Elias Motsoaledi

Elias Motsoaledi (26 July 1924 – 9 May 1994) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and one of the eight men sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial. The Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality in Limpopo province was named for him.

Elias Motsoaledi was born on 26 July 1924, the third of eight children, in Phokoane in the Nebo District in Sekhukuneland, now Limpopo. He moved to Johannesburg at the age of 17 in search of work. His first brush with the law in Johannesburg was his arrest for failure to produce his pass book – he was sentenced to work on the construction of a road in Pretoria. Upon his release he got a job in a furniture factory. He married Caroline and they had seven children: Leshoro, Sethololo, Mphoreng, Lithogoaneng, Nape, Malope and Kokoi.

Motsoaledi soon became involved with trade unions. He joined the Leather Workers' Union, served on the Committee of Non-European Trade Unions, and later played an active role in the establishment of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (COSATU).

He met David Modibane, who since 1940 been an organiser for the South African Clothing Workers Union, which later became the Clothing Workers Union (SA). Mr Modibane lived on Ndabezitha Street in Mzimhlope, three streets from Elias Motsoaledi. During the Robben Island years Mrs Motsoaledi and Mrs Modibane continued to be friends and senior members of the Mzimhlope community until they passed away on 30 July 2009. They both worked in the clothing and textile industry in Johannesburg until retirement. Mr Modibane sent his documents leading up to the Rivonia Trial to our uncle in Bethanie outside Brits, where they were burnt to destroy evidence. Mrs Motsoaledi also recalls that her family also burnt several documents during this period.

A lifelong member of the South African Communist Party and the ANC, he played a central role in many campaigns, including the Defiance Campaign of 1952, the year he was first banned. He joined the ANC in 1948, and in June he was elected as a branch secretary. Detained during the 1960 State of Emergency, he was imprisoned for four months. When he was released, he went underground and worked for Umkhonto we Sizwe. After 26 years on Robben Island, Motsoaledi was elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC. Mzimhlope Rivonia Trail

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