The Bus Boycott in South Africa
By Dan Mokonyane
1958
Banned in South Africa

Daniel Mogoasha Mokonyane (1930 – 2010) was a South African political revolutionary and (in exile) writer and legal academic. Latterly residing in London, he was best known for his leadership during the 1957 Alexandra bus boycott, one of the most successful single-issue campaigns undertaken during Apartheid.

When the 1957 Alexandra bus boycott was announced, in protest against the local bus company's attempt to raise its fares, Mokonyane joined the boycott committee as Publicity Secretary and then later as the Secretary of the Organizing Committee.

He was frequently arrested and imprisoned during the campaign against the pass laws. In 1960, after the Sharpeville massacre, he was served with a Banishment Order from Alexandra township and fled from South Africa to the United Kingdom. He was appointed to a research position at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London. He then studied for a law degree at the University of London, obtained a higher degree in human rights at the University of Kent and researched in planning law at the University of Wales. He eventually became a Senior Lecturer in Law at Middlesex University in North London, specialising in Jurisprudence. Despite increasing illness, he last visited South Africa in 2009.

145mm x 208mm

R1,250