Tributes pour in for ‘dedicated servant Bra Stof’
ANTI-APARTHEID Struggle stalwart Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile has died at the age of 71, the ANC said yesterday.
Stofile was an ambassador before he became the chancellor of Fort Hare University earlier this year.
“The ANC owes an indelible debt of gratitude to comrade Stofile, a former treasurergeneral of the ANC, minister of sport and recreation and South African ambassador to Germany, for his sterling role in politics and sports in both the liberation movement and South Africa at large,” ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said.
Kodwa recalled that Stofile joined the ANC in 1958 while still a teenager, and in the 1980s served as regional secretary for the United Democratic Movement.
“Bra Stof was a symbol of solidarity, a loyal and disciplined cadre who was arrested and served an 11-year imprisonment for terrorism under the then Ciskean Internal Security Act in 1986,” he said.
In 1994, he became the ANC’s chief whip and two years later the provincial chairperson of the ANC in the Eastern Cape, until he was appointed minister of sport in 2004.
Stofile was also a minister of the Presbyterian Church of South Africa since 1975.
President Jacob Zuma paid tribute to Stofile’s role in the liberation struggle and said he would be remembered in particular for his resolute opposition to racism in sport and the high standards of discipline he imposed as chancellor.
“The nation mourns the passing of this distinguished freedom fighter and a dedicated servant of our people, for whom no task was too big or small. We wish to convey our deepest condolences to his family,” said Zuma. – ANA
Remembered for his resolute opposition to racism in sport