Born on the 26th April 1961 in Mamelodi East, Johannes Maisha (Stanza) Bopape was a political activist and civic leader.He was elected the first General Secretary of the South African National Civic Organization (SANCO) in Mamelodi in 1987.He was actively mobilizing people against the apartheid regime even when he was on the run. He was accused of being a communist, a security threat and dangerous influence by Police.His family was constantly threatened by police in efforts to capture him. Police managed to arrest him on the 10th June 1988 and taken to John Vorster Square where he was brutally tortured.He passed on the 12th June the same year, at age 27, while in police custody, apparently from a heart attack following electric shock torture.His body was then dumped in the crocodile-infested Komati River on the border of Mozambique and South Africa after police told his family that he had escaped from prison a month later.Today his name is revered through the people of Mamelodi and deservingly commemorated through a Monument, Clinics, a School and Sport Complex. The famous Church Street in Pretoria from Nelson Mandela to the East is now referred to as Stanza Bopape street.Credit to Baloyi J.S.(2004)Remember The Silent Heroes.