The South African anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg, who was tried alongside former president Nelson Mandela during the Rivonia Trial, has died at the age of 87.
According to the family, Goldberg “died peacefully” at his home in Hout Bay, near Cape Town, just before midnight on Wednesday.
“His family and the Denis Goldberg Legacy Foundation Trust are very sad to announce that Denis Goldberg passed away just before midnight on Wednesday 29 April 2020. His was a life well lived in the struggle for freedom in South Africa. We will miss him,” said the Denis Goldberg Legacy Foundation Trust.
As a member of the ANC’s military wing, he was convicted of armed resistance to white-minority rule and sentenced to four life terms in 1964.
He was imprisoned for 22 years on Robben Island along with Mandela and other struggle stalwarts, including Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni.
On Thursday President Ramaphosa expressed his deep condolences at the passing of Goldberg.
“My thoughts are with Denis Goldberg’s family and his comrades around the country and around the world. This is a sad moment for our nation and a moment for all of us to appreciate Denis Goldberg’s brave dedication to our Struggle and his lifelong activism in the interest of – and in the physical presence of – poor and vulnerable communities around our country,” said Ramaphosa.
“His first experience of prison was alongside his mother who had been detained for four months but such experiences failed to intimidate him; instead, it fuelled his determination that the liberation movement should use all strategies at its disposal, including armed resistance, to end apartheid.”
“His commitment to ethical leadership was unflinching and even during his advanced age, he formed part of the movement of veterans of the struggle calling for reassertion of moral center of society. He dedicated his life to achieving the better life we enjoy today and his revolutionary contribution reinforced the non-racial character of our Struggle and of our democratic dispensation.”
(Compiled by Inside Politics staff)
