This "multiracial fabric" did not conform to the separatist policies of apartheid and so the suburb was destroyed and the people forcibly removed.

He returned to Johannesburg when he was 14 and then continued his education in Pageview, another suburb that suffered under apartheid when the residents were again forcibly removed during the 1960s.

During this time, he became a founding member of the Black Consciousness movement and joined the ANC Youth League.

[7] Mattera, who converted to the Muslim faith in the 1970s,[8][9] was deeply involved in the community, with a special interest in young people and the rehabilitation of ex-prisoners.

[16] In January 2020, the Don Mattera Legacy Foundation was launched in Eldorado Park, in order "to ensure that Mattera's legacy remains relevant to the current as well as future generations to recognise and appreciate the immense sacrifice and contribution he made on behalf of the classified 'coloureds' in the realm of literature arts, journalism and the liberation of SA.