Struggle veteran dies
TRIBUTES poured in yesterday following the news that Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) Struggle stalwart Philip Kgosana had died.
Kgosana died of colon cancer on Wednesday afternoon at the Akasia Netcare Hospital in Pretoria at the age of 80.
A PAC delegation, led by secretary-general Narius Moloto and secretary for political affairs Jaki Seroke, made their way to Kgosana’s home at Karen Park in Pretoria North yesterday afternoon, to pay their last respects.
Moloto said the party was saddened by Kgosana’s loss, but happy with the selfless contribution he had made to the Struggle.
Moloto said that Kgosana joined the party at a young age and had undergone military
training in Angola, where he achieved the rank of colonel. “He… focused on the development of communities.”
Moloto said Kgosana was the brains behind a farmers’ association in Winterveldt. “He wanted communities to be self-sufficient,” he said.
Kgosana led more than 50 000 anti-pass law protesters from Langa in Cape Town, in a march to the apartheid Parliament in the 1960s. His oldest son, Mohlabani, said: “There’s more to be pleased about his life than to be broken by his death. He was still making jokes even on a hospital bed.”
President Jacob Zuma said: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of this former freedom fighter who dedicated his life to the liberation of the people of South Africa.”
The DA said: “Ntate Kgosana was a brave and devoted freedom fighter who dedicated his life to the emancipation of black South Africans.”
Kgosana is survived by his wife and five children.