Maseko held on to Africanist beliefs until his last breath
Strong persona made him trusted by Sobukwe
Born: February 28 1926 Died: September 23 Funeral: Tomorrow at St Hildas Anglican Church in Senaoane, Soweto, from 8am Burial: At Lenasia Cemetery Even during his last days, very sick and all around him hoping against hope that he would pull through, Veli David Maseko’s naughty but charming smile always lightened the mood.
“You could not say he was sick,” said Daphne Morule, daughter of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania [PAC] founding member, who died at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital on Saturday.
It was that deceptive but strong persona that made Maseko one of the trusted comrades of PAC founding president Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.
Maseko firmly maintained that only Africans can fully liberate Africa. “Not a democracy that has done nothing to regain our land from foreign thieves,” he told comrades four years ago.
Shaking his head from side to side, he added: “La bapala lona [you guys are playing].”
“It [revolution] is far from over. They [the apartheid regime] had to ban us [PAC and ANC] because we as PAC were not going to take a step back.”
Maseko, aka Joe Ndlovu, which was his name in Poqo – the underground movement of the PAC. vividly remembered the days leading up to the Sharpeville massacre, and the naming and formation of the party in 1959.
His big American car, an Oldsmobile, drove the length and breadth of SA as they organised and addressed meetings with Sobukwe and other PAC leaders.
He laughed when he related how the name PAC came about. “We were in the house debating and Raboroko [Peter] roared: “We are Africanists and the name will be the Pan Africanist Congress.”
Maseko served three years in Stofberg Prison until 1963. When the PAC was unbanned in 1990, he was among the leading lights, assuming an honorary position in Gauteng after 1994.
It is a paradox that he walked away from the ANC because of unhappiness with the Freedom Charter, as he was introduced to politics by ANC stalwart John Langalibalele Dube.
Until his last day, he maintained the Freedom Charter was an insult to Africans. “The land belongs to Africans, not people who have taken it and pushed us into little corners,” he said.
Dube was the founding principal of Ohlange High in KwaZuluNatal where Maseko had enrolled for matric.
Maseko was born in New Ermelo, Mpumalanga. He will be buried at Lenasia Cemetery tomorrow after a funeral service at St Hildas Anglican Church in Senaoane.