Dignitaries have gathered for the funeral service of anti-apartheid stalwart Moses Kotane at the Pella Sports Ground in the North West on Saturday morning.
These include President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chief Justice Moegoeng Mogoeng, North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo, and South African Communist Party Secretary General Blade Nzimande.
President Jacob Zuma is expected to deliver a speech at the service where thousands of North West residents have also gathered to pay their last respects to their ‘hero’.
Kotane and his fellow colleague John Beaver Marks’ remains were repatriated from Russia on the 1st of March.
Zuma expressed the home coming of the struggle veterans as the beginning of a new chapter to bring back others who died outside the country during the fight against the apartheid government.
Kotane served as the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party and the Treasurer General of the ANC. He is the recipient of the ANC’s highest honour of Isitwalandwe.
He died of a stroke in 1978 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Former Chairperson of the SACP and ANC Treasurer General Marks was buried at the same cemetery.
The ceremony continues till 13pm. Here are some of your comments on the Moses Kotane’s reburial:
– By Lerato Matlala
