Moses Mabhida
1923-1986
Statement by Oliver Tambo, President of ANC, at the funeral of Moses Mabhida, Maputo, March 29, 1986
Obituary in Sechaba, May 1986
Communique of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party on the death of General Secretary Moses Mabhida, March 8, 1986
It is with profound sorrow that the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party announces the death of the General Secretary of the SACP, Moses Mabhida, on March 8, 1986, in Maputo, Mozambique. He was 62 years old. The South African liberation movement has lost one of its most outstanding political leaders. In addition to being General Secretary of the SACP, he was a member of the National Executive of the African National Congress and the South African Congress of Trade Unions - positions which he had occupied for many years. He was a member of the key organs directing the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the apartheid regime in South Africa and build a united, democratic and non-racial South Africa on the road to socialism.
Moses Mbheki Mncane Mabhida was born on October 14, 1923, at Thornville in the district of Pietermaritzburg, Natal, of peasant stock. His politics reflected the deep resentment of his family and people at the theft of their land by the white colonists. Moses Mabhida started going to school in 1932 and benefited from several years of study interrupted by periods during which he had to work as a herd-boy for one shilling a week. One of his teachers, the outstanding political leader, Harry Gwala, influenced him into joining the ANC and the Independent Trade Union Movement and also explained to him the vital role played by the Soviet Union during the second World War. In December 1942 Moses Mabhida joined the Communist Party.
After the Defiance Campaign of 1952, during which 8,000 people went to jail in protest against the apartheid laws, the Pietermaritzburg District Committee of the Communist Party suggested that Moses Mabhida should give up his job and start working full-time for the trade union movement. He started with the Howick Rubber Workers` Union and the Chemical Workers in Pietermaritzburg, Durban and other parts of Natal.
Moses played a big part in the preparations for the historic Congress of the people in 1955 where the Freedom Charter was adopted. 1955 was also the year of the foundation of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). As an active trade unionist Moses Mabhida was invited to participate in SACTU`s first congress in Johannesburg in March and was elected one of the four Vice-Presidents. As [page missing]....
The South African Communist Party dips its revolutionary banner in solemn tribute to a great freedom fighter whose life and work are an example and inspiration to all his comrades and to all who love peace and social progress.
