John Pule Motshabi
1920-1988
Obituary by Obed T. Motshabi in Sechaba, May 1989
John Pule Motshabi was born on March 21, 1920, on a farm called Randesfontein, which borders Pretoria and