‘Mother of Azania’ a selfless heroine
MAMA SOBUKWE: DIES IN EASTERN CAPE AT 91
Ramaphosa calls her ‘a fighter for the freedom of all South Africans’.
Tributes poured in for Mama Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe – 91-year-old wife of Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) founding president Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe – who died early yesterday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa described her as “a heroine of resistance and a fighter for the freedom of all South Africans”.
Sobukwe, who was affectionately known as “Mother of Azania”, was earlier this year bestowed by Ramaphosa with the National Order of Luthuli in silver for her contribution to the liberation of South Africa.
She died in the Eastern Cape town of Graaff-Reinet after being discharged from hospital.
Conveying government’s condolences and those of the Mangaliso Sobukwe Foundation and the PAC leadership to the family, Ramaphosa said: “She continued her activism into our democratic dispensation. Year 2018 also marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Robert Sobukwe.
“The loss during women’s month of Mama Sobukwe is a sad loss to the Sobukwe family, the foundation and our nation at large.
We will always remember and honour her extraordinary contribution.”
Political parties and organs of civil society also paid tribute.
The PAC expressed “sadness at the news of the passing of Mama Sobukwe”. Spokesperson Kenneth Mokgathle described her as “a very humble, resistant and loving woman we came to know many decades ago”.
“She was not a drama queen but a responsible mother who understood her cause until the end,” said Mokgathle.
The ANC’s Zizi Kodwa said: “A struggle stalwart in her own right, she endured pain, rejection and immense suffering visited on her by the racist apartheid regime, which she overtly challenged through her writings, demanding the release of her husband who was incarcerated by the illegitimate regime.”
Economic Freedom Fighters national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said: “We would like to send our revolutionary and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Mama Zondeni Sobukwe, who has left us at a crucial moment, when the country was busy consolidating the Pan Africanist dream of the land by all Africans in South Africa.”
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) said Sobukwe would always “have an honoured place in the South African history for her loyal, steadfast support for her legendary husband, the great Pan-Africanist leader Robert Sobukwe, during the struggle against apartheid”.
Said SAJBD spokesperson Charisse Zeifert: “She epitomised the courage, endurance and loyalty of the innumerable women whose husbands or partners were imprisoned, banned or exiled because of their political activities, yet continued to further their ideals while also raising families and serving their communities.
“South Africans owe her, and all the other unsung heroines of the liberation struggle, an enduring debt of gratitude.” Also paying tribute was African historian and member of the Soweto-based Blackhouse Kollective Thando Sipuye, who described the struggle stalwart as “selfless”.
“We have a deep sense of loss, sadness and pain at the passing of Mama.
“While we mourn her passing, we celebrate her life, sacrifices and selfless contribution to the liberation struggle,” said Sipuye.
“It is a tragedy of our approach to the telling of history and narrative in the post-1994 South Africa that the contribution of people like her remain silent and obliterated from our national consciousness and public memory.”
Although no official plans have yet been made public on Sobukwe’s funeral arrangements, Sipuye said a memorial service would be held next week at the Mofolo Communal Hall in Soweto.
South Africans owe her an enduring debt of gratitude.