Former Bay councillor Aubrey Mali dies
Former Nelson Mandela Bay KwaLanga councillor Aubrey Mali died on Monday.
Mali, a former mayoral committee member, died after a lengthy stint in hospital.
ANC Eastern Cape spokesperson Gift Ngqondi said Mali would be remembered as a champion of the landless, and as a fearless fighter for poor and marginalised South Africans.
“The ANC joins the community of Kariega in saluting comrade Aubrey Mali, who dedicated his entire working life to the local government sector and civic movement.
“You have run your race, you have fought a good fight.
“You can now rest in eternal peace,” Ngqondi said. Mali joined the liberation movement in the 1970s as a student and youth activist under the Uitenhage Youth Congress (UYCO), and later focused on the civic and labour movement during the era of the Uitenhage Residents Civil Organisation.
He was elected into the national structure of the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco), and was hailed as a prolific organiser and mobiliser for the mass democratic movement.
He was part of the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) and a member of the ANC Veterans League in the metro.
Between 2000 and 2006, Mali was an ANC PR councillor.
He was later elected as a Ward 50 councillor in KwaLanga between 2006 and 2011.
Mali was a survivor of the Langa Massacre which claimed the lives of about 35 people on March 21 1985.
In his last interview with The Herald, on the eve of the commemoration of the massacre in 2020, Mali said he had decided to no longer talk about that day as many people had benefited from their struggle and pain.
“I’ve seen that people have written books, sold copies and made lots of money on our tragedies.
“I took a deliberate decision not to participate in some things and rather focus on my studies now, because I’ve been stagnant; standing in the same place.
“The only thing that will help me is to study, write these stories and sell them, because this is what most companies are doing.”
Mali said he had travelled the world telling people his story, but this had not benefited him or his family in any meaningful way.