PAC VETERAN AN ORGANISER
BORN: November 11 1948 DIED: February 3 2017 FUNERAL: February 11 2017 BURIAL: Seeisoville, Kroonstad, Free State
WHAT stood out in the illustrious life of Castalia Motshabi Moleke is that she was a people’s person. Her gift was the ability to treat almost everyone she came across with dignity and respect and make them feel they owned the world. She could disarm any hostility confronting her and make you at ease with her beautiful smile. Moleke sadly died last Wednesday at 3 Military Hospital in Bloemfontein. She was suffering from a mental illness. Her health started deteriorating in the mid-1990s when she returned from exile. Her brother Bernard said the family was saddened by her death. “As a family we are hurt that she never enjoyed the freedom she fought so hard for since her return from exile,” he said. Moleke grew up and did her primary schooling in Seeisoville, Kroonstad, and later moved to Orlando East, Soweto, for her high school education. Like many others of her age in the area, she devoted her life to the aims and objectives of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). After obtaining her teacher’s diploma at Wilberforce College in Evaton, she worked as a primary school teacher in Phiri, Soweto.
She left teaching and joined the theatre production Meropa, which toured Europe in 1975, as an actor, dancer and singer.
Moleke was working as an entertainment writer for The World newspaper when the 1976 student uprisings took place.
She was also an activist in the Union of Black Journalists which was banned along with other Black Consciousness organisations on October 19 1977.
Moleke was among a group of black journalists who marched to the notorious John Vorster Square in downtown Johannesburg to demand freedom of expression and other human rights after The World and its sister newspapers were banned.
They subsequently formed the Writers Association of South Africa with Zwelakhe Sisulu as its first chairman.
Moleke also took on leadership responsibilities in the PAC underground and was hugely responsible for the formation of the Azanian National Youth Unity (Azanyu) – a political group that met regularly at her place in Orlando East.
She was hunted by the security branch police when the influence of Azanyu and related PAC organisations and activities spread throughout the country.
In 1982, she was recalled to join the PAC mission-in-exile to avoid an impending swoop on the underground leadership. She was whisked out to Lesotho and to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
She edited the newsletter PAC News and Views and had a regular programme on Radio Tanzania. She worked in the PAC’s information and publicity department led by Edwin Makoti. She also worked on gender issues with Maud Jackson.
They organised solidarity groups in the Pan-African diaspora and worldwide, including down south in Australia where she continued to live with her family.
She took a journalism course to upgrade her skills at an institution in Kitwe, Zambia, in 1978.
On her return she joined The Voice, a weekly ecumenical newspaper, where she ran a column on youth matters.
She kept a close association with young and militant young writers such as Thembeka Mbobo, Ruth Bengu, Zodwa Mshibe and Belede Mazwai.
What sticks out like a sore thumb is the harsh treatment she received from nasty bureaucrats and gatekeepers in the military veterans’ community.
It took a struggle by progressive forces to get her assistance when Moleke’s health started failing her.
She is survived by her son Sechaba Moleke and a grandchild.
The funeral service will be held in Kroonstad, Free State, on Saturday at the Glory Acts Pentecostal Church in Gelukswaarts.
May her soul rest in peace.