the camp without realising they were themselves encircled. Trapped in a trench twenty metres behind them, Dyasop fired his bazooka at an armoured personnel carrier, destroying it and killing the driver.
How was he tricked into being taken to Quatro?
Another cadre had boasted of destroying the APC and was sent to the national prison in Luanda, so Dyasop knew his turn would come. Told he was being taken to the front, then that they were collecting another man en route, he was instead ordered out of the van on a bush road, tied, kicked and hidden under piles of newspapers past Angolan checkpoints.
What was Quatro actually like?
He lost a tooth being beaten between the van and the office on arrival, then spent two months in isolation. Prisoners were stripped of their MK names, told their only rights were to be beaten and to work hard, never told why they were there or when they would leave, and guards competed over who could beat them hardest.
Does he still have hope for South Africa and the ANC?
Yes for the country, which he says was always the first priority, though it will take hard work. He believes people's grievances about unfulfilled promises have substance, that power sits with a few rather than the people, and that ANC renewal means returning to participatory membership democracy with the power to recall non-performers.
In their words
architecture was not a faculty for Black people, it was only for white people and that's when now I find myself involved in politics in a way which I hadn't intended to do
we were taught that we are first politicians and we are not just any soldier who's being armed without any political glue
you have no rights here, your right is to be beaten, your right is to work hard
it's like it's like you have come to the end of your journey in life and they every day you wait for the time when somebody comes in and just beats you with no reason
it is high time we we took the power back into our hands and made those in power accountable to us
Key takeaways
- Apartheid's exclusion of black students from architecture pushed Dyasop out of formal education and into politics he had never intended to enter.
- The ending of criticism and self-criticism meetings, and the secret removal of cadres accused of being enemy agents, marked the point at which camp life turned fearful.
- The 1984 mutiny grew out of demands for an elective national conference and for ANC security to be accountable, not out of hostility to individual leaders.
- The 12 February 1984 raid on the mutineers was carried out by Angolan forces on the orders of ANC leaders, which Dyasop experienced as betrayal by his own side.
- Quatro stripped prisoners of names, rights and any knowledge of their sentence, and on release detainees were made to sign undertakings never to speak about it on pain of death.
- Dyasop argues the ANC adopted Soviet-style centralised democracy rather than intra-party democracy, and that this absence of accountability is a problem for other South African parties too.
Show notes
On this episode I chat with Luthando about his journey from being a young boy full of hope and aspirations to his ending up in the infamous detention camp known as Quatro. This is a true account of his journey and how he was able to overcome the adversity in his life.
Luthando Dyasop’s memoir starts with an account of his young life as a black artist in apartheid South Africa. He eventually joins uMkhonto we Sizwe, the banned ANC’s military wing.
Soon he falls out of favour with the powers that be and is sent to the Quatro detention centre. After years of torture, he is eventually released, when he begins his battle for vindication.
Out of Quatro is a story not only about Dyasop’s extraordinary life, but also about a tumultuous time in ANC history.
https://www.nb.co.za/en/view-book?id=9780795710421
https://davidwattsblog.com
Frequently asked questions
Why did he tell fellow cadres that he, not the other man, had destroyed the APC?
Another cadre had boasted about it and was sent to prison in Angola in his place. Dyasop wanted those around him to know the truth, and to understand that if he disappeared he had not gone to the front but to prison or Quatro.
Why did it take him so long to write the book?
On leaving Quatro detainees were forced to sign that they would never talk about it or face a death sentence or firing squad. He describes writing the memoir as a way of counselling himself, since they never had counselling.
Why did MK cadres withdraw from the Angolan war?
The Angolans they were helping resented their presence and believed they were only keen on killing their own people, while MK took casualties. After 26 cadres and some Angolans died in an ambush, they pressed the leadership to pull them out.
What does he mean by intra-party democracy?
Members choosing and being able to recall their own leaders, with leaders accountable to the membership and the public rather than the other way round. He argues this would help curtail corruption, and that its absence is not unique to the ANC.
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