Fate, as it were, has imposed upon our grief-stricken souls the responsibility to memorialise a beloved, noble and loyal friend.We do so with an exalted sense of humility for we know that our words do not carry sufficient weight adequately to convey our heartfelt tribute to this gentle giant of our generation.As we undertake this noble responsibility, we cannot but be humbled that we at one stage came to know, be friends and share the same trenches of the struggle with someone so remarkable. We have come together like this today therefore to fulfil an honourable duty to evoke and honour the memory of someone very dear to us.We have also come to perform a painful duty given that Comrade Mandla was such a towering figure among us, who inspired us in so many ways.
We all met comrade Mandla as young revolutionary activists.During this time, we have forged enduring friendships and bonds of affection that surpass all possible description. I was personally drawn towards him by his charisma, charm, friendliness, intellectual prowess and his total devotion to the struggle. He had the rare gift of blending in one person the qualities of an entertainer and an intellectual and revolutionary giant. He epitomised in himself the unity in action of the Progressive Youth Alliance, believing in the need for students and youth to always work as a single combat column in pursuit of the common objectives of emancipation in general and youth empowerment and involvement in the struggle in particular. What immediately struck me about him was his non-sectarian approach in so far as the matters of the youth and students were concerned. He was able to engage with the leadership and membership of the ANCYL and COSAS as he was at ease among his SASCO comrades.
There had been a time in the youth movement’s history when SASCO and ANCYL had tensions, and often to resolve those tensions required conscious, calm and steadfast leadership. Perhaps, an occasion will arise one day when we will reflect on this subject. Some among our comrades at times resented these interventions we had to make because they gained personally from the existence of these tensions. Others could not understand Mandla’s visionary, theoretical and pragmatic approach to the unity and cohesion of the progressive youth movement. As UNISA SRC President, he would invite us to address various events, believing that joint action among SASCO allies sent the message to the cross section of the students that SASCO was our natural political home on campus. He would be aghast at instances when and where comrades have contested, or are contesting, one another and thus conceding significant ground to the opposition on campuses. Needless to say, these contestations inhibit our ability to exercise hegemony among the generations of the future. The recent municipal elections attest to this point that our failure to mobilise, organise and educate the youth lessens our ability to rally the youth behind the banner of the national democratic movement. He understood the truth that no revolution can be victorious without this effective education, organisation and mobilisation of the youth into political action. For, ultimately, the youth are the catalysts of the future.
Comrade Mandla held firmly to these convictions even as we travelled the length and breadth of the country together, in our various capacities in the youth movement, all of us serving a common goal. In the course of our work, even amidst difficult topics we had to discuss and programmes we had to implement, he would serenade us with his beautiful voice that I suppose his commitment to the struggle precluded him from pursuing as a career in itself. Mandla was a vital part of that generation in our country’s history that confronted the injustices of colonialism and colonial education manifested through financial and academic exclusions. This set the tone for the fees must fall movement. The achievement of fee-free higher education in 2017 therefore did not happen as an accident; it had its seeds sown in the struggles that had spanned an entire period from the late eighties, in which Mandla played a pivotal role. Upon completing his studies and his term, he continued to participate actively in the structures of the movement and eventually served in government. At all levels, his leadership quality was visible for all to see, rising to the top ranks of the public service. Mandla was born during a time when being black seemed like a curse. Our people’s natural economy had been disrupted and destroyed. In the course of time, they lost their political or economic birth-rights.
They had to mount a fierce struggle ultimately to free themselves from bondage. We eulogise Comrade Mandla because he voluntarily chose to become a front-rank combatant for the correction of these age-old injustices. From birth, he confronted these hardships imposed on our people by white supremacy. He joined company with a generation that swore to fight to the last person to rid our country of white tyranny. He valiantly occupied the forward trenches of that effort, often impatiently demanding that we send him to the very front where the most sacrifices and effort were demanded, and where danger lurked the most. Together, we dreamed of a society where our people will enjoy ownership of the land of their country and its produce, control the means of production and the fruit of those means, able to determine their own destiny. Mandla fought so that we could pursue the transfer into the hands of the people as a whole control of the instruments with which to create and redistribute wealth, create employment and genuinely improve the all-round quality of life. He believed we had to destroy the political infrastructure as well as the social and economic relations of the system of white supremacy, and remove from our social fabric the entire vestiges of white domination.
These are the ideals Comrade Mandla leaves unaccomplished. He leaves behind a people who have achieved enormous social progress but are still very far from completing the mission to transform themselves to being, finally, the owners of the productive assets of their land. He leaves behind a students’ movement confronting difficult challenges to ensure that it resists the rolling back of fee-free higher education achievement. Instead it must be expanded and made more sustainable. The tax sacrifices of our people cannot and must not be taken for granted. The economic difficulties we experience as a nation must not impose their brunt on the youth and diminish the promise of access to quality education and culture for which so many of our youth and students have laid their lives. SASCO must lead the students struggles for financial inclusion and its leadership must be visible on the ground servicing students. Students confront difficult challenges at various campuses, including among which is the arrogance and obstinance of many university administrators who still rule the universities through the iron fist and divide-and-rule. Many students’ leaders are susceptible to bribery and sell their souls to the highest bidder; many among their ranks have been corrupted. Students on many campuses are left leaderless.
The progressive students’ movement is weakening in front of our very eyes and with this the hegemony of the revolutionary-democratic movement among the younger generations. As humble as always he was, Comrade Mandla did not seek to steal attention away from the movement’s daily challenges, silently he bowed down to fate, succumbing to the stealth hand of death as though he hoped we would not notice that a precious jewel on our crown had fallen. A unifier, he contrived by his sudden departure to re-unite the various generations of the youth and students’ movement, as evidenced by all who are present here today and have shared the podium. Mandla would not allow his recent unfortunate personal circumstances to distract him from his deep commitment to the movement, our revolution and our people. Even though he knew that many among us had the capacity to assist him but chose not to, still he remained steadfast to the end. It has today become easy for us as comrades to abandon one another as though we have ceased to be comrades. We have also allowed generations ahead of ours to sow splits among us, leaving us imperilled by the prospects of oblivion and inability to fulfil our own historic mission at the head of the troops fighting for genuine and total liberation. Mandla’s passing has permitted us to reconnect and reflect on the role we have played in the struggle and the current and future challenges we face as a generation and people.
It has once been asked if we still remembered what had made us comrades, or whether this title had remained merely because our emotional attachment to it. Jostling for positions in the movement nowadays has created a situation in terms of which it has become difficult for one comrade to tend to others, as this would diminish their opportunities to ascend to leadership positions. We are left the weaker, as individualism triumphs over collective effort and interests. Comrade Mandla reminded us through the force of his example that when we joined the struggle as young activists, we yearned only for freedom. It was neither for glory nor distinction that our generation took to the struggle, abandoning our youth and everything that was dear to us, committing all our energies and efforts to the fight to emancipate our people from the indignity of oppression and exploitation. Our generation was valiant, of that there can be no doubt. Like him, we are revolutionaries, not social reformists out to make convenient peace with the status quo, being junior partners in our country’s economy, accommodated by our former ruling class and happy with the little we have.
In his name, we will continue to work hard for the genuine unity and cohesion of the ANC which is the cornerstone for the unity and cohesion of our country. Comrade Mandla was an intellectual and moral giant of our generation, who stood firm by his convictions until his final days.This is precisely what endeared him to our generation and earned him the front-rank position among all of us. We are indebted to him for all that he has done for us. We wish his family comfort during this difficult time and trust that time shall heal their wounds.
We shall miss him dearly.