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Zuma thanks Russia for Kotane, Marks remains repatriation

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President Jacob Zuma has praised the Russian Federation for its co-operation regarding the repatriation of the remains of Moses Kotane and JB Marks.

Zuma was speaking at the Waterkloof Airforce Base in Pretoria, where the remains of the two struggle icons arrived from Russia Sunday morning.

Zuma says the struggle icons have returned to a democratic South Africa that they fought for.

“Today we have brought them to a free South Africa. Today South Africa is a democratic country based on the rule of law and fundamental human rights largely owing to the sacrifices made by Moses Kotane, JB Marks and all other leaders,” says Zuma.
Political activist and trade unionist John Beaver (JB) Marks served as president of the Transvaal Branch of the African National Congress and was elected chairman of the SA Communist Party in 1962.

In 1963 he was sent to the ANC external mission in Tanzania.

He became ill in 1971 and went to the then-Soviet Union. He died of a heart attack in Moscow the following year.
Kotane was the secretary general of the SACP from 1939 until his death in 1978. He was selected to study at the Lenin School in Moscow.

Kotane, one of the first activists to be banned under the Suppression of Communism Act, suffered a stroke in 1968 and went for treatment in the then-Soviet Union, where he died in 1978.

Both were buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Zuma said the men’s remains were returning to a South Africa that was very different from how it was when they left it.
The President has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government for caring for the South African struggle stalwarts both in life and in death.

“Their tombstones at the cemetery which became their temporary home in Moscow indicated the respect and the status that they were accorded in that country, and further the cemented the strong historic ties between South Africa and Russia.
“The co-operation of the Russian Federation in our efforts to bring these two giants of our struggle back to their land of birth, and the remarkable and stately send-off yesterday when they left Russia will also forever be remembered by the South African people as a gesture of true friendship.”

Kotane would be reburied in Pella, North West, on March 14, while Marks would be reburied in Ventersdorp on March 22.
The Congress of the People (COPE) expressed satisfaction with the repatriation of the remains of Kotane and Marks to South Africa.

“These were two outstanding leaders of the struggle, who went abroad to fight for the freedom of our people, needed to come home and lie in South African soil,” COPE spokesperson Dennis Bloem said in a statement.

The party believed, however, that the men would have been disappointed at persisting poverty, corruption and service delivery problems in South Africa today.

“They would also have been shocked at how huge and rampant corruption has become in our country; or how some of their former comrades are in the forefront of corrupt activities and self-enrichment,” Bloem said.

“COPE is convinced, more than ever before, that the best way to honour the fallen heroes of the struggle, such as Moses Kotane and JB Marks for example, is to continue the fight to end the poverty and inequality that blight our society.”-Additional reporting by Sapa

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