{{Short description|South African activist (1942-1985)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use South African English|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Victoria Mxenge | image = Victoria_Mxenge.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|01|01|df=yes}} | birth_place = King William's Town, Cape Province, Union of South Africa | death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|08|01|1942|01|01|df=yes}} | death_place = Umlazi, Durban, Natal, South Africa | other_names = | occupation = lawyer, nurse | known_for = anti-apartheid activist }}
'''Victoria Nonyamezelo Mxenge''' (1 January 1942, King William's Town, Cape Province – 1 August 1985, Umlazi, Durban, Natal) was a South African anti-apartheid activist; she was trained as a nurse and midwife, and later began practising law.<ref name=SAinfo2005-05-20>{{cite news |url = http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/sustainable/update/vessels170505.htm |title = SA's marine protection vessels |publisher = SAinfo |date = 20 May 2005 |access-date = 4 December 2011 |quote = Victoria Mxenge and her husband Griffiths, both lawyers aligned to the ANC, were killed in Umlazi township in Durban, also by the apartheid government, in the 1980s. |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101130034249/http://southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/sustainable/update/vessels170505.htm |archive-date = 30 November 2010 }}</ref>
Mxenge was murdered in August 1985, gunned down by four black men as she returned from a political meeting. She was killed on her driveway in Umlazi in front of her own children. The men were thought to be part of a government death squad. After her death, more than 1,000 students marched in Durban in protest and were "dispersed by police using dogs and clubs."<ref name="VictoriaMxenge1"/>
==Life==
Mxenge was born in Tamara Village on 1 January 1942 in King William's Town to parents Wilmot Goso and Nobantu Ntebe. Victoria was the oldest of four siblings, two brothers namely Prince and Skhumbuzo and one sister Mandisa. After completing her primary education at Tamara, she went to Forbes Grant Secondary School where she completed the junior certificate (Grade 10). In 1959, she matriculated at Healdtown, Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Province.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge1"/> She trained as a nurse at Victoria Hospital and earned her qualifications in 1964. After she married Griffiths Mxenge, she and her husband moved to Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal).<ref name=":1"/> She took midwifery at King Edward Hospital and worked as a community nurse in Umlazi.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge1"/> In 1965, her husband was convicted under the Suppression of Communism Act and was imprisoned for two years on Robben Island.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/griffiths-mlungisi-mxenge|title=Griffiths Mlungisi Mxenge|date=25 April 2012|website=South African History Online|access-date=8 September 2016}}</ref> During their marriage, her husband faced various government-sanctioned bans and detentions.<ref name=":2"/> She and her husband had two sons, Mbasa and Viwe, and daughter Namhla.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge2"/>
==Work==
After completing a midwifery course at King Edward Hospital, Victoria Mxenge worked as a community nurse at Umlazi Clinic. She then studied law through the University of South Africa. In 1981, some five years after her husband had set up a legal practice she acquired legal qualifications, joined the practice and was subsequently admitted as an attorney.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge3"/> On 19 November 1981, her husband was brutally assassinated by Vlakplaas agents led by Dirk Coetzee in Umlazi township, south of Durban.<ref name=":2"/> He had multiple stab wounds and his body was found near the soccer field in Umlazi and it fell on her to identify his mutilated body at a government mortuary the morning after his murder. It was claimed by police general Dirk Coetzee that her husband was murdered by the African National Congress (ANC), which she vigorously refuted.{{Sfn|Moseneke|2009|p=9}} The ANC issued a public statement from Lusaka decrying his murder and paying tribute to his contribution in the struggle.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge1"/> In 1996, Dirk Coetzee confessed that he led a group that killed Mxenge.
After her husband's murder, Mxenge kept their law practice going. In 1983, she successfully defended students against the confiscation of their results by the Department of Education".<ref name="VictoriaMxenge3"/> She also intervened in cases in which the youth were ill-treated while imprisoned. Mxenge represented families of victims of the Matolo raid and Lesotho raid.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge4"/> Mxenge started a bursary fund in memory of her husband. She became a member of the Release Nelson Mandela Committee (RMC), sat on the executive of the National Organisation of Women (NOW) and the Natal Treasurer of the UDF.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge3"/>
Mxenge was part of the defence team for the United Democratic Front and Natal Indian Congress during the Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial at the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge3"/> In July 1985, she spoke at the funeral of the Cradock Four, Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli. The funeral was attended by over 50,000 mourners. During her speech Mxenge condemned the apartheid government and referred to the murder of the Cradock Four as a "dastardly act of cowardices."<ref name="VictoriaMxenge4"/>
==Murder==
On 1 August 1985, she was "gunned down by four black men" as she returned from a political meeting. She was killed on her driveway in Umlazi in front of her children. The men were thought to be part of a government death squad. After her death, more than 1,000 students marched in Durban in protest and were "dispersed by police using dogs and clubs."<ref name="VictoriaMxenge1"/>
Her funeral which was held on 11 August 1985 in Rayi Village near King William's Town<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetailm.php?nid=22980|title=SAPS | Home|website=Saps.gov.za|access-date=26 February 2020|archive-date=22 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250222015343/https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetailm.php?nid=22980|url-status=dead}}</ref> was attended by 10,000 people, and letters of condolence were received from Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo amongst others.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/victoria-nonyamezelo-mxenge|title=Victoria Nonyamezelo Mxenge|date=17 February 2011|website=South African History Online|access-date=8 September 2016}}</ref> After her funeral, mourners in Duncan Village took to the streets and vandalised public property. This resulted in clashes between the police and residents which left nine people dead and 138 injured.<ref>{{cite web|title=Duncan Village|url=http://sabctrc.saha.org.za/glossary/duncan_village.htm|publisher=Truth Commission - Special Report|access-date=8 August 2013}}</ref>
In 1987, South African magistrates claimed that she had died from "head injuries and had been murdered by person unknown". The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Report on the assassination of Victoria Mxenge documents that Marvin Sefako (alias Bongi Raymond Malinga) was allegedly recruited by the security branch and that Brigadier Peter Swanepoel was his handler. Malinga confessed that he had killed Mxenge.
