26 April 2008, Curries Fountain Stadium, Durban
O Tempora! O Mores! For the times and manner by which we transit this earth!
O Tempora! O Mores! For a distinguished soldier of the people to pass on without fighting back!
O Tempora! O Mores! For Sis Dudu, Wendy, Mkhonto and Langa who shall never again see their husband and father in flesh.
Death Thou art as treacherous as the name that bespoke you. For in your treachery, you allowed the passing on of Comrades Kevin Qobosheane and Mandla Sithole, to be the beginning of the passing of yet another - my Comrade and Friend, Colonel Sihle Mbongwa.
Speaking of you, Death, in your own language "kufa", Professor Otty Nxumalo is unrelenting of your scything action when he poetically said.
"Izidladla zakho'onyathela
Ngazo unyonyoba ungezwakali
Zinamandla, zinobubi kunezebhubesi;
Mthakathi ndini unyonyobelana
Nesint' ebusuku nemini;
Kuyazalwa uyathatha' uyagodukisa,
Kazi kawugcwali yini
Lowo mgede othuthela kuwo!
Ungazithetheleli kufa kwansondo:
Uth' usudukis' abantu
Ngoba kufanele badede
Indawo, akundaba yakho
Ukucabanga ngokuba khona
Kongungabibikho kwendawo ezweni'
Kungakuthinta ngaphi lokho?
Ungazithetheleli kufa ndini![1]"
Yet, in spite of my tearful laments, allow me to call for us to also rejoice, for those who had tried to remove you in the past never had the joy of doing so, and as we gather today, in solemn remembrance of you, my dear departed Comrade and Friend, we can be happy that you outlived the Apartheid System that sought to make you persona non-grata in the country of your birth. How ironic that we lay your mortal remains on the eve of the celebrations marking fourteen years of the freedom we fought for over the past decades.
When the guns of our glorious revolution were silenced by the Groote Schuur Minute, as a true soldier you obediently laid down your arms. At no point did you question the political decision taken by the movement but knew that such a decision would never remove or erase from you and many of your comrades the strengths of the contribution that you had made in the struggle for your beloved motherland. Indeed, for you to resort to arms was not an end in itself, but a means to an end, and when that end was nigh, you accepted that the means could be altered.
For those South Africans starved of their true leaders' voices, your guile of bringing to the Butterfly Trial the voice of Comrade Madiba to court, the first time it was heard after the marathon Rivonia Trial, you brought hope that this land of ours would be free again.
As a true commander, you took full responsibility for the actions of those who served with and under you in Operation Butterfly. As a true soldier who was married to his cause, you never abandoned your comrades when they needed you.
I watched with amazement and awe, as even when they had been buried in unbefitting graves, you never forgot your comrades and friends such as, Andrew Zondo, Lucky Payi and MaChina Xulu when you were in the forefront of their reburial in Red Hill Cemetery in 2005. The bonds that joined you in the temporal life have now transcended to eternal life.
As we commit your mortal remains to the soil of your forefathers, may your final resting place be the lasting memory of your immortal deeds of sacrifice for your people, of sacrifice for their freedom and of sacrifice for their well being. May the passing of time bear testament to the ideals that you lived for, that there is more to human beings than the savagery of discrimination, brutality of oppression and the coldness of marginalization.
And that the common enemy of every person is not another person, but that the common enemy is ignorance and therefore the need to subdue the natural elements so that every life can be lived in freedom, democracy and prosperity for all. And that knowledge must be our common weapon against hunger, poverty and the ecological disasters that threaten human survival.
Leaving the comfort of your home, and a possibility of a rewarding career in law, you put the fate and life of your people above your own. But in your own inimitable way, you never sought rewards. Neither did you extol the victories under your belt. It was to leaders such as you that the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu opined:
"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him....But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled."[2]
The high-piched voice of the Commander shall be heard no more. The marching boots that threatened to shake the very foundations of our streets are now still. But the history of your heroism shall be forever written in the minds of the ordinary men, women and children you were prepared to die for. The accounts of your victories and leadership, shall forever be etched in the minds of our people and be recorded in the annals of our history. The bugle of a soldier shall continue to blaringly declare, that on the soil of KwaMashu, in the fields of Tanzania, on the plains of Swaziland, in the alleys of Mozambique and the trenches of Angola, once walked a man of your stature.
