TY - JOUR AU - Dlamuka, Mxolisi PY - 2021/12/31 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Understanding Harry Gwala’s radicalisation, armed struggle and trials, between 1960 and 1980 JF - Southern African Humanities JA - SA Humanities VL - 34 IS - SE - DO - UR - https://sahumanities.org/index.php/sah/article/view/457 SP - 137–174 AB - <p>Themba Harry Gwala, born on 30 July 1920, is remembered as a militant politician and hardliner, and is<br />often referred to as the ‘Lion of the Midlands’. This article contextualises his politics, and traces the shift<br />from radicalism to militancy. I argue that Gwala was forced to shift towards militancy by the political<br />conditions of state repression during the late 1950s and early 1960s. By examining the 1961, 1964 and<br />1976 state prosecutions of Gwala, this article demonstrates how the state used the trial processes of the<br />South African courts and the judiciary as a mechanism of repression. At the same time, Gwala, like many<br />liberation fighters, used the very same courts as a platform for the liberation struggle. Gwala died on 20<br />June 1995 at the age of 75.</p> ER -