By Charmaine Ndlela
President Cyril Ramaphosa paid an emotional tribute to United States civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Senior at a funeral service in Chicago on Saturday, hailing him as a steadfast ally of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle and “one of our own”.
The service, held at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters, was attended by the Jackson family, the PUSH Rainbow Coalition, members of the US civil rights movement and other American and international dignitaries.
Jackson died on 17 February at the age of 84.
Ramaphosa said South Africans regarded Jackson as one of their own because of the role he played in supporting the country during some of its darkest years under apartheid.
“We are here to join you as you say farewell to a man who carried the message of hope from the streets of Chicago to the streets of Johannesburg,” Ramaphosa said.
“Today we are also here, as South Africans, to claim Reverend Jesse Jackson as one of our own. We lay claim on him today because he laid claim on us first,” he said.
Ramaphosa said Jackson had stood with South Africans when many others remained silent, using his voice to condemn apartheid and back the struggle for freedom.
“Belonging is not determined by the soil on which you were born. Belonging is determined by the soil on which you choose to join the fight against an evil, racist and oppressive system,” he said.
Jackson, a towering figure in the American civil rights movement, was a vocal advocate for international pressure and sanctions against South Africa’s apartheid government. He also led marches in the United States calling for the release of political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela.
Ramaphosa recalled Jackson’s visit to South Africa in 1979, when he drew large crowds in Soweto and declared that change was inevitable.
“He looked at a people he had never met and said: their pain is my pain. Their chains are my chains. Their struggle for freedom is my struggle,” Ramaphosa said.
The president said Jackson’s famous call to “Keep hope alive” became a source of inspiration for many South Africans fighting for freedom.
Ramaphosa also highlighted Jackson’s role in anti-apartheid activism beyond South Africa, including marches in the United States and Britain alongside leaders such as Oliver Tambo.
Jackson witnessed several defining moments in South Africa’s transition to democracy, including Mandela’s release from prison in 1990 and his inauguration as the country’s first democratically elected president in 1994.
Ramaphosa said Jackson’s life embodied the shared struggle for justice and equality, linking the fight against racial discrimination in the United States with the fight against apartheid in South Africa.
“The life of Reverend Jesse Jackson reminds us that the struggle for justice is never the work of a single lifetime. It is a long and noble journey carried forward across generations,” Ramaphosa said.
He said South Africa had honoured Jackson with the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo for his contribution to the country’s liberation.
Addressing Jackson’s family, Ramaphosa expressed South Africa’s gratitude for Jackson’s support.
“We are here not only in mourning, but in gratitude deep, abiding gratitude. When South Africa needed a friend in the corridors of power, Jesse Jackson was that friend,” he said.
Ramaphosa ended his tribute by saying Jackson’s legacy would endure through the values he championed: justice, dignity, equality and hope.
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