CDE CASTRO PILUSA'S OBITUARY
The ANC sends it condolences to family and friends of the late Cde Castro Pilusa.
The members of the ANC in Limpopo are saddened by the passing of Cde Castro Pilusa. Cde Castro Pilusa has played a pivotal role to the transformation in our country. His legacy and contribution to the ANC will be carried on. More details of his funeral will be available soon.
Comrade Castro was born Louis Castro Pilusa on the 04th of April 1965. He grew up in Mamotintane village near Mankweng. He studied at Mamabudusha High School where his hatred for Apartheid became pronounced as he actively participated in student struggles against Bantu education and white oppression in general. This is the life and times of Comrade Castro Pilusa in his own words.
An organizer, activist and leader of the Mass Democratic Movement
“As the Mankweng Youth Congress (MAYCO) was formed in October 1983, I became one of the first members and we were recruited from Mamabudusha High School after the school crisis some months earlier. In 1983, I was elected the Deputy President of COSAS at our school and became its SRC President in 1984. I was part of the collective that led the two structures concurrently until COSAS was banned in 1985.
In 1984 I was also a delegate to the launch of the Transvaal Region of the UDF with a mandate to organize for the launch of the UDF in the Northern Transvaal. The UDF in the Northern Transvaal was successfully launched in 1985.
Furthermore, 1986 saw a need to bring the various Youth Congress structures affiliated to the UDF under one umbrella body. As such we then began to organize for the launch of such a movement in the Northern Transvaal and on the 29th of November 1986, the Northern Transvaal Youth Congress (NOTYCO) was launched at Moutse. On the 12th December 1986, I was then arrested and sent to the Pietersburg Prison and then later transferred to Nylstroom prison.
Upon my release from prison during April of 1987, I was invited to Johannesburg to plan the extension of the Release Mandela Campaign (RMC) to our Region. I was subsequently elected Secretary of the RMC in the Northern Transvaal under the Presidency of Cde June Mkwayi. It was in this capacity that we played a leading role in organizing the first visit of Cde Nelson Mandela after his release from prison.
Castro the underground activist and MK combatant
In 1985, I was recruited into the underground structures of the movement and over a period of time received military training internally and externally in various countries including Angola, Cuba, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and Zambia. In 1989 I was then called to Gaborone where I became part of the machinery tasked with mobilization for the trade union movement in areas of Rustenburg, Thabazimbi and Ellisras. The other mission which the machinery was dealing with was the recruitment of comrades into MK ranks. It was through the work of this machinery that large numbers of comrades left the country for military training in Uganda and Tanzania between 1989 and 1990.
Post the 1994 democratic dispensation I was integrated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) where I held the rank of lieutant. After serving for a short period I resigned in 1996 and returned to active politics. During this year I was appointed Chairperson (Mayor) of the Greater Mankweng Transitional Local Council, a position I served in until the 2000 local government elections.”
Castro the militant Young Lion
Comrade Castro belonged to the generation of militant young lions of the 80's who made South Africa ungovernable and apartheid unworkable. Young lions that fought their apartheid enemy under the slogans ‘Freedom in our Lifetime’ and ‘Freedom or Death! Victory is Certain’. He held many leadership positions in the ANC and the Mass Democratic Movement in general. He was one of the most militant Revolutionary Leaders and fighters to emerge out of the Mankweng Youth Congress like Peter Mokaba, Thembi Skosana, Machocho Hlatswayo, Andrew Mehlape, Moss Manale and Shadrack Mafokoane.
Comrade Castro served in the then Regional Executive Committee (REC) which is now the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of the ANC Youth League in the Northern Transvaal Region between 1990 and 1994. He also served in the National Executive Committee of the ANC Youth League between 1998 and 2001. Comrade Castro also served as a Chairperson of the Mankweng Sub-region from 1995 until 1998. At the time of his passing he had just stepped down from his position as Chairperson of the SACP in the Capricorn District on account of ill-health.
Castro the educator
One of the most significant things about Cde Castro is that of being a political educator and Commissar of our movement at all times. He was a Political Commissar and ran political education sessions for SASCO members at the University of the North (Turfloop) and the MDM structures in Mankweng. He studied the writings of Marx and Lenin and collected their books and writings to share with comrades.
At a personal level, he studied for a Diploma in Journalism through Damelin, completed a computer course at VOTEK, studied Public Relations and Business Management through PRISA and completed a B. IURIS degree with the University of the North. At the time of his passing he was completing his LLM studies.
Comrade Castro is survived by his wife Mokgadi, three children Ngwakwana, Kagiso and Boitumelo and his brother Madumetja.