Abubaker Seedat recalls the days of the 1976 Alexandra unrest

A 64-year-old local businessman Abubaker Seedat remembers the days of the 1976 Alexandra uprising as it was yesterday.

Speaking at the launch of Japi Vilankulu Foundation, Seedat who was born and raised in Alexandra shared a painful story of Japi Vilankulu’s death when he was shot and killed by the apartheid regime police in 1976. Japi Vilankulu was the first student activist to be shot and killed with live ammunition by the police on 17 June 1976 in what is known as the Alexandra uprising. Seedat said he witnessed the incident which he regards as cruelty and brutality of the apartheid regime police. “As we were waiting for our bus to go to school in 2nd Street, our bus got hijacked by a group of people and was driven away and we had to wait for the second bus. While we were waiting, people started looting in the shops and we ran to the bioscope in 2nd Street to hide. Eventually, the police came and they took us out of the bioscope.

“While we were there, shocked and surprised, a burning bus drove through 2nd Street and we were told it came from 15th Avenue being driven by a youngster. That bus burned to ashes next to the bioscope.

It was the 17th of June 1976 because the Soweto uprising had happened the very first day, the next day the unrest started here in Alexandra. The first person who was shot and killed in the bar was a guy by the name of ‘Tittos’ whom the police found hiding in the toilet with a lot of alcohol he had looted from the bar. The first student who was shot and killed was definitely Japi at the bioscope because he had retaliated as an activist. This was the actual thing I witnessed at my young age during the unrest as it was called.”

According to Seedat, the police used live ammunition to disperse crowds during the first three days of the unrest and only used tear gas on the fourth and last days of the uprising.