OBED BAPELA
The events that led to the six days war started in 1985, around June I think, when a lot of townships in South Africa were aflame.  There was a lot of activity and uprisings in most of the townships at that time and Eastern Cape was leading at that period I am mentioning and this sort of inspired a lot of other townships in the belief that the activities in the Eastern Cape reminded them of the M plan, the Mandela plan which was known in the 1950's and then people wanted really to also begin a process of establishing those structures of the street committees, the block committees and the yard committees within their own areas, within their own townships and also in the Transvaal, the then Transvaal, the main activities was the start of the rent boycotts were started in the Vaal, Sebokeng and Sharpeville townships and then it spread to Soweto and also Alexandra then came into the picture during 1986.  And also during 1995 there was the consumer boycott which was organised and then the Transvaal had its own committee, the Transvaal anti consumer boycott which operated and then those activities really also were happening in Alexandra
ALEXANDRA HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
13 BAPELA
where people were stopped from buying from white shops and then only to buy in the black shops.  So those then are the events then that built on the mobilisation which was there in Alexandra and around January there were shootings that occurred at shops which are Third Avenue and London Street and then I don't know what provoked the incident but what we read was that the security guard who was employed there shot at some youths who were coming to buy or were playing around at that particular area.  (Loud background noises).