As we commit your mortal remains to the soil of John Langalibalele Dube, Enoch Sontonga, Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Lilian Ngoyi, Chris Hani, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Adelaide Tambo, Solomon Mahlangu, General Andrew Masondo, Joe Modise, Mdu Guma; Lancelot Hadebe, Mandla Sithole; Reverend Mandla Blackman Msibi, Andrew Zondo, Lucky Payi and Dumisani Makhaye and the many noble African warriors who fought against colonialism and the many liberation fighters whose graves remain as tribute to the great fighting spirit of our people, we say may your immortal spirit live forever!
In picking up your fallen spear, and in tribute to your immortal deeds, we will do well to empower our youth with the skills that would enable them to take our historic struggle to new heights. Heights where, in the words of Pixely Ka Isaka Seme, the African would no longer be the laughing stock of other nations, for lack of progress. That way the slogan Aluta Continua will have real meaning in our new rainbow nation.
Cry not Comrades, Cry not Friends, because of the ever present nature of the Death we despise, yet must we learn to live with. Again, Prof OEH Nxumalo alludes to its presence and imminence when he, in his own imagery and language says:
"Kaz' uyay' uthini
Laph' uzwa amazwi
Amadodana namadodakazi' empongoloza
Ekhalel' oyise usubathathile!
Kaz' uyay' uthini
Lapho uzwa izililo
Zikhihlwa ngabafelokazi beqhaqhazela
Usubathathel' abayeni babo!
Kangazi' ukuthi uyaye
Uthini lapho' isizwe
Sikhalel' amagugu aso
Osuk' usuwathathile wabaleka
Nawo sasala dengwane;
Mhlawumbe uyavunul' uthathe
Ezakh' ugiye gwala lakwabo;
Ungazikhohlisi kufa ndini."[3]
Preceding this ever presence of death, the celebrated Bard, William
Shakespeare, was also unequivocal when he stated:
"Tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow;
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day;
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow."[4]
Because it, Death, is ever present and is part of our humanity, let us now embrace the passing of our Dear Comrade. We embrace the passing not so much because death is triumphant but because though we know it happens and is timeless, it still shocks us. As it shocks us it does not attain any heroic status, as John Donne observed in his Holy Sonnet No 10 that:
"death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful; for thou art not so; For those who thou thinks' thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death ."[5] As I come to terms with my own sense of loss; as I bid farewell to you Comrade, I intend not to colonize your memory as if I am the only one who has lost. The movement has lost. South Africa has lost. KwaMashu has lost. The people of eThekwini have lost. The South African National Defence Force has lost. The South African Revenue Services has lost. Metrorail has lost.
I will remember you as a prominent member of the Sea Scouts in your early years, and a founder member of the Isibonelo Boys' Scouts, where you laid the foundation that would shape your distinguished military career.
I will remember the political path that was to become a defining part of your adult life being forged in the anvil and hammer of the KwaMashu Youth Organization under the leadership of Comrade Themba Kubheka.
But it was in your escape from detention that your true value to the organization was recognized, for it was after this daring escape that you forged links with some of our most illustrious leaders in exile such as the late Comrade Moses Mabhida. A true internationalist who knew that his freedom and the freedom of his people is inextricable linked to the freedom of the whole World. The bullet still lodged in your body is a reminder of your fearless and selfless defence against the counter-revolutionary offensive by UNITA bandits in Angola. As an all-round and accomplished cadre of our movement, you were a Soldier, a Commissar, a Communist, a Linguist and a Teacher of the working class, hence you participated in the translation of the Communist Manifesto into isiZulu, so that this manifesto for social change is accessible to the broadest possible section of our people. In this way you challenged the elitist notion of knowledge as traditionally a preserve of the few and sought to put knowledge in the hands of the people to determine their own transformation.
I mourn your succumbing to the affliction whose venom we could not fathom. I however, remember vividly that, but for the bravery of Cde Lulamile Xate, who refused to testify against you and other Butterfly heroes; your precious life would have been untimely pruned by the vicious hanging gallows of the Apartheid State in Pretoria. Give praise to Andrew Zondo who defiantly faced the hangman's noose so that five Butterfly soldiers could live.
I have vivid recollections of you in Robben Island, where you defied your unjust incarceration by being pivotal with Comrades Ramlakan, Bheki Cele and others, to plan a Strategy for KwaZulu-Natal. And when the final list is published, your name shall be among the galaxy who fought for a better region of the ANC, a strong and vibrant ANC in this country and an exemplary movement in a better world.
And so it was that when they had sent you to Robben Island to be blunted, you defiantly became the sharpening block for the spears that would later liberate our nation.
As we bid farewell to you, my Comrade and Friend, we also dip our revolutionary banner to the other heroes such as Kevin Qhobosheane, Commissar Masondo and Mandla Sithole who have recently passed on. How fitting, that your last act as a soldier of Mkhonto Wesizwe, the People's Army, was to lay your comrade, Kevin Qobosheane, to eternal rest.
To the gallant family that borrowed us this Son of the Soil: Our sweet words and laments should appreciate the womb of MaNdlanzi in which the foetus of this soldier awaited his chance to make his mark in this world.
As the Ndlanzi and the Mbongwa's selflessly combined to bless our organization by allowing their son to be a truly South African son; we shall forever be thankful;
To Sis Dudu (Magqengelele), Wendy, Mkhonto and Langa, your loss is our loss.
Kunina nonke Mabongwa amahle, sithi akwehlanga lungehlanga;
Kunina bakaSondisa, ukufa sithi kuyinuku;
Nina bakwaMvemnyama yakwaMaphanga;
Yize inxeba libuhlungu sithi lalani ngalo;
Kunina nonke Mabongwa Amade AseLangeni;
Kunina nonke Mandlalelankosi;
Nina nonke zalo lwakwa Soloyikazi;
Sikhala nawo wonke amaMbuyisa.
Isitsha esihle asidleli!
As I come back to the end of this humble eulogy, I feel obliged to send you
away, my Comrade and Friend, like a true warrior of our people in the
following words:
Fare thee well!
Shoshozela lenkululeko yase Ningizimu Afrika;
Fare thee Well!
Sigaxamabhande sombutho waBantu, uMkhonto WeSizwe;
Fare thee Well!
Ngudlamaqele eyagqabula amaketanga ematilongweni;
Fare thee Well!
Cabanswani emahlathin' obubha;
Fare thee Well!
Mgadli owagadla kwavevezela abacindezeli
Fare thee Well!
Siphekula sikhuni esagwinya ivolovolo lika Savimbi
Kwa khala uBotha ePitoli
Fare thee Well!
Nqol'emasondosondo egandaye izitha;
Kwaze kwanyakaza abafo nabafokazana;
Fare thee Well!
Kanyamba eyabhekis' umsila wayo phansi
Kwasuk'izivunguvungu kwaMashu namaphethelo.
Lala Kahle Nsizwa Ende Yase Malangeni
VIVA! COMRADE SIHLE VIVA!
VIVA! ANC VIVA!
VIVA! MKHONTO WESIZWE VIVA!
Notes:
[1] OEHM. Nxumalo. Kufa. From the Collections "Ikhwezi. Oxford Press 1065.
[2] Brynner. W. The Way of Life According to LaoTzu. Capricorn Books 1962.
[3] [3] OEHM. Nxumalo. Kufa. From the Collections "Ikhwezi. Oxford Press 1065.
[4] Shakespeare. W. MacBeth, Act V, Sc V
[5] Donne, J. Death Be Not Proud.