Late MK activist Ngculu honoured

DEPUTY National Human Settlements Minister Zoe Kota-Fredericks paid tribute to all women Struggle stalwarts when she delivered the Miranda Ngculu Memorial Lecture in celebration of Women’s Month.

The event in Ikwezi Community Centre in Gugulethu last night was also in celebration of the 100th birthday of late ANC Struggle icon Albertina Sisulu.

Kota-Fredericks praised the values, commitment, sacrifice and service to those who the late ANC Struggle activist and uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) combatant Miranda Ngculu had displayed.

“She worked with everybody, young and old, and she exhibited excellent leadership qualities,” she said.

“So we are proud of her, because she put her life at stake so that we survive as a community and as women in particular.”

Kota-Fredericks described Ngculu, who died aged 34, as a national executive member of the ANC Women’s League, adding that she had contributed immensely to the Struggle against apartheid to bring about democracy to the country.

Also speaking at the event was her widower and former provincial ANC chairperson and ex-MK Western Cape commander and author, James Ngculu.

“She is among those whose focus was service to the people above personal gain and self-aggrandisement.

“The ethos she stood for was for the people of South Africa. Even in the challenges the ANC faced at the time, she remained committed to its ideals,” he said.

“When certain individuals took the ANC to the level of ridicule in the country, it was something that stunned her – even more so when her own comrades she fought alongside in the Struggle remained silent in the face of the ANC being taken to the abyss.

“Now that once more the ANC is regaining its dignity, it is important – if we want to honour her – to join all those patriotic South Africans in the Thuma Mina (Send Me) spirit, because this is the best way we can defend the gains of 1994 and the ANC.”