Nkosifikile Gqomo — a servant of the people till the end
Born in the dry, dusty rural village of Ntsikhwe — Esiqikini, along the riverbanks of the Tyirha River in the rural town of Qumbu, Nkosifikile Gqomo was an ordinary, relatable, sociable, and humble human being.
He never allowed his accident of birth to condemn him into obscurity. Instead he became a leading example and a shining light among his peers.
He was born from a peasantworking class family. Like any other rural boy, he grew up looking after his family’s livestock, practised stick fighting with other boys and was involved in all kinds of activities that rural children undergo as part of their youth transition.
The circumstance of his birth in a poverty-stricken rural settlement and the quality of education he and his generation were subjected to, compelled him to join the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) early in his life — in the late 1980s when he was about 15.
His student activism catapulted him into the regional leadership of Cosas.
Appreciating the interconnectedness between education struggles and the broader struggles of the youth and the main struggle for national liberation, he joined the ANC Youth League in the early 1990s and went on to serve in its provincial executive committee in 2004.
It is during this period that as a provincial spokesperson of the ANCYL that he laid bare his immaculate and rigorous communication and media engagement capabilities.
He had the power to engage across all levels and strata in society on the ideas, strategy, tactics and policy positions of the ANCYL within the overall framework of the ruling party, and yet within the requisite youth vibrancy and revolutionary radicalism.
Gqomo — as he was affectionately known — was a shrewd and yet scrupulous debator, an excellent and dependable political activist, and a reciprocal political and cultural activist.
He had a unique grasp of the continuities and discontinuities between politics, the church, traditional leadership, and African culture.
He mastered the necessity to affirm the history of indigenous people, integrate it into contemporary politics and with cultural values and ethics of spirituality into a single perspective rooted in the core values of cultivating a united, prosperous and democratic society.
This leadership quality made him pursue the struggles of the rural, peri-urban, urban people with a primary focus on the struggles of the working class and the rural poor.
The testimonies of his rural people tell an inspiring story of exemplary leadership, commitment to service with authenticity, compassion, and love.
It is a story of dependable social solidarity and love for humanity.
Conversely, the untimely departure of this dedicated servant of the people heralds a sense of despair, helplessness and hopelessness among his people and this is a challenge that we the living need to courageously contend with.
Nkosifikile, just like most revolutionaries, was guided by a revolutionary theory.
But he was not a slave of it — he did not believe in dogmas — but understood that theory is applied in dynamic conditions and he always balanced theory with practice.
He had sharp analytical capabilities and deployed these to reflect on changing conditions and to proffer appropriate responses in pursuit of the objectives of national liberation.
Gqomo was not just a political activist but was also a pillar in his Nxotwe and Njilwana clan.
He was rooted in his clan and appreciated the significance of the unity and the preservation of the identity and genealogy of his Amampondomise nation and its origins from embo and Nguni nations.
He was unflinchingly decolonial and refused to perpetuate the colonisation of his identity, mind, values, and culture.
He took pride in his heritage, understood how it influenced the present and the task of mapping the future in ways that dislocate the colonial past and (re)centre African ways of being, knowing, doing and relating in congruence with our aspirations.
He was fascinated by indigenous activities like traditional horse racing, other traditional ceremonies like imigidi, imijadu, visiting and engaging amakomkhulu (Royal Houses).
While he was just like all other mortals fallible, Gqomo served his organisation, the ANC and his people selflessly.
His activism stretchesthe Eastern and Western Cape.
He served in the regional structures of the organisation in the then South East Metro in Cape Town as regional secretary and at the OR Tambo Region in the Eastern Cape as the regional treasurer.
A servant of the people till the end, he also served as a ward councillor and a member of the mayoral committee at the OR Tambo district municipality until his untimely death ealier this month.
Gqomo was immersed in the uninterrupted pursuit of heralding a better life for his people.
He was a true embodiment of the aspirations, values and ethics of a people committed to liberating themselves from the vicissitudes of colonialism and its variants, poverty, inequality and anti-intellectualism, tribalism as well as crass-materialism and greed.
In the words of Amílcar Cabral, Gqomo hid nothing from the masses of his people, masked no difficulties or constraints, nor did he tell lies or claimed easy victories.
As the family, his friends, comrades and contemporaries, we pay homage to this organic intellectual for dedicating all his life to the total victory of the national democratic revolution.
Those who are genuinely committed to the ideals of total liberation would continue to pursue a selfless, ethical and people centred and people driven struggle for a truly egalitarian society.
Rest in Peace Nxotwe, Silo sendiza!