Abram Onkgopotse Tiro

Onkgopotse Tiro (9 November 1945 – 1 February 1974) was a South African student activist and black consciousness militant. He was born in Dinokana, a small village near Zeerust. He was expelled from the University of the North (now known as University of Limpopo) in 1972 for his political activities. At university he had become an active member of the South African Student Organisation, out of which the Black Consciousness Movement grew.

Onkgopotse Tiro
Born
Onkgopotse Abram Tiro

(1945-11-09)9 November 1945
Dinokana, Zeerust, North West, South Africa
Died1 February 1974(1974-02-01) (aged 28)
Botswana
OccupationAnti-apartheid activist

After his expulsion from the then University of the North in 1972, following his scathing critique of the Bantu Education Act of 1953, he went on to teach history at Morris Isaacson High School near and around Central Western Jabavu (CWJ) in Soweto in 1973. Tsietsi Mashinini, who was an integral part of the 1976 student uprising, was one of Tiro's students during the time he taught at Morris Isaacson, and many of his students have recalled his impact on their own politicization during this period of student organization in South African history.[1][2]

Death

Tiro was killed by a parcel bomb in Botswana in 1974.[3]

References
  1. Glaser, Clive (2000). Bo-Tsotsi: the Youth Gangs of Soweto, 1935–1976. James Currey Press. ISBN 978-0-85255-640-5.
  2. Heffernan, Anne (2015). "Black Consciousness' Lost Leader: Abraham Tiro, The University of the North" (PDF). Journal of Southern African Studies. 41 (1): 173–186. doi:10.1080/03057070.2015.991575.
  3. Activist Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, SA History Online


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