Kgosana remained true to PAC to the end
Struggle hero was courageous
Until his passing on Wednesday, PAC stalwart Phillip Kgosana remained courageous as he was when he led 30 000 people to an antiapartheid march in 1960.
Mohlabani Kgosana, the eldest son of Kgosana, told Sowetan yesterday he will remember his father mostly for his courage. The 80year-old Kgosana died of natural causes at a Tshwane hospital.
“He was courageous till the end. Whenever we visited him in hospital he would always talk about hope,” said Mohlabani, 47.
“He never gave you calls that made you feel that he was suffering or collapsing in any way.
“Really, if you see us strong as a family and able to speak it’s because that’s the way he wanted us to feel.
“Yes, the pain and sadness are there. We will miss him dearly and deeply,” he said.
A photograph of a 23-year-old Kgosana hoisted by marchers in Cape Town is what has come to define him. He was a student at the University of Cape Town at the time.
He led the march as part of the PACled anti-dompas campaign. The march to the Caledon Square police headquarters happened just a few days after police killed peaceful protesters in Sharpeville.
Mohlabani said the photograph has always been a part of their family life. “We grew up with that famous picture. It symbolised a moment of triumph.”
Kgosana was arrested after the march. He skipped trial while on bail and went into exile in Ethiopia in December 1960.
He underwent military training there and graduated as a soldier in 1966. He also obtained a BA degree in economics and statistics from the University of Ethiopia, and also an honours from Makerere University in Uganda.
A PAC delegation visited Kgosana’s home in Karen Park, Tshwane
Mohlabani said his father “worked and wished for a united PAC, to which he remained a loyal member to the end”.
Kgosana is survived by his wife Alice, 77, five children and eight grandchildren.