YCL activist killed in hit-and-run

THE Young Communist League (YCL) in the province is mourning the tragic death of an Ingquza Hill activist killed in a truck accident on the N3 freeway between Harrismith and Montrose Shell Ultra City in KwaZulu-Natal.

Sinethemba Cingo, a YCL Che Guevara branch secretary in Lusikisiki, died on Sunday evening when a truck knocked him over on the busy highway, while 62 of his comrades watched in horror.

Cingo had been travelling in a YCL-hired bus with his comrades from the Alfred Nzo, O R Tambo and Joe Gqabi districts.

YCL provincial secretary Andile Mosha said the bus in which the group were travelling had made a pit stop on the side of the road, where the passengers had disembarked and were walking close to the bus when the accident happened.

The group was returning from a YCL national council held in Gauteng at the weekend.

Mosha said the truck did not stop after hitting Cingo.

He said Cingo’s shocked comrades were unable to get the truck’s registration number or a clear description of it as it was dark at the time.

Mosha said Cingo was declared dead on the scene and his family was immediately informed.

“It was a most traumatic and painful sight for the comrades who were at the scene,” he said.

He described Cingo as “a dedicated MarxistLeninist and an ideologically-inclined and discipline young person, who worked tirelessly to change the lives of his community, especially the youth”.

He was the YCL’s Ingquza Hill sub-district committee member, and also an active member of the ANC Youth League, where he also served as a branch executive committee member in Lusikisiki.

The SACP in the province also sent their condolences to Cingo’s family and comrades.

The party’s provincial secretary, Siyabonga Mdodi, said the party was deeply pained by Cingo’s passing.

Attempts to get comment from his family were unsuccessful at the time of writing yesterday. —