| Intro | South African revolutionary |
| Was | Revolutionary |
| From | South Africa |
| Type |
Activism Military |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 1949 |
| Death |
1993 (aged 44 years) |
| Politics | Pan Africanist Congress of Azania |
Sabelo Phama [born Victor Gqwetha] (c.1949 – 9 February 1994) was born in Mthatha at Bhaziya Location. He was a South African revolutionary.
Career
Phama joined the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and later became chief commander of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA). In 1993, as APLA’s chief commander, Phama declared that he “would aim his guns at children “to hurt whites where it hurts most”. Phama proclaimed 1993 as “The Year of the Great Storm” and sanctioned the attacks on civilians, including:
- King William’s Town Golf Club on 28 November 1992, in which four were killed.
- Saint James Church massacre in Kenilworth on 25 July 1993, killing 11 people during a church service.
- Heidelberg Tavern Massacre in Observatory on 31 December 1993, killing four.
- Mdantsane on 11 March 1994, killing three Iranians for being ‘white’. APLA took responsibility for the attacks, stating that: “The men were shot to show there is no role in the new South Africa for any one of the race that invented apartheid or suppressed the black masses.”
In total thirty-two applications were received for attacks on civilians. In these incidents, 24 people were killed and 122 seriously injured.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has presently charged that PAC-sanctioned action directed towards white South Africans were “gross violations of human rights for which the PAC and APLA leadership are held to be morally and politically responsible and accountable”.
Death
Phama died in 9 February 1994, in a c in a mysterious car crash in the West Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on enroute to Zimbabwe, on his way back to South Africa. His funeral was how’re by apartheid government and held in his home Baziya. He was survived by his parents, his wife Dudu and two sons.