Tributes for Madiba’s own Dr Ramlakan
TRIBUTES kept pouring in last night for Nelson Mandela’s doctor Vejay Ramlakan.
Ramlakan, who was Mandela’s doctor of almost 10 years, died yesterday.
A medical doctor, he served in the ANC’s military wing uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), during the Struggle in the 1980s, and transferred to the SA National Defence Force when MK was incorporated into it in 1994.
Friends and fellow MK operatives painted a picture of a man who went from political activist to soldier, to Robben Island prisoner and then someone who sought to uplift all South Africans.
ANC activist Derek Naidoo said everyone who was part of Operation Butterfly, during which Ramlakan was the commander, was devastated at the news that he had passed away. “Operation Butterfly” was a programme to develop an integrated political-military underground command structure in the greater Durban area and a campaign to destabilise the border regions of South Africa.
“True to his form he imparted in us an understanding of true non-racial democratic South Africa that we had to fight for. Mandela said we had to ‘submit or fight’ and that is also what Vejay stood for.
“A giant has fallen, a soldier has fallen and a brother has fallen.”
Naidoo said that during the Covid-19 pandemic Ramlakan had called for all civil servants to be at the frontline in the fight against the virus.
“I met him prior to Covid-19 outbreak and he wanted to help change society to become more humane. He had many, many plans that he wanted to implement and this was for the economic upliftment of all people. What will happen to those plans now? We will have to pick up his spear and march on.”
ANC MPL Maggie Govender said she first met Ramlakan as a student activist and he was chair of the medical student representative council.
“He was instrumental in bringing about activism with medical students.
“He was from Havenside, Chatsworth, and people should be more proud of him than they are. He was an activist from youth, he grew in the organisation and he became Surgeon General of the SANDF. To be able to look after the president of the country is no small feat especially for someone who came from a working class background. People should be proud of him for that.”
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa passed his condolences to the Ramlakan family and the SANDF.
“The doctor was a very quiet individual. He was not a person of many words. I happened to work with him when he monitored Mandela. He made it a point that when Madiba goes to Mthatha there will be a field hospital. He did a good job. Ramlakan worked closely with Dr Dabula, the current head of the health services. They seem to know their story.”
Ramlakan led the team that was responsible for the standard of care provided to Madiba in 2005, but according to reports, Ramlakan first started communicating with Mandela in 1986 when he and others were on trial. Mandela was summoned to come give evidence on their behalf. The two are said to have only met in person in 1991 after both had been released from prison.
Ramlakan was also part of the team tasked with examining delegates at the first internal conference of the ANC after it was unbanned. Among the delegates at the conference were Mandela and OR Tambo.
Ramlakan’s passing comes days after another anti-apartheid activist and human rights campaign advocate Hishaam Mohamed was laid to rest.