Abram Onkgopotse Tiro

Onkgopotse Tiro
Born
Onkgopotse Abram Tiro

(1945-11-09)9 November 1945
Dinokana, Zeerust, North West, South Africa
Died1 February 1974(1974-02-01) (aged 28)
Botswana
OccupationAnti-apartheid activist

Onkgopotse Tiro (9 November 1945 – 1 February 1974) was a South African student activist and black consciousness militant. He was born in Dinokana, a small village near Zeerust. He was expelled from the University of the North (now known as University of Limpopo) in 1972 for his political activities. At university he had become an active member of the South African Student Organisation, out of which the Black Consciousness Movement grew.

After his expulsion from the then University of the North in 1972, following his scathing critique of the Bantu Education Act of 1953, he went on to teach history at Morris Isaacson High School near and around Central Western Jabavu (CWJ) in Soweto in 1973. Tsietsi Mashinini, who was an integral part of the 1976 student uprising, was one the students during the time he taught at Morris Isaacson, and many of his students have recalled his impact on their own politicisation during this period of student organisation in South African history.[1][2]

  1. ^ Glaser, Clive (2000). Bo-Tsotsi: the Youth Gangs of Soweto, 1935–1976. James Currey Press. ISBN 978-0-85255-640-5.
  2. ^ Heffernan, Anne (2015). "Black Consciousness' Lost Leader: Abraham Tiro, The University of the North" (PDF). Journal of Southern African Studies. 41 (1): 173–186. doi:10.1080/03057070.2015.991575. S2CID 143911349.