Lifelong Communist: Bernard Gilbert Molewa
Bernard Gilbert Molewa was born in Duiwelskloof (Limpopo province) on 15 September 1921. He was the son of Magdalene Selepe and Piet Molewa and the fifth child in a family of nine.
He completed his primary school education at Medingen Primary School in Duiwelskloof. He completed his High School education through correspondence with the then Union College. He went on to teach at Mohlommeng Primary School in Duiwelskloof.
He moved to Johannesburg in 1943 and settled at Alexandra Township where he participated in the activities of the African National Congress and the Communist Party of South Africa.
After the coming into effect of the Bantu Education Act in 1954, he became the principal of the ANC Cultural Clubs (popular people`s schools set up to provide alternative education in protest against Bantu education) in Alexandra. He served in the committee that coordinated the Azikhwelwa bus boycott campaign which took place on the eve of the Rivonia Treason Trial which protested against an increase in the bus fare. Thousands of people walked more than 10 kilometres a day for months for the duration of the campaign. Bernard was the Chairperson of the ANC in Alexandra immediately before some members of the ANC in Alex led by Josias Madzunya, decided to defect to the PAC in April 1959.
Comrade BG served two terms of detention under the 90-Day Detention Without Trial Laws during the years 1959 and 1960. In one of these terms, he had his former mentor, John Beaver Marks (late National Chairman of the SACP), as his cell-mate.
When Comrade BG went into exile in 1964, he was on trial for charges under the Suppression of Communism Act. He was also at the time banned and under house arrest.
He settled in Botswana where he was granted political asylum by the then Bechuanaland Protectorate Government. While in Botswana, Comrade BG started a successful poultry farming business, supplying chicken and eggs to surrounding villages. He took up a teaching post in an adult education centre, Capital Continuation Classes. He was deeply involved in the underground activities of ANC and SACTU (S.A. Congress of Trade Unions).
He survived at least one attempted kidnap by the agents of BOSS (Bureau for State Security).
In the 1980s, he felt he was a specific target of BOSS agents. This was after a raid into his study room, the removal of some books and documents and a note left behind that read: "We have taken enough to prove that you are a Communist".
He left Botswana for CUBA for political studies where he also achieved a Bachelor`s degree in Education. He later went to Zambia and was later posted to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) as an accredited representative of the ANC. He remained there until the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In 1990, he returned home to South Africa. He threw himself into the rebuilding of the ANC and the SACP in the North West province. Like many other comrades who spent the rest of their adult lives outside their country, he struggled to make ends meet. He became the General Secretary of the South African Association of Veterans (SAVE), an organisation set up by Matla Trust to help former exiles. Until his death he was a member of the North West SACP Provincial Executive Committee. Comrade BG, who is also the father-in-law of the North West Premier Edna Molewa, died at the age of 83 on Friday, 29 October 2004 after a short illness.
Comrade BG was elected into parliament as MP for the ANC where he served in the Justice, Land, Housing and Education Portfolio Committees. He served as MP for representing North West Province for the period 1994 to 2004. He served his Constituency of Moretele with commitment and diligence. His heart and passion was always with poorest of the poor.
Bernard Gilbert Molewa is survived by his wife, Victoria, one brother, four sisters, eight children and twelve grand children.
