The Dark Side of the Liberation Struggle: Memoirs of an MK Combatant

With limited career options, thanks to apartheid policies of exclusion and segregation, Teboho Molotsi worked as a detective for the South African Police (SAP). He resigned in 1978 once he realised that black policemen were acting as puppets and cannon fodder in their defence of the minority racist regime, and were partly responsible for promoting apartheid’s evil laws. While still a police officer, he actively participated in the liberation struggle by hiding and transporting African National Congress (ANC) cadres, organising boycotts and ant-rent campaigns, challenging municipal authorities in the Vaal area and working for the underground structures of the movement,

Little did he know that his own organisation, the ANC, would turn against him, Teboho Molotsi, whose cadre name was Thami Khaya, was first incarcerated on Robben Island by the apartheid regime and later, detained and tortured in Quatro, Angola, by the ANC’s security wing, the Imbokodo. His previous occupation as a police officer led them to believe he was a spy. Surviving an assassination attempt, he was eventually permitted to play his part as an  MK soldier – although his reputation was forever suspect.

The Dark Side of the Liberation Struggle is a vivid account of bravery and fearless dedication to the liberation cause. Despite the false accusations, as his gripping story reveals, this loyal cadre didn’t compromise either his principles or his comrades.