African National Congress (ANC) stalwart Peter Sample has been laid to rest in Port Elizabeth. Sample was hailed as a hero in the community of Nelson Mandela Bay for his political activism and youth development.

Sample was gunned down at his home in Zwide on Christmas Eve and police have arrested two suspects thus far. His farewell was fitting for that of a fallen hero.

A touching farewell for a fallen hero, a man who stood strong against the apartheid regime and in his community. Peter Sample loved his family and his community at large.

His death has left the family reeling. Sample’s son, Sibusiso Zokufa, still can’t believe his father is gone.

“My father did everything for me. It is very sad that I cannot witness my father to grow old as his life was taken away from him and I hope people who looked up to my father will draw his wisdom. He was everything to us,” says Zokufa.

Sample’s contribution to the liberation struggle is acknowledged far and wide. The historic student uprising of 1976 stirred his activism.

He was incarcerated on Robben Island for five years for his political activism. Nelson Mandela Bay’s ANC Regional Leader, Gege Mbikanye, says Sample set an example not only to his community but to the metro as a whole.

“He was a political activist in each proper context. He believed in the community work, he believed that the people come first. He was a servant of the people, who has sacrificed his own life for the betterment of the people. He does things with integrity, he was very disciplined and an exemplary human being that the society of Port Elizabeth has lost,” says Mbikanye.

A close friend and comrade of Sample, Luke Matoto, says he was front and centre in the fight against crime.

“Peter was a happy person. He had laughter, he had that giggle that you knew he was gonna say something naughty. He would giggle and say “you know as a boy”. He was homely, that man is a family man and these people don’t know what they did. They just robbed that community. A father of the community,” says Matoto.

Peter Sample is survived by his four children and three grandchildren.