South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid

Interview Segment

Roseberry Sonto interviewed by David Bailey
2007 Cape Town, South Africa.


"Fortunately, 1976 came as a gift of liberation I would say... It reopened up everything that was beginning to rot in me." [3:03]

In 1976, when Sonto was in Cape Town, the Soweto Uprising opened up lots of political actions. He began working with people in the ANC underground.

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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