OBITUARY: FRANS MASANGO (1958-2009)
“We dip our revolutionary banner in honour of this distinguished cadre and a selfless combatant who sacrificed immensely to the democratic order we live in today..” The African National Congress (ANC) statement.
Frans (Ting-Ting) Masango, a former guerrilla activist who was sentenced to death by the Apartheid regime died in Pretoria on September 18, 2009 of complication of diabetes.
Frans Masango had participated in Soweto uprising and later became a part of ANC underground military unit. He was captured in 1986 along with Jabu Masino, Neo Potsane, and Joseph Makhura and the four were held in solitary confinement for many months before being brought to trial in a small town near Johannesburg. They were what came to be known as the Delmas Four. They refused to recognize the authority of the court and wore full combat gear in defiance of their sentencing. They were sentenced to death in 1989. Frans Masango was sent to Robben island, the prison that held Nelson Mandela. The Delmas four were released in 1991 after the ban on ANC was lifted. An account of their experience has become an award-winning book in South Africa.
(The Associated Press; Globe and Mail, September 22, 2009: Abridged)