==Legacy==
In October 2005, the South African Ministry of the Environment launched the third and final {{sclass|Lillian Ngoyi|patrol vessel}}s named '''''Victoria Mxenge''''' in her honor.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge1"/> In 2006, both Victoria Mxenge and her husband were posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli in Silver for excellent contributions to the field of law and sacrifices made in the fight against apartheid in South Africa.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge5">{{cite book | title= Griffiths Mxenge: A fallen hero| url=http://www.saha.org.za/news/2011/November/griffiths_mxenge_a_fallen_hero.htm| access-date=19 October 2017|format=PDF|website=Saha.org}}</ref> The Victoria Mxenge Group of Advocates was officially established on 1 July 2011 and is part of the Johannesburg Society of Advocates.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge2"/> On 20 August 2017, the KwaZulu-Natal government and eThekwini Municipality unveiled statues in honour of Griffiths and Victoria Mxenge in uMlazi, south of Durban.<ref name="VictoriaMxenge6">{{cite book| title=Griffiths and Victoria Mxenge honoured| url=http://www.durban.gov.za/Resource_Centre/new2/Pages/Griffi-ths-and-Victoria-Mxenge-honoured.aspx| website=Durban.gov.za| access-date=19 October 2017| format=PDF| archive-date=19 October 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019220056/http://www.durban.gov.za/Resource_Centre/new2/Pages/Griffi-ths-and-Victoria-Mxenge-honoured.aspx| url-status=dead}}</ref>
==In popular culture==
Victoria Mxenge was mentioned alongside other anti-apartheid activists Steve Biko and Neil Aggett in the 1987 song Asimbonanga by the South African band Savuka, composed by Johnny Clegg and dedicated to Nelson Mandela.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genius.com/Johnny-clegg-asimbonanga-mandela-lyrics|title=Johnny Clegg (Ft. Savuka) – Asimbonanga (Mandela)|access-date=6 April 2022|website=Genius.com}}</ref>
==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|refs= <ref name="VictoriaMxenge1">{{cite book | title= Establishing social consensus on the shifting boundaries between judicial and executive functions of the state-lessons from the recent past| url=http://lectures.mandela.ac.za/lectures/media/Store/documents/Public%20Lectures/Inaugural-Griffiths-And-Victoria-Mxenge-Memorial-Lecture.pdf|website=Lectures.mandela.ac.za| access-date=19 October 2017}}</ref> <ref name="VictoriaMxenge2">{{cite book|title=Victoria Mxenge Group launch: adopting group values|url=http://www.sabar.co.za/law-journals/2012/april/2012-april-vol025-no1-pp31-32.pdf|website=Sabar.co.za|page=31|date=April 2012|access-date=19 October 2017|archive-date=17 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417130728/http://www.sabar.co.za/law-journals/2012/april/2012-april-vol025-no1-pp31-32.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> <ref name="VictoriaMxenge3">{{cite book | title= Victoria Nonyamezelo Mxenge| url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/victoria-nonyamezelo-mxenge| access-date=19 October 2017|format=PDF|website=Sahistory.org.za}}</ref> <ref name="VictoriaMxenge4">{{cite book | title= Victoria Mxenge and the 'act of cowardice'| date=9 August 1985| url=https://mg.co.za/article/1985-08-09-victoria-mxenge-and-the-act-of-cowardice| access-date=19 October 2017|format=PDF|website=Mg.co.za}}</ref> }}
=== Sources ===
* {{Cite book|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/Inaugural-Griffiths-And-Victoria-Mxenge-Memorial-Lecture.pdf|title=Inaugural Griffiths and Victoria Mxenge Memorial Lecture|last=Moseneke|first=Dikgang|publisher=Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University|year=2009}}
==External links== * [http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/bios/mxenge-v.htm South African History article] * [http://www.ru.ac.za/victoriamxengehouse/victoriamxenge/ Rhodes University Biography] * [http://ramaphosa.org.za/victoria-mxenge/ Rhodes University Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307105610/http://ramaphosa.org.za/victoria-mxenge/ |date=7 March 2019 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mxenge, Victoria}} Category:1942 births Category:1985 deaths Category:People murdered in 1985 Category:20th-century South African lawyers Category:20th-century South African women lawyers Category:20th-century nurses Category:Female murder victims Category:People from Qonce Category:Xhosa people Category:South African nurses Category:South African anti-apartheid activists Category:Assassinated South African activists Category:People murdered in South Africa Category:South African midwives Category:Deaths by firearm in South Africa Category:People killed in South African intelligence operations Category:South African women civil rights activists Category:South African civil rights activists