WATCH: PAC co-founder Edwin Letsholo Makoti’s official funeral

The special provincial official funeral of late freedom fighter and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) co-founder Edwin Letsholo Makoti is underway in Johannesburg.

Makoti died on 21 April 1989 in Harare, Zimbabwe, and his remains repatriated last year.

President Cyril Ramaphosa granted the occasion special provincial official funeral status following a request by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi to the President.

The funeral is being held at Christ the King Anglican Church in Sophiatown ahead of his burial at West Park Cemetery.

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A life of service

Makoti was the PAC’s secretary for publicity and information. He was also responsible for defence and the Azanian People’s Liberation Army, an armed wing of the PAC, before that.

“He rose from the ranks in the Dube branch before the PAC was banned in 1960. He promoted the PAC basdc Document as an evergreen political theory of the Africanists,” the party said of Makoti.

“He also wrote The New Road of the Revolution, National Mandate in Azania and drafted OAU resolutions on the status of occupied Azania as a settler-colony primarily and a Western inspired apartheid racist regime.

“The PAC cadres nicknamed him ‘Carlos the Jackal’ because he could not be linked to any faction or that he could not be pinpointed in any pigeon hole. His swansong was unity of the Africanists.”

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Unapologetic Pan-Africanist

The Gauteng government described Makoti as a revolutionary mind and an unapologetic Pan-Africanist.

“He was a liberation fighter who dedicated his entire life to the liberation of all oppressed peoples. He co-founded the PAC and his legacy as a researcher, writer and advocate for African liberation remains a cornerstone of Pan-Africanist thought.”