Kgosana honoured for good character and selflessness
Fallen stalwart receives special provincial funeral
FAMILY, friends and fellow comrades bade farewell to the late PAC stalwart Philip Kgosana during a memorial service held at the Sammy Marks Tshwane council chamber.
Kgosana was due to be being buried today at the Zandfontein cemetery in Akasia at a special provincial funeral, as declared by President Jacob Zuma earlier in the week. The octogenarian died of colon cancer at Akasia Netcare Hospital in Pretoria.
Speaker after speaker praised him for a display of good character, discipline and selflessness. They expressed their heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones. The sombre occasion was punctuated by the singing of hymns and Struggle songs.
PAC veteran Ike Mafole said: “Kgosana was imbued in the principles of the PAC and always preached unity among us.”
Mafole knew Kgosana after he led more than 30000 people in a protest against pass laws from Langa in Cape Town to Parliament in the 1960s. “He was very active, an honest man, upright and a man of integrity,” he said.
Kgosana had travelled all over the world and was invited by heads of state and government, Mafole said.
He said he served with Kgosana in the PAC at a time when it was difficult for comrades to speak up against the apartheid regime.
Rammonaseswa Molomo, who knew Kgosana since 1961, remembered him as a kind man who was ruthless on matters of principle. “If I was a state president of any country, I wouldn’t have appointed Kgosana as a diplomat, for the simple reason that he was incapable of distorting the truth,” he said.
Tshwane council Speaker Katlego Mathebe said Kgosana was a man of wisdom who fought for the welfare of African people. He also believed government officials must be people of integrity, Mathebe said. Kgosana was a former councillor in the City of Tshwane.
PAC secretary-general Narius Moloto said the party was saddened by Kgosana’s passing, but happy with the selfless contribution he had made to the Struggle.
He said Kgosana joined the party at a young age and received military training in Angola, where he achieved the rank of colonel. “He believed in the development for the country and focused on the development of communities,” Moloto said.
He was praised for being the brain behind the establishment of a farmers’ association in Winterveld.
PAC members said they would miss his role in the commemoration of the Langa march and Sharpeville massacre. They praised Kgosana for his fearless role in the Struggle against apartheid.
His elder son Mohlabani Kgosana said: “One of the reasons why he truly loved Jesus Christ was not necessarily because of what he did. He said that anyone who had said something must stick to it even when he was faced with death.”
Kgosana is survived by his wife and five children.