Nkosinathi Fihla interviewed by David Wiley May 12, 2006 Cape Town, South Africa.
"In some of the churches, we used to have very big rallies; the police would come and put in tear gas ..." [2:02]
Nkosinathi Fihla explained the role some progressive churches played, particularly in the Eastern Cape, during the turbulence of the 1980s, providing space for rallies and funerals of people killed by police.
Nkosinathi (Ben) Fihla was born in 1932 and lived in New Brighton, an African township of Port Elizabeth. Port Elizabeth was a stronghold of the African National Congress, and Fihla became active with the organization, joining the ANC Youth League, which was banned in 1960. After that, he helped organized the armed struggle underground in the Eastern Cape while he taught cricket and traveled to ballroom dancing competitions in his public life. Fihla is now a member of Parliament.
