‘We have lost a heroine of resistance’
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to Struggle icon Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe following her death, which he described as “a sad loss to the Sobukwe family and our nation at large”.
“We have lost a heroine of resistance and a fighter for the freedom of all South Africans, who continued her activism into our democratic dispensation. We will always remember and honour her extraordinary contribution,” said Ramaphosa.
Earlier this year, Ramaphosa awarded the Order of Luthuli: Silver to 91-year-old Mama Sobukwe, affectionately known as the “Mother of Azania”.
She was the widow of PAC President Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.
The Presidency said: “President Ramaphosa’s thoughts are with the Sobukwe family, the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (Trust) and the leadership and membership of the Pan Africanist Congress.”
In her youth Mama Sobukwe participated in, and led protest marches against racist conditions imposed on trainee black nurses at Victoria Hospital in Alice.
Her leadership in protests resulted in her meeting Robert Sobukwe, then president of the students’ representative council at the University of Fort Hare, according to the Sobukwe family, the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust and the Blackhouse Kollective.
The Steve Biko Foundation said Mama Sobukwe’s immense contributions to the liberation struggle, including her years of activism in Eastern Cape during the darkest days of apartheid, remain largely silenced and erased from public memory and national consciousness.
“It is with a profound sense of loss and deep sadness that we have learnt of the passing of struggle stalwart, lifelong activist and advocate against apartheid, Mama Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe.
‘‘The foundation extends its deepest condolences to the Sobukwe family, friends and colleagues,” it said. “Mama Sobukwe was not only admired and loved by ordinary people in South Africa, but her steady activism and selfless contributions were also largely recognised throughout the international community, particularly on the African continent and among the diaspora.”
The Nelson Mandela Foundation said: “We, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, came to know her in 2010 when we worked with her and her family to produce an exhibition in honour of her late husband, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.
“Launched in February 2011 at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, in collaboration with the Robert Sobukwe Trust, Remember Africa paid tribute to the founder and first leader of the Pan Africanist Congress.
“The title was inspired by a conversation with Mama Sobukwe at her home in the Eastern Cape town of GraaffReinet, when she reminded us that her husband would regularly greet people with the words, ‘remember Africa.’”
IT IS with a deep sense of loss, pain and profound sadness that we inform the public that struggle stalwart Mrs Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe, has passed away at age 91 at her home in Graaff-Reinet.
She transcended after an illness for which she had been hospitalised in July, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, surrounded by her family, after being discharged from Midlands hospital.
Mrs Sobukwe was one of the most defiant and fearless icons of the Struggle against racism and white supremacy in South Africa.
She fought valiantly against the apartheid state apparatus and epitomised the dictum of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania: “Serve, suffer and sacrifice”.
Born of farming parents Kate Mathe and Stini Mathe in Vryheid, Kwazulu-Natal, she had her first experiences of and direct confrontations with racism from the apartheid state and police at an early age, consistently challenging ruthless authorities and calling for justice on numerous occasions throughout her life.
In her youth she participated and led protest marches against racist conditions imposed on trainee black nurses at Victoria Hospital in Alice.
Her leadership of this protest march resulted in her later meeting with Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, the then students’ representative council president at the University of Fort Hare.
Following the Sharpeville uprising on March 12, 1960, Mama Sobukwe fiercely challenged the regime on the unjust conditions surrounding Robert Sobukwe’s incarceration under the draconian Sobukwe Clause, remained a backbone for her family and risked her life for freedom and the vision of a liberated Azania (South Africa).
Although largely unknown, silenced and erased from public memory and national consciousness, she dedicated most of her adult life to the cause of the Azanian people and, for this, was known far and wide as the “Mother of Azania”.
The Sobukwe family is deeply grateful for the gift of her life and the innumerable lessons she leaves behind, and even as we mourn her passing, we celebrate her humility and the simplicity with which she approached and viewed life.
Indeed, a Great Tree has fallen!
The Sobukwe family will release details of the memorial and funeral services once these have been finalised.
• Issued by the Sobukwe family, the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust and the Blackhouse Kollective