Struggle stalwarts laid to rest in Limpopo

Two separate services declared special official provincial category 2 funerals by President Cyril Ramaphosa were held for ANC stalwarts in Limpopo this weekend.

On Saturday, ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veteran David Malada, also known as General Peter Dambuza, was buried at his home village of Makonde in a service attended by several party and alliance leaders.

On Sunday, a virtual funeral service was held for Kgosi Mohlamme Mathebe, who was the special adviser to Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha.

Malada, 68, skipped the country in the 1970s to train as an MK soldier in Angola. He commanded several operations inside the country which are vividly captured in his book, So Then the Guns Started Roaring. He also established a foundation to help other MK veterans.

At his funeral service, speakers reflected on his life and also spoke of the factionalism and corruption currently bedevilling the ANC.

Former chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), General Siphiwe Nyanda, said Malada did not die an entirely happy person because “he was troubled by what was going on”.

“The pursuit of money saw the vulgarisation of the organisation – money and materialism became the organisational tool.

“Sometimes [military] veterans were used in factional battles. We joined on the bandwagon of greed and corruption,” Nyanda said.

He said some groups within the ANC had regrouped and were launching counterattacks despite their defeat at the last national elective conference at Nasrec in Johannesburg.

Mathabatha said the ANC was being seen to be treating corruption with kid gloves because of factionalism.

“We need to be honest to ourselves, honest to the movement and honest to the people of this country,” Mathabatha said.

On Sunday, Mathebe was buried in Dennilton. He was a member of parliament before being posted as high commissioner to Zambia. He later became special adviser to Mathabatha.

Another service declared a special official provincial category 2 funeral will be held for the late Petrus Meyer in the Western Cape on Thursday. Meyer served as chief whip and deputy speaker in the Western Cape legislature.