Johnathan Paoli
Former president of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and anti-Apartheid struggle stalwart Motsoko Pheko has passed away at the age of 93.
The Pheko family released a statement on Saturday and thanked both the public as well colleagues, comrades and friends for the support given during this time of mourning.
“At the age of 93 we are grateful to God for the time spent with him; the love he so selflessly imparted; including his immense knowledge as a renowned Africanist, lawyer, author, historian, theologian, academic, and politician,” the statement read.
Pheko family spokesperson Zandi Radebe said that the family is grateful for the support they have received.
“We’ve lost Dr Motsoko Pheko, a phenomenal and gentle figure, a Pan Africanist, a scholar. The family is grateful for the support that it has received so far, but at the same time it humbly requests that it be given the time to process and come to terms with the situation,” Radebe said.
Pheko was born in Lesotho in 1933 and moved with his brother to South Africa following the death of his parents.
In 1960, he joined the PAC and started his political activism against the apartheid regime and was soon arrested and imprisoned.
Following the democratic dispensation in 1994, Pheko as party president, was elected to serve in Parliament in 2003, however subsequently being expelled over missing party funds in 2007, and again in 2008 following a successful challenge of his expulsion in the high court.
His seat in Parliament was taken by Letlapa Mphahlele, who replaced him as party president at the PAC elective conference in QwaQwa, Free State in 2006; heralding a period of intense party infighting which saw former PAC deputy president Themba Godi leave to form the African People’s Convention.
PAC leader Mzwanele Nyhontso expressed regret that Pheko passed away without seeing the dream of land restitution to the indigenous people fulfilled.
“He was passionate about the land question, it is unfortunate that he has passed away without the land being returned to the African people, because he would always declare that until the land was returned to its rightful owners, then Azania will be free,” he said.
Nyhontso released a statement on Saturday and said the party was deeply saddened by the passing of its past president considering his rich history of involvement in the liberation struggle.
“He was a tree of knowledge on the position of the Africanists, articulating the national question at every stage where he engaged a variety of people,” Nyhontso said.
The president said that the PAC leadership is honoured to have engaged with him and other past presidents of the party such as Clarence Makwetu, Stanley Mogoba, Letlapa Mphahlele and others, who were steadfast in their support for the growth, unity and stability of the liberation movement.
He praised the legacy of Pheko and said at his death he left behind more than thirty books on several topics, including theology, international law, the history of the dispossessed, Magaliso Sobukwe’s work, and the hidden fact of Robben Island political prisoners, among others.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his deep sadness at the passing of liberation struggle veteran and former PAC President and said in a statement that he offered his condolences to the family, comrades and associates nationally and internationally.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, speaking on the sidelines of his party’s volunteers assembly in Moruleng near Rustenburg, lauded Pheko’s contribution to the struggle against apartheid.
“As much as we were on different pathways in terms of our struggle for liberation, but we did together with the PAC, fought for the liberation of South Africa. And therefore, may his soul rest in peace, and condolences to his family and the PAC,” Mbalula said.
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