UDF founder, activist Moss Chikane, dies

UNITED Democratic Front (UDF) founding activist Moss Chikane was a mature leader, a political intellectual and not a populist, said Congress of the People (Cope) spokesperson Dennis Bloem as he paid tribute to his comrade, who died on Wednesday at the age of 69.

Bloem said when he was working in the then Orange Free State as the UDF mobiliser, he received guidance from Chikane, who was the party’s secretary in the Transvaal.

“Chikane was very central in the then Transvaal. I use to interact with him as he was my leader. He knew where I stayed in Kroonstad,” he said.

He said Chikane was an accused in the Delmas Treason Trial with Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota, Transnet interim chairperson Popo Molefe and 18 other UDF activists.

He said Chikane encouraged him to focus on the liberation Struggle by telling him that “the main goal is the freedom of the people”.

“He was a selfless cadre who always shared his knowledge with us,” said Bloem.

He said he was part of a group that worked with Chikane to form the UDF in Cape Town in 1983.

Chikane was arrested in 1982 as he was at the centre of mobilising the country to rise up against PW Botha’s tricameral parliament, Bloem added.

“There were 22 comrades who stood trial, but Moss, Popo and Terror were known as ‘The Big Three’ in the Delmas Treason Trial, which was the longest trial in South Africa.

“They were charged with treason, and they were sentenced to eight years in prison in 1988,” Bloem said.

Family spokesperson Chikane Chikane said Moss had been unwell for some time and had been in and out of hospital.

Chikane was elected a member of Parliament in 1994 following South Africa’s first democratic election.

He was appointed South Africa’s ambassador to Germany in 2005 and became the country’s ambassador to Zambia in 2010.