Interview Segment

Roseberry Sonto interviewed by David Bailey
2007 Cape Town, South Africa.
All the things that ... the regime was doing, it was just encouraging us... You would be arrested and come back a hero. [1:33]

Sonto was in and out of prison many times during the early 1980s.

Mzunani Roseberry Sonto grew up in the reserves on the outskirts of Queenstown in the Eastern Cape. In 1969, as a high school student he was the first chairperson of the Moltino African Cultural Youth Association. In the early 1980s, now living in Cape Town, Sonto became president of the Cape Youth Congress, and he helped mobilize support among the youth for the United Democratic Front. He worked closely with the ANC, although it still was an illegal organization. He was part of the delegation that met with Nelson Mandela the day before his release. Santo is now a member of Parliament.

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