Extracts from obituary by the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress.
The National Executive Committee and all the members of the African National Congress of South Africa have learnt with deep sorrow of the sad passing away of one of the beloved and internationally known leaders of the struggling people of South Africa, Comrade Lilian Masediba Ngoyi. She died on the 13th of March, 1980 at the age of 68 after a short illness.
Ma-Ngoyi, as she was affectionately known by all her comrades in struggle and millions of the followers of the African National Congress, has always been in the front ranks of our revolutionary struggle, occupying leading positions as the first President of the African National Congress Women's League, and as second President of the Federation of South African Women. She was also a leading member of the National Executive Committee of our organisation.
Throughout the decade of the 50's, which was a particularly turbulent period in the political life of the entire country, Lilian was a participant in all the major policy decisions of the African National Congress, guiding the entire oppressed population into battle against the draconian policies of the fascist Nationalist Party government. She was the prominent leader of the militant women's campaigns, both in the urban areas and in the rural backyards of our country, fighting against the extention of the hated pass laws to our womenfolk.
In her dual capacity as President of the Federation of South African Women and also President of the African National Congress Women's League, she led a historic march in which more than 20.000 women of all races participated on the 9th of August, 1956 to protest against the pass laws for women.
During the middle fifties she, together with two other women leaders visited the headquarters of the Women's International Democratic Federation, based in the German Democratic Republic. From there she visited several socialist countries, including the Soviet Union.
We owe our unshakable positions within the ranks of the international democratic movement to leaders such as Lilian Ngoyi, who were able to convincingly explain the progressive policies of the African National Congress. Our international relations have always been guided by the loyalty of our movement to the ideals pursued by the progressive anti-imperialist movement of the peoples of the whole world.
Consistent with the regime's aggressive policies towards the national liberation movement of our people, Lilian has had her fair share of persecution at the hands of the fascist regime. She was arrested and charged of High Treason together with 155 other leaders of our revolutionary movement at the end of 1956. She had also been subjected to various types of bannings, which restricted her to the confines of her Mzimhlophe home in Soweto.
This continuos form of persecution broke her health, but not her spirit, which had always been fired by the supreme confidence in the inevitable victory of her people over the forces of fascism and reaction. Her death is yet another unpardonable crime committed by the fascist regime against our entire people and the rest of democratic mankind.
Lilian Ngoyi has parted from the ranks of our revolutionary movement at a very crucial turning point in the destinies of the peoples of Southern Africa and Africa as a whole. From the momentous days of the collapse of Portuguese colonialism, the resolute march of the people in the rest of Southern Africa is irresistible. Lilian Ngoyi, shortly before she died, witnessed the collapse of the colonial system in Zimbabwe. This historic victory of the patriotic forces of this sister African country has further consolidated the balance of forces in favour of the revolutionary movements for change in South Africa and Namibia, the African National Congress and SWAPO.
In her own country she had the supreme satisfaction of witnessing the irresistible growth of our revolutionary movement with the emphasis on armed struggle as the principal form confrontation against the murderous regime of terror. The revolutionary working class, to which she belonged as a garment worker during her younger days, has engaged in continuos battles against exploitation, while the youth and other sections of the oppressed population continue storming the bastilles of oppression.
Our movement, in lasting memory of her contribution, respectfully dips its revolutionary banners and pledges to continue her life-long work until final victory .
Below we report on the funeral of Comrade Lilian Ngoyi which was held in Soweto and became an expression not only of the love and respect felt by our people for her as a person but their support for the cause she dedicated her life to.
On Satuday 22nd March, more than 2,000 mourners of all races came to Soweto from all over South Africa to pay their last respects to one of South Africa's best women fighters - Mrs Lilian Masediba Ngoyi.
In a moving funeral service lasting for four hours, hundreds of mourners-many dressed in ANC colours - packed the Methodist Church in Orlando East, while hundreds listened outside as speaker after speaker paid tribute to the heroine of the people. They also heard messages from our imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela, from the Soviet Women's Committee in Moscow, the Hungarian Solidarity Committee, the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and other progressive and democratic forces all over the world. Messages also came from Zimbabwe and Lusaka and individuals abroad.
Funeral Service
Among the speakers was Mrs Helen Joseph - a long time
friend and comrade-who worked with her as secretary of the Federation of
South African Women, was charged with her in many trials and like her,
was jailed in the 60's and is currently still under a banning order. She
was however given permission to attend the funeral and address the service.
The various speakers at the service called upon black South African women to take part in the liberation struggle. Bishop Tutu, Secretary of the South African Council of Churches urged the black women to lead the struggle when he said:"Our liberation waits for you mothers. Men will catch the disease of determination from you. Sisters, mothers, women, our liberation is in your hands. Men and the nation are waiting for you to say that you have had enough." He also told the gathering that no one in South Africa would be free if everybody was not free. "For the past 300 years blacks had been oppressed but God heard their cries and sent them leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu and Mrs Ngoyi."
Another speaker, Fanyana Mazibuko, secretary of the Soweto Teachers Action Committee, called on "all daughters of Africa to take up her spear and carry on fighting. Don't let it rot, it's the only consolation for Africa...the burden would be less if there were more people and more women who were prepared to carry the yoke and pick up the spear".
A spokesman for the Writers' Association of South Africa (WASA) called Comrade Lillian a mother, a leader and an inspiring woman. He also said: The challenge is not so much on the men but on women to start where MaNgoyi left off." A representative for the Azanian People's Organisation, Mr. T. Nkoana, highlighted the "significant contribution and the marked szcrifices this beloved daughter of Africa made towards getting the three essentials for freedom: peace, justice and reconciliation". He also called on women to play a major role in the struggle: The concrete conditions of the black man's situation demands that no energy must be wasted in the kitchen. All human resources must be mobilised. Let our black women mo,ve out of the vast network of domestic traditions and occupy honourable places in the community". Dr Motlana,, chairman of the Committee of Ten, said the liberation stuggle was entering its third phase. The first phase was an armed one-when "thieves from Europe" took the land from black people. The second phase was the "politics of protest" which had ended with the students uprising of 1976. It was time for black people to make a move. Liberation would not be presented to them-black people have to go out and get it."
During the service, members of the security police stood at the church yard gate and took photographs of mourners entering and leaving the yard. When the cortege left for the cemetery most of the police cars drove in front of the procession while others parked at strategic points along the route to the cemetery. Keeping a distance away was Soweto's CID Chief, Colonel Steve Lenn.
The Procession
After the service, the coffin-draped in the black, green
and gold colours of the ANC-was carried out of the church and placed on
a horse-drawn cart over which fluttered a large flag in ANC colours. The
slow procession-many people were on foot-took two hours to wend its way
through Soweto to the cemetery. During the procession the mourners sang
the freedom songs of the ANC. Some former members of the ANC donned the
black, green and gold colours of the ANC and some of the mourners carried
small flags with the ANC colours.
When the procession neared the Moroka Police Station some of the mourners stopped and made remarks about police.
Graveyard
At the Avalon cemetery, the singing became louder and the ANC salutes (clenched fists) were given. The Green and Black flag of the Federation of South African Women was hoisted high as the heroine of the people was finally laid to rest.
Other Services
In Durban, Mrs Albertina Lutuli, wife of the late president of the ANC, Chief Albert Lutuli led a prayer service for Mrs Ngoyi at the Betty Street Congregational Church. The service was characterised by singing of freedom songs, poetry and speeches by former ANC members and women such as Mrs T. Gwala, who participated in the anti-pass law demonstrations with Mrs Ngoyi. More than 300 people attended. Memorial services were also held in all ANC missions abroad and in the camps.
Regime's Fears Exposed
More than 40 students of the University of Witwatersrand were refused permission by the West Rand Administration Board to attend Mrs Ngoyi's funeral. Also some of Mrs Ngoyi's banned colleagues, including Mrs Albertina Sisulu, were also refused permission to attend the funeral.
This funeral has re-affirmed that our 30 movement is rooted in the masses.
A young student who met Lilian Ngoyi in 1975 gives his impressions of her contribution to our struggle and her influence on the young gneration of fighters.
Immediately on hearing of Mama Lil Ngoyi' death my mind quickly flashed back t 1975, when the address I had received from a close friend of hers took me to he home in Mzimhlope. That was to be the beginning of my acquaintance with he for the following three years.
On learning who I was she immediately felt at home, without any waste of time she started analysing the situation in relation to our struggle for liberation. Since she talked authoratively, with confidence combined with her experiences, one could learn a lot within a short space of time She could give one details about the history of the ANC in the liberation struggle facts which could leave one clear about factors which made the African National Congress to be the powerful liberatory force it is today.
Her experiences in the struggle sum up her dedication, determination and selflessness. She once left her critically ill mother in bed to participate in campaigns She would look back at those historic years, like in 1956, when she led 20,000 women in a demonstration against the pass laws; when the Union Castle ship suddenly had to return back to the Cape Town port on SB orders when they discovered she was on board - without a correct passport and on an ANC mission for that matter, when she passed through a thick roadblock on guard for her by pretending to be an ordinary expectant mother, her faked big tummy was full of pamphlets to be distributed.
Her missions and experiences include travelling around Europe sent by the ANC. The one which left an indellible memorY on her was the visit to the Soviet Union where she was honoured for being a fighter for freedom for her people.
When her first banning order came in 1961, she had already played her part in setting our revolutionary struggle aflame.She remained the same determined and dedicated fighter she used to be. The South African government tried to break her moral, to corrupt her, but Mama Lili frustrated them.
Shortly after her banning order had expired, she addressed the 1974 Sharpeville Commemoration, organised jointly by SASO and BPC. Every word she uttered during her speech was making up for the rest of the years when she was silenced. She was as powerful, revolutionary and determined as she used to be in the 50's.
With all those banning orders on her and police surveillance, she continued to be an integral part of the revolutionary struggle for the freedom of the people of South Africa. She was a symbol of resistance inside the country, an inspiration to young revolutionaries coming after her. She was a mother, friend, colleague and a comrade. She fitted everywhere.
She summed up her unwavering confi dence in the outcome of the struggle by saying "if I die, I'll die a happy person because I have already seen the rays of our new South Africa rising".
Her death is not only a loss to her family, relatives, the ANC and the people of South Africa but also to all people throughout the world striving for peace, love and justice for all mankind. She is one of the people who instead of being banned, could have been listened to, instead of being tried in the Treason Trial could have been consulted for advice, this could have saved our country from the present explosive situation. Now she is gone.
My only regret about Mama Lili's death is that she died when the "sun-rays of New South Africa" were already burning the white racist regime out of its seats, she should have been there to see them eventually being completely burned out.
Though she is dead, her selflessness, contribution, dedication and determination lives with us, to guide us in our struggle for the total liberation of South Africa. What she fought for will definately be accomplished by the remaining struggling comrades under our vanguard movement the African National Congress of South Africa