Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, says Kotane’s grave will serve as a monument of inspiration and strength. He was speaking at the reburial ceremony at Pella stadium near Rustenburg, North West.
“Kotane is a symbol of strength, of great determination, a symbol of inspiration to all our people. Today as we bring him home, his grave is going to be a monument of inspiration, of strength; and we hope that the young people of our country will draw great lessons from his life.”
Watch Ramaphosa speaking about Kotane below.
Moses Kotane died in Russia in 1978 and his remains were repatriated to South Africa earlier this month. His reburial ceremony is underway in Phella Village.
Moses Kotane’s son Sam, has extended his family’s gratitude to the South African and Russian governments for having worked together and reaching an agreement on the repatriation of his father’s remains.
Sam Kotane has been addressing people attending Moses Kotane’s reburial in Pella, on the outskirts of Rustenburg. He says his father’s memory must last forever.
“Let history narrates a story of a 17-year-old, whose quest for self-fulfillment, and search for the better life, saw him leave Pella 95-years-ago, and in the process, gained political conscientiousness, which became the very essence of Kotane’s views. Let the narrative further relates of a largely self-taught individual whose rose to intellectual heights to forge a very strong political and ideological ties between a then distrusting ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa.”
Watch Sam Kotane paying tribute to his father below.
A reading of Kotane’s orbituary.
Watch below the role the North West played in bringing Kotane’s remains home.
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