'Hotstix' Mabuse: recalling June 16
Lucille Davie
15 June 2006In the turbulent aftermath of the Soweto student uprising of 16 June 1976, acclaimed South African musician Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse and his band The Beaters helped smuggle youngsters into exile to join the liberation struggle, hidden in amplifier cases and drum kits.
Mabuse has been something of a superstar on the local music scene for 40 years. Only 25 years old in 1976, his trade helped him survive that restless time, a year of violence that changed the course of South African history. "My profile as a musician made it difficult to assess my position," he says.
He remembers being stopped by the police the day after the uprising began. He was carrying a flute, which the cops thought was a gun. One officer hit him with a truncheon, but another intervened, saying: "Los hom, hy's 'n musikant. (Leave him, he's a musician.)"
Mabuse says the cops were "just as fearful as everybody else". He recounts another incident with a cop, who was surrounded by a group of about 200 angry people. "They ordered him to take off his hat." Losing his cap would mean symbolically losing his status. The cop did as he was told, and released - without the cap. "They then took the cap and burned it," Mabuse says.
Born in 1951, Mabuse grew up and still lives in Soweto. He started playing drums at the age of eight, and by 15 was a professional musician. He has performed in almost every southern African country, and has toured the US, the UK, France, Germany and Italy. He is comfortable on the drums, sax and flute, the flute being his favourite instrument.
He has a broad range of musical styles - dance, reggae, jazz, mbaqanga, kwela and gospel - and has collaborated with Gloria Bosman, Jimmy Dludlu, Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba.
When the firing started
Mabuse remembers 16 June well. On that day he had gone to collect his laundry from an old woman near Orlando West High School. "I was
exposed to a groundswell of people singing and chanting."
Intrigued, he hung around, then saw the kwela-kwela - the cops. He followed the police vans, and heard them ordering a crowd on the hilltop in Vilakazi Street to disperse in five minutes. But the crowd moved towards the police, surrounding them.
"They charged towards the police, who were taken by surprise - here were people taking them on." That's when the firing started, says Mabuse.
He remembers his brother's friend had a red BMW, and they used it to ferry wounded schoolchildren to hospital. "We lost count of how many we took to hospital."
He and his family were not harassed by the police, although that didn't mean they weren't politically aware.
His parents were active members of the ANC in the 1960s, participating in rallies and pass burnings. He and his peers knew university students who were conscientised. "We were very much aware of the Pan Africanist Congress and Black Consciousness movements."
Hotstix and Harare
Later, when he and The Beaters toured Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana, they came across the exiles, the young men and women who had fled South Africa after the uprising, often as a result of police harassment.
After Zimbabwean independence in 1980 they decided to rename the band Harare - the new name of the capital, Salisbury.
Mabuse and the band worked together for 20 years, until the inevitable jealousies got in the way. "We began as friends and went through hard times together, pursuing the same goals, but we outlived ourselves," he says.
Mabuse believes 16 June was a major victory for black South Africans, reawakening the spirit of resistance. "Most people were fearful of the system - the Nationalist government had cowed them into submission." After 1960s imprisonment of ANC leaders there had been a "very big lull", which 1976 brought to a tumultuous end.
Mabuse is still involved today, having been asked to write music for events and documentaries marking the 30th anniversary of the uprising. He says he will make the music "as real as possible" to reflect how he felt when the shooting started.
Source: City of Johannesburg
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