7 October 2006
We have gathered here to bid farewell to a brave soldier who never reneged on his bravery. We are today assembled at the place where his life began. He who took turns with wild animals to cross rivers in search of freedom-bearing skills. Today we are able to consort through the medium of a common anthem because, he, who is truly of the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), did not flinch in the face of adversity. We are here today, to reciprocate his undying love for his country, and for us, his people.
A patriot, because in his heart was lodged the interests of his country and his people, Thozamile Gqweta has impoverished us by his departure.
Born in Liliefarm - a place which is in close proximity to the spot where the martyred Mapetla Mohapi met his brutal fate in the soiled hands of the Security Police - Thozamile grew up during the period of the extraordinary rebirth of the defiant mood which brought back memories of the 1950’s.
A precocious child, ever ready to capture what he could of a bewildering country and a bewildering world, he drew unto himself, the attentions of the talent-spotters of our movement. These moulded Thozamile into a choreographer of the tumultuous events that came to haunt the enemy with a spectre of his ultimate defeat.
The era of working class reawakening was the period of his youth. He was only twenty-one when in 1973, South African workers fought for the right to fight for their rights. The workers knew then that in the absence of organisation, the end to starvation was not assured. It is the act of growing up in this milieu which honed Thozamile’s steely convictions.
Comrade Thozamile had the daring to raise the banner of revolt, and to do this from inside the belly of the beast. He became the Native whom the other side loved to hate. Too assertive and therefore, one to be silenced. He provoked the hysterical reaction of the racist Pretoria regime and that of its functional surrogates.
The absence of Nuremburg-type trials in South Africa, speaks to the magnanimity of Thozamile’s African National Congress. He belonged to a movement which does not settle old scores. His is a movement which does not cherish the malignant growth of unthinking hatred.
The working people of this country will remember him as one of their own. One who was not obsessed with matters of personal vanity. He defied the heaviest of odds in order to take the struggle of workers to heights hitherto unseen.
Our nation will forever remember the volatile power of his agitation. We continue to feel the abiding presence of a soldier who took to battle against the British confectionary giant, Wilson Rowntree. Singing songs to the world, Thozamile called for fraternal solidarity with the five hundred dismissed workers. Manifestations of solidarity were seen at home and abroad. British workers pledged solidarity with their South African class brothers and sisters. They did so in appreciation of the militancy of workers who, under the banner of the South African Allied Workers Union (SAAWU), were challenging one of the constitutive antagonisms of global power relations.
We bid farewell to one who represents a glorious tradition whose emblem was anticipated in the celebrated call: “Manyanani Basebenzi” – an inspiring beacon which gave birth to the giant that is Cosatu. He was there, and he stepped forward to direct the foundational moment at Langa in August 1981. Those who had the fortune to know him in the intimacy of revolutionary reflection, will forever remember that disunity was absent in his imaginings of the future.
Today, Thozamile walks in the company of worthy forebears of this, our glorious age. He walks in the company of angels of our revolution, Johannes Nkosi, Ray Alexander, William Khanyile, Lawrence Ndzanga, Mary Moodley, Joseph Mavi, Neill Aggett, Andries Raditsela and Steve Vukile Tshwete.
We dip our banner to salute the Gqweta family. They surrendered their beloved son to the revolutionary struggle. They did this because they loved him and loved freedom even more.
To the family and to all who are gathered here today, we vow never to betray the cause on which Thozamile staked his life. We will never allow our democracy, for which so many paid the ultimate price, to slide over the precipice of demagogy and populism. We shall always uphold Thozamile’s vision of a South Africa free of racial oppression, gender prejudice and economic exploitation. Thozamile understood that such a society cannot be conceived of apart from the African National Congress. For that reason and that reason alone, he would not seek to divide or to destroy the only hope our nation has, the ANC.
Even as he became an icon in his own name and right, Thozamile did not allow his personal status to generate in him, the impulse to disown his origin. He understood that revolutionary practice always includes an instructive element of learning from those who lived earlier experiences. He accepted the revolutionary obligation to broaden his horizon by distilling experiences that go far beyond those of his own.
Thozamile knew that tenacious adherence to the teachings of his mentor, Moses Mabhida, who lies buried in the land of Samora Machel, is what we need in order to sustain the momentum of our revolution. Mabhida taught us that such differences of opinion as may arise amongst us, must not be allowed to eventuate in the dreadful scenario of our common ruin. These teachings gave us a memory which works both ways: backwards and forwards. They gave us the ability to remember things before they happen.
To his last day, Thozamile would have remembered that speaking at the commemoration of the centenary of the death of Karl Marx, our then General Secretary Moses Mabhida exhorted us to engage in an unremitting study of the secrets of the other side’s triumphs, crimes and downfall. Indeed Mabhida emphasized the need for us to understand the main political and social trends of our time, and to acquire an understanding of the tasks to be undertaken in the struggle for national liberation and social justice. We shall maintain our focus on doing these things that we were taught to do!
Ndlela ntle Khumbeni. You will be pleased to know who is here to bid you farewell. They all came from far and near. Mfondini, a ku kho o nge khoyo apha. We came in our magnificent variety. All of us who were part of your circuit of activity: We shared with you, the responsibility to envision the future. We are here to renew our hope in and our commitment to, a glorious future for our country and our people.
Hamba Ngoxolo Khumbeni, Buthongo Benzolo, Bhayi, Khetshe, Msuthu!