In Memory (07/12/1950 -15/02/2023)
Orlando East Community Hall – 26 February 2023
By Mbulelo Ketye
Like the biblical Paul, Peter Cyril Jones, fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith guided by a nation-building philosophy (of) Black Consciousness that not only rehumanises the dehumanised, but also delivers them from evil demons that would have blacks believe they are children of a lesser God.
The finishing point of Peter Jones’ race can best be explained in my home language - isiXhosa xa ithi: “Umzamo omhle ndiwuzamile, ugqatso ndilufezile, ukholo ndilugcinile.”
In this instance his faith was Black Consciousness (BC) and the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO) which he not only led but also served with unacclaimed distinction.
When the black liberation theology turned the tables to overthrow the heresy that deemed black people children of a lesser God, Peter Jones was there leading from the front.
Even though his name was familiar, I first met Peter Jones in 1984. He was a guest speaker at the annual general meeting of AZAPO in PE now Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.
Brought up in the BC movement his name was familiar as early as my school-going years in the 1970s.
In 1977 we were mobilised for a meeting to meet two prominent people. The two were Steve Biko and Peter Jones. The meeting was rescheduled for another time.
Upon our arrest as students in October 1977 when we were arrested as students and kept at Algoa Police Station, lo and behold it was discovered that the cell next door was that of Peter Jones.
The roar and the hullabaloo reverberated across the police station with excitement to find that Peter Jones was alive and kicking because the system and its security apparatus had kept silent about his whereabouts. And the death of Biko had caused such anxiety to know what became of Peter Jones.
On reading two books released years later, one entitled Steve Biko (A Jacana Pocket biography) by Lindy Wilson and another entitled The Tall Assassin by Alan Elsdon, concerns about Peter Jones’ whereabouts were excruciatingly justifiable.
In the book by Wilson, Peter described his interrogation in gory terms. He writes that the day after they were arrested, they were handcuffed and taken to the sixth floor of security police headquarters – SANLAM building, in then Port Elizabeth town.
His interrogation took more than 20 hours. He was made to sit naked on a chair with his left hand chained to the chair. In front of him sat two white policemen namely Snyman and Siebert.
On the desk in front of them was a length of green hosepipe filled with something metallic. It is this pipe among other things that was used to inflict injury and humiliation to the beloved comrade.
Jones captures his beating in a dramatic fashion: ”Every time I tried to defend my head with my hands the pipes would move to the back, the kidney area, or attack the hands. I found it impossible to cope with all the immense pain and I turned and faced the wall and, closing my eyes, began hoping for oblivion, which never came, as blows rained down on my head and back.”
After reading this chapter about PC Jones experience it was not difficult to understand when in the film, The Spirit Lives, he said “there was not a part in my body that was (not) in pain.”
Steve Biko did not live to tell the tale. Biko’s story is in the documents and interrogation during the inquest at Pretoria synagogue.
In the The Tall Assassin, his interrogation is told in a manner that breaks the heart. It is in this book that it is confirmed that they “tested his head against the wall.
Back to Daku Hall at the AGM where Peter was the guest speaker, his presence added weight of dignity to the gathering. The hall was bursting at the seams. The mere presence of ordinary people was so humbling. It was very clear, in our minds, it was Peter Jones who had brought them.
Just after lunch, on that day, two prominent United Democratic Front (UDF) youth leaders came into the hall leading a group of between 15 to 20 children of 14 to 15 years of age with intentions to disrupt our meeting.
They did get their way to achieving this ending up standing along the wall to be part of the meeting.
Then came Peter Jones’ time to deliver his address. The podium had the honoured presence of an esteemed figure, with a high- held clenched fist as he made his salutations.
With his eyes focused on would-be UDF disrupters, he then with a great voice said “UDF IS A BUBBLE THAT WILL BURST ON ITS OWN.” He ripped a standing ovation. The two young activists of the UDF were already on their feet to act otherwise. The message in Peter Jones speech was not of a kind to be met with disruptive intent.
Peter Jones was a friendly humble person. He once travelled from Cape Town with a brand new Opel Monza, when it was just released into the market, to Port Elizabeth just to show his car to his comrade the late Ngcobo Nguna.
Jones had developed a good rapport with Nguna and Fezile Tshume the secretary.
When asked by Ngcobo why he was in PE, he replied: I came to show the car to my comrades .
He then invited Ngcobo and his wife to Cape Town and hosted them. For Ngcobo, who was a newlywed, the visit was a special honeymoon paid for by Peter Jones.
Later when attending one of the National Councils of AZAPO we met Jones, Ngcobo asked him about his Opel Monza. Jones’ response was in the past tense: “Ag no comrade the car was just too fast, I accidentally drove it straight to the wall and (it) was damaged beyond repair.”
In Gugulethu in Cape Town one of our comrades tells a story of how he and his siblings school fees were paid for until Matric because their parents were both unemployed. To this day the comrades are grateful to comrade Jones for the opportunity to further his studies.
It would be amiss if I don’t highlight the stories of two AZANLA members who were deployed in the Western Cape from Harare, Zimbabwe. The comfort they received from Peter Jones is unforgettable. The one comrade is popularly known as “Mshini Wam” who tells of the support and comfort he got from Peter Jones. Today he is married with children and a house in the Western Cape.
Peter Jones had a passion for community development. This comes through Winn’s paper when paying tribute to Steve Biko at the Nelson Mandela University on the 11 September 2013.
In his paper he gives what he called three case studies. The first is The Shack Dwellers Movement-(Abahlali baseMjondolo). The second is Subsistence Fisher Communities (Masifundise Development Organisation) founded after the banning of 18 BC organisations on October 19, 1977. Led by Nontobeko Moletsane, the third one is, An Integrated Village Renewal Programme (Is’Baya Development Trust).
Now that he has physically left from our midst, the question is “What then after his death?”.
From an AZANLAMVA perspective the right thing to do is to pick up the cudgels. We owe that to Peter Jones and all Black people who suffered and died under colonial oppression and now neo colonial oppression.
As I conclude it is worth reminding the country how Peter Jones became to be known as, “the last Black man to see Steve Biko alive.”
It was the press statement released by the secretary of the PE branch of AZAPO, the late comrade Fezile Tshume, in inviting Peter Jones to our AGM in 1984. The statement was carried by the morning paper in PE, The Herald and the Evening Post. The gesture stuck with PC to the last and possibly forever. The statement was a form of an appraisal, an appreciation of this Black Man who in the face of brutality that they were practically facing in the hands of the evil SA security white police.
This gesture is so fitting for PC because in telling his story in the book I quoted herein he has a sentence about his friend and comrade whom he refers (to as follows: “That was the last time I was to see my close comrade ever - Alive or dead.”
A quote from last Black People’s Convention President Hlaku Rachidi in his eulogy at the burial of Steve Biko in Ginsberg on September 25, 1977, serves a parting shot: “We vow to carry the yoke you helped us shoulder.”
The words are indeed also relevant to comrade Peter Jones as close this chapter of his life. Amandla!
*Mbulelo Ketye is the secretry-general of Azanla Military Veterans' Association.
