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Gert Shedrack Sibande (1901 near Ermelo, Mpumalanga – 1987; also known as Lion of the East) was a farm worker and anti-apartheid political activist. He was one of the ANC co-accused to stand trial in the treason trial of 1956-61 alongside Nelson Mandela and 154 others.
Sibande played a critical role in the Potato Boycott of 1959.
The Gert Sibande district in Mpumalanga province of South Africa is named after him. He was born in the district and spent a large part of his life there.
He was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli in Gold for his exceptional contributions to the improvement of farm workers’ working conditions and his efforts towards a non-racial, just, and democratic South Africa.
Sibande collaborated with the renowned Henry Nxumalo of Drum magazine, assisting in the publication of articles that revealed the exploitative conditions of farm workers to the world.The findings were published in the New Age. The Guardian released a second article related to Gert Sibande's findings on 25 December 1947.Christopher Webb (2015) Fighting talk: Ruth First's early journalism 1947–1950, Review of African Political Economy, 42:143, 7-21, DOI:10.1080/03056244.2014.988697 Accessed 19 July 2017 Drum Magazine released a similar article in 1952, the journalist Henry Nxumalo and photographer Jurgen Schoodeberg played an active role in documenting the conditions of potato farm labourers in Bethal. This article received national and international attention however, the reports were dismissed by the Minister of Native affairs, Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd in Parliament. He was deported from Bethal by authorities in 1953 due to his political activism. He later moved to Swaziland where he assisted the ANC military wing uMkhonto we Sizwe. In 1959, twelve years after Gert Sibande revealed the labourers conditions, the ANC reported similar conditions in maize and other potato farms.http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/gert-sibande Accessed 20 July 2017 He was an active participant of the defiance campaign, the campaign against Bantu education and also helped draft the Freedom Charter. He worked closely with Chief Albert Luthuli, Moses Kotane and Moses Mabhida.Address By ANC President Jacob Zuma at the Gert Sibande Memorial Lecture. 23 September 2008, Johannes Stegnan Theatre Secunda, Mpumalanga http://www.anc.org.za/content/address-anc-president-jacob-zuma-gert-sibande-memorial-lecture Accessed 18 July 2017 He was a member of the National Executive Council of the ANC and during his term of leadership, was accused in the Treason Trial of 1956-1961. He was one of the few accused that took the witness stand during the trial. He was elected to be the provincial president of the Transvaal ANC in 1958 and again re-elected in 1959. He died in Swaziland in 1987. He was buried in Manzini in central Swaziland.http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/gert-sibande Accessed 19 July 2017
After the Treason Trial, Sibande was forced to stay in Komatipoort near the border with Swaziland and Mozambique. In 1962, he crossed into Swaziland and later purchased a tractor and used it to provide plowing services in Swaziland, where he spent many years living in exile. He died in 1987, in Manzini, Swaziland.
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