DEAR Editor,-
On Friday morning we woke up with the terrible news regarding the colossus that has departed from our midst. Nelson Mandela kick-started his political journey by being an anti-apartheid activist, then he outgrew that division. He understood that to be an activist was a poor substitute for being a revolutionary and joined the revolution. He had an organisational spirit, meaning readiness to sacrifice personal interests and his ‘life’ for the organisation.
Madiba further understood the organisational values of his organisation, that is democracy as a form, brotherhood and peace as contents and culture, and economic activity as the essence. These values created the foundation on which the Africans in particular, and blacks in general, based themselves in the struggle against the colonial, national and class question.
He understood the study of specific features, which makes this or that country different from others in the same historical period, and a knowledge of the national task to be solved at a particular phase of the struggle. He also acknowledged the basic definitive characteristics of a revolutionary, to be a portal service to the masses and a paragon of moral integrity, with the capacity of being irreconcilable with anything false.
We now know that he changed his form of existence from quantity to quality and now he is the spirit. Mandela read the eulogy at the funeral of OR Tambo, and I quote, “Oliver Tambo will never die if the ANC lives”. Mandela will never die if you and I are alive. His spirit lives on. Amandla!
MJEQEZI ZONDI
SACP, Civic Centre VD
