Joe Slovo to be honoured in Soweto today
SOUTH Africans will again be reminded of the important role that Joe Slovo played in the liberation Struggle at his commemorative event in Soweto today.
Following the 1994 elections, Slovo was appointed Minister for Housing during then President Nelson Mandela’s government, until his death on January 6, 1995, of cancer.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said they supported the upcoming 27th Joe Slovo Commemorative event at Avalon Cemetery.
“We join millions of South Africans from all walks of like in remembering and saluting the immense contributions made by comrade Slovo in our struggle to liberate ourselves from the tyranny of apartheid and colonialism of a special type.”
Mamabolo said Slovo had left a legacy that should continue to be cherished as he made an immense contribution in theorising the Struggle.
He said Slovo was a towering intellectual giant whose visionary leadership and acute working class instincts helped steer the alliance from many of what had seemed to be the insurmountable challenges it faced.
Mamabolo said commemorating Joe Slovo marked out his extraordinary life-long devotion as a strategic thinker who not only served in the National Consultative Committee that led to the unpretentious Congress of the People in 1955 – leading to the drafting of the Freedom Charter, but as well a comrade who helped to write and articulate the Morogoro Strategy and Tactics which, to this day, remains a referral point as one of the most important moments of our liberation Struggle history.
Slovo is also remembered as a comrade whom through his involvement in the founding and active participation in the manoeuvres of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) served as its chief of staff.
In 2004, Slovo was voted the 47th Top 100 Greatest South African.
Field Street in Durban Central was renamed Joe Slovo Street in his honour.