President Thabo Mbeki and former president Nelson Mandela heaped praise on the late Raymond Mhlaba at his funeral in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
”Raymond Mhlaba was one of the most committed comrades I had the honour to know and work with in my many years in the liberation struggle,” Mandela told mourners at the Vista campus of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
”What marks him above all in my memory is the absolute honesty and integrity of the man,” he said.
Mhlaba was a courageous freedom fighter and peacemaker who will be remembered as one of the icons of the struggle, Mandela said.
President Thabo Mbeki thanked Mhlaba for his contribution to the liberation of South Africa.
”Thanks to the leadership, the determination, the perseverance, the courage, the inspiration, and the confidence in the people conveyed by Raymond Mhlaba and his generation of titans, we were able to overcome all obstacles until we gained our liberty,” Mbeki said in a speech prepared for delivery at the funeral.
Mbeki praised Mhlaba — a Rivonia treason trialist who spent 25 years in prison — for his years of service to South Africa’s struggle against apartheid.
”Raymond Mhlaba, Ndobe, devoted his entire adult life, covering 60 years, to the service of the people and the cause of freedom.
”Starting as a trade unionist in his early twenties, he grew to become the giant he was, one of the great guides of the struggle our people had and have to wage to free themselves from oppression, poverty and dehumanisation.”
Mbeki said he wished Mhlaba could have lived to see his dream come true ”of a life of dignity and plenty for all his people”.
However, he was glad Mhlaba had lived to see South Africa free of apartheid.
”We should exult and ring the bells of victory that he lived long enough to see our country freed from the curse of white minority rule.”
Mbeki also praised Mhlaba for his willingness to put the fight for freedom above his personal wishes.
”He was ready to carry out any mission he was given and to pay any necessary price, to advance the cause of freedom, again with no expectation of personal gain or glory.
”This has seen him serve the people of South Africa as a trade union and political organiser, a leading volunteer during the defiance campaign, a military commander, a political prisoner, a government leader, a diplomat, and a veteran dedicated to the defence of our national democratic gains.”
The South African Communist Party also paid tribute to Mhlaba, who joined the party in 1943 and was a member for 62 years.
”You passed away still a serving member of the central committee of your very dear party — a communist for 62 years,” the SACP said in a speech prepared for delivery at the funeral.
”We have not come here to mourn, but to celebrate a life lived in full, as there is no more noble a cause than that of fighting oppression and the overthrow and abolition of exploitation of one by the other.”
The SACP also used the opportunity to commit itself to mass action to demand that credit bureaux grant amnesty to millions of people who have been blacklisted.
The party also demanded an end to discrimination by banks, insurance companies and funeral homes against people with HIV or Aids.
The 85-year-old Mhlaba died last Sunday of liver cancer at his home in Port Elizabeth. — Sapa