10 December 2002
The South African Communist Party (SACP) congratulates President Thabo Mbeki, and the ANC-led government, for his leadership in the introduction of new national orders in line with the ethos and spirit of the new and democratic South Africa. The SACP also congratulates former President Nelson Mandela and all other recipients of the Orders Mapungubwe, the Baobab and of the Companions of Oliver Tambo.
The SACP is pleased that amongst the first recipients of the Order of the Babobab will be its late General Secretary, Moses Mabhida who died at the age of 62 on March 8, 1986, in Maputo, Mozambique.
The bestowing of the Order of the Baobab on Moses Mabhida reaffirms the important and patriotic role played in the past and currently by South African Communists in the struggle for democracy, transformation and a better life for all.
The honouring of Moses Mabhida comes on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the murder of Chris Hani, the late SACP General Secretary killed in April 1993. For this reason, the recent meeting of the SACP Central Committee declared the year 2003 as the year of to honour and remember communist martyrs, heroes and heroines through focus and memorial activities. Moses Mabhida is amongst those late SACP members to be honoured in 2003.
In Moses Mabhida, the South African liberation movement 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.
CONTACT
Mazibuko K. Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Media, Information & Publicity
South African Communist Party
Tel: 27 11 339-3621/2, Fax: 27 11 339-4244,Cell: 083 651 0271
Email - mazibuko@sacp.org.za