09-07-2025
Ashley Kriel Memorial Cypher: Honouring the legacy of an anti-apartheid activist
Ashley Kriel was killed by police on July 9, 1987, for his role in advocating anti-apartheid actions.
Image: File
The third annual Ashley Kriel Memorial Cypher will commemorate the spirit and martyrdom of anti-apartheid activist Ashley Kriel.
Kriel, a 20-year-old from Bonteheuwel in Cape Town, was an anti-apartheid activist killed on July 9, 1987, allegedly by apartheid police.
Kriel is still celebrated today for his efforts for liberty post-apartheid.
He was a fiery orator, strategist, and thinker, and a representative of an extraordinary turn in South African resistance politics: the return to mass politics.
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The Ashley Kriel Memorial Cypher is an autonomous annual initiative that recognises how young progressives today, as in the past, have a critical role to play in the conscientisation of grassroots communities.
The event, put together by Adwa movement, and Aboxan Arts and Africa Unite (NGO), will take place on Friday, 11 July 2025, at the Castle of Good Hope at 6.30pm.
This year's cypher will take place under the theme 'Roots, Culture, Heritage and Decolonisation', which aims to explore how positive masculinity and leadership advance social justice.
It will also reflect on the context that gave rise to the young lions of the 70s and 80s and the structural violence experienced by young men and women today.
The event will include the screening of the documentary 'Action Kommandant', which is based on Kriel's life, a panel discussion, Q&A, and live music.
Panellists set to be included are: Clarence Ford, special guest Michelle Assure, who is Kriel's sister, Gatto (Mario Wanza), Henrieta Abrahams, and Gorie November.
The film itself was recently screened for about 35 high school learners from Modderdamn High School at the Cape Town Museum of Childhood in commemoration of Youth Day.
One of the learners said: 'I saw a lot of the areas that I walked every day and thought 'wow, this happened in the area I grew up in' and I didn't even know about it… I knew his past, but I didn't know what he did for us.'
Another learner said: 'The film really inspired me to achieve my goals, and fight for what I want in life, and the quote that stood out to me in the film was, 'an act of resistance is an act for humanity'.'
The third Ashley Kriel Memorial Cypher will take place at the Castle of Good Hope, where it will pay tribute to Ashley Kriel, who was assassinated on July 9, 1986.
Image: Supplied
In a statement for Friday's event, the organisers said that the cypher celebrates the radical examples of masculinities in working-class communities, particularly in South Africa, seeking to clarify the forces that shape these, and explore the trauma and healing.
The organisers said that they seek to affirm the importance of social and political consciousness as a means to enlighten grassroots communities, as in the Struggle against apartheid, which has a key role to play in building a more inclusive future.
Adwa Movement - PRO and Africa Unite peer educator, Ras Hein, shared some insight into the motive behind not only the Kriel screening, but also their previous screening of 'Soundtrack to a Coup d'État' on July 4, and their forthcoming one focusing on Göran Hugo Olsson's 2014 documentary 'Concerning Violence' on July 15.
'We're doing it for the African renaissance. We're doing it for social cohesion. We're doing it to combat narratives of xenophobia.'
