40 YEARS ON: CALUSA, SIRC & TCOE COMMEMORATE THE LIVES OF BATANDWA NDONDO AND MATTHEW GONIWE

Admin
Sep 22
2 min read

22 September 2025

The Cala University Students Association (CALUSA), together with the Sakhisizwe Information and Research Centre (SIRC) and the Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE), will host a seminar on Wednesday, 24 September 2025, at 09h00 to mark 40 years since the murder of Batandwa Ndondo and Matthew Goniwe.

Themed “A Luta Continua” (The Struggle Continues), the seminar will bring together students, activists, and community members to reflect on the lives of Ndondo and Goniwe, their courage and sacrifice, and the unfinished struggles for democracy, dignity, and justice.

The seminar will be preceded by a Photo Exhibition, opening on Tuesday, 23 September 2025, curated by Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza. The exhibition will showcase Batandwa Ndondo’s life, his funeral, and the aftermath, providing a powerful visual narrative of resistance and remembrance.

Batandwa Ndondo, a student activist from Cala, and Matthew Goniwe, a teacher and community organiser from Cradock, were murdered by the apartheid regime in 1985 as part of its brutal crackdown on dissent. Their deaths, together with Fort Calata and Sparrow Mkhonto of the Cradock Four, came to symbolise the high cost of freedom in South Africa.

Forty years later, South Africa stands at a crossroads. Deepening poverty, rising inequality, endemic corruption, collapsing public services, and unaccountable leadership have eroded the promise of democracy. Communities are confronted daily with exclusion, unemployment, and a growing sense that the promises of 1994 are withering away. Our democracy is under threat.

This commemoration will therefore go beyond remembrance. It will provide a space to grapple with critical questions:

How do we reclaim our country through democratisation from below?

How do we shape the society we want through people-driven alternatives?

How can the vision of activists like Ndondo and Goniwe inspire collective action to rebuild a democratic, just, and inclusive future?

Event Details:

Photo Exhibition Opening: Tuesday, 23 September 2025

Seminar: Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Time: 09h00 – 15h00

Venue: CALUSA Resource Centre, Cala

We call on students, youth, activists, and community members to join these important events — to remember, to reflect, and to recommit to shaping the South Africa that Ndondo, Goniwe, and their comrades gave their lives for.

Issued by:

Cala University Students Association (CALUSA)

Sakhisizwe Information and Research Centre (SIRC)

Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE)

Cell: 078 373 4216

Email: info@calusa.co.za

Join on Zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82510415645?pwd=yQfngxU9yTmV6BohPI842AmJraVyZt.1

Meeting ID: 825 1041 5645

Passcode: 9UrNqC

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