Uriah Maleka (83), a founder member of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) and former representative of the African National Congress in Angola, has died after suffering a mild stroke.
Maleka’s son Tito confirmed that his father died on Saturday morning at the South Rand clinic in Johannesburg.
Tito said the family will soon meet and arrange for the burial in Gamarishane in Limpopo.
Maleka was admitted to Johannesburg General hospital before he was transferred to the South Rand clinic. The hospital had on Friday indicated that Maleka’s condition had deteriorated.
Maleka has been retired after serving the ANC in various capacities both in exile and back in South Africa. His last position was welfare officer in charge of the repatriation of exiles.
John Nkadimeng, a comrade of Maleka from the then South African Congress of Trade Unions (Sactu) and South African Communist Party, said he is deeply saddened by the death of his fellow revolutionary.
Nkadimeng described Maleka as ”a remarkable man in world of remarkable men”.
Maleka was a full-time trade union activist for Sactu in Johannesburg in the 1950s.
He was involved in MK’s initial programme of sabotage in the early 1960s. He was involved in the attack on the Phomolong post office and the Johannesburg power station.
In 1964, Maleka left the country after he and fellow trade unionists were banned by the apartheid government.
He is survived by seven children, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A book about his life is being written. — Sapa