The African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Ace Magashule says the only way for the party to honour struggle stalwart Andrew Mlangeni is to unite.
Magashule was speaking at the party’s official virtual memorial service for the last surviving Rivonia trialist on Sunday. Mlangeni passed away at the 1 Military hospital in Pretoria last Tuesday.
He was responding to a complaint by the party’s Veteran’s League about the unsuitability of former President Jacob Zuma to present one of the memorial programmes organised by the party.
Magashule said Mlangeni lived an exemplary life: “He was never one for grandstanding, by his own admission, he was a backroom boy and he was proud of it. So much that this was a title he chose for his autobiography. His life personified the silent truth that the greatest leaders are not those who separate themselves from their people but those live from among, in the midst of their people.”
Below is the stream of the Official Memorial:
In addressing one of the ANC’s virtual memorial services for Mlangeni, Zuma described him as a person who showed incredible commitment to the liberation of South Africa.
Zuma says Mlangeni lived for the ANC.
“He believed in the ANC policies, he believed in the Freedom Charter and I’m sure as we say goodbye to him we need to promise him that we are going to fulfil the task that was given to all of us by the people of our country that we should implement the Freedom Charter because the Freedom Charter is the document that was produced by the people under the leadership of the ANC.”
Mlangeni’s funeral service will be held at the Soweto Campus of the University of Johannesburg on Wednesday.
In the video below, Zuma reflects on Mlangeni’s life:
