PARCEL OF DEATH, the biography of Onkgopotse Abram Tiro

244pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Johannesburg, 2019

Anti-apartheid activist Onkgopotse Abram Tiro was born in 1945 in Dinokana, a small village in North West Province. In 1972, while studying at the University of the North (now known as University of Limpopo) he made a speech condemning the 1953 Bantu Education Act, for which he was expelled. While teaching history at Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto he introduced his pupils to the philosophy of Black Consciousness and encouraged them to question the content of the history books prescribed by the Department of Bantu Education. After six months, the apartheid government put pressure on the Principal to fire him. He began travelling around southern Africa gathering support for the Black Consciousness Movement and played a leading role in the Southern African Student Movement and the South African Student Organisation. When he discovered that he was about to be arrested he fled to Botswana, where he was killed by a parcel bomb in February 1974.

"A biography of Onkgopotse Tiro, who was at once a catalyst and an active change agent in the South African struggle for freedom, is long overdue. For generations to come, this book will be a source of valuable information and inspiration." Mosibudi Mangena, former President of the Azanian People's Organisation

Gaongalelwe Tiro, Onkgopotse Tiro's nephew, is a communications professional who has worked for Reuters news agency, Business Day, the Sunday Times, City Press and The Star. He lives in Pretoria