The burial of Canon J.A. Calata and the revival of mass-based opposition in Cradock, South Africa, 1983

Abstract

The funeral took place on a chilly afternoon in late June 1983, in the tiny rural Eastern Cape town of Cradock. The mourners, some five thousand of them, stood in cutting, dusty, dry wind, in the public square of Cradock's dilapidated African township, a township ironically called Lingelihle, or "good effort" in isiXhosa. The eulogies for the great man began to roll forth: shepherd of his people; an African Moses; a committed Christian; a skilled and tireless politician; a man to be cherished for the ages.