Nelson Mandela has described the death from cancer of his close friend, anti-apartheid struggle leader, businessman and medical doctor Nthato Motlana, as ”a hard blow”.
Motlana will be best remembered for his activism, which stretched back to the late 1940s, when he was elected secretary general of the ANC Youth League while a student at Fort Hare. Tried with Mandela and 18 others in 1952 in connection with the Defiance Campaign, he was central to the Committee of Ten, set up after the 1976 Soweto students’ uprising. He served nine months with hard labour, and was later banned twice and detained repeatedly.
Motlana’s entrepreneurial traits first emerged with the opening of a grocery store in Soweto in the 1970s, leading to the establishment of Kwacha, which gave birth to Soweto’s Lesedi Clinic, and ultimately, the flagship investment company Nail.
This week the Mail & Guardian spoke to some of his friends, business partners and fellow activists about the man they knew and admired.
Richard Maponya, businessman
”I never saw a man work like he did. At one stage he was the only doctor in Soweto taking care of millions.
”He was the champion of BEE, the first to initiate it. We formed the company Kilimanjaro together and Nail. When we were on a tour in London, we saw private clinics benefiting communities and thought it was a great initiative. We realised there was no such thing in Soweto. When we got back he asked me for money to start a company so we put our heads together and formed Lesedi, Soweto’s first private clinic.
”I would like something named after him, so his name can live forever.”
Saki Macozoma, businessman and activist
”What I remember most is his sense of humour — no subject was taboo. He particularly liked to joke about the foibles and idiosyncrasies of black people, which others found difficult because of political correctness. He was extremely committed to modernising the way of life and thinking patterns of black people. Slow progress in that direction frustrated him.
”He was a non-conformist who was always willing to break the mould and do whatever he considered right irrespective of what society thought. He also did much for education, which he considered an essential tool in the liberation struggle.”
Murphy Morobe, chief executive of Kagiso Media
”I knew him since I was in high school; he was our family doctor. I became addicted to apples because he always told me: ‘If you want to avoid my injection you should have an apple a day’ — I still do.
”During the 1976 struggle, we spent many hours taking people shot by the police to him. He never feared arrest — he always assisted. He was our people’s doctor.
”One of my fond memories of him was his parental role during the Soweto uprising. [Now Johannesburg mayor] Amos Masondo and I were part of the Soweto students movement; we had to organise students from KwaZulu-Natal and we needed money to travel to Durban. We knocked on his door — he gave us R20 pocket money, a lot back then, but not enough for three of us to travel and eat. He preached self-reliance, encouraging us to find ways to get what we wanted. So we saved the R20 for food and other needs, and we walked and hitched to Durban. It took us two days to get there.
”As a politician he was a role-model. He taught us not to back down when we felt strongly on an issue. He never minced his words.”
Dikgang Moseneke, Deputy Chief Justice
”Nthato was my father’s friend; I knew him and worked with him for many years. We established the Get Ahead Foundation together; I worked closely with him at Nail and on the board of Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
”He was energetic — he jogged every morning up to his seventies. He had no time for people who were lazy or who eat a lot; he believed food was for fuel.
”Politically, he was one of the greatest patriots, a torch-bearer from a generation who committed themselves to liberating oppressed people.”
Vuyo Jack, head of Empowerdex
”Motlana was the father of BEE — it was his business leadership that acted as a critical catalyst for empowerment in the country. He broke down the doors through significant deals like the purchase of Metropolitan Life from Sanlam, which began the BEE deal wave.
”What is more, Motlana negotiated these deals as an equal and not from a position of subservience. He advanced BEE both from a psychological perspective and in terms of the deal flows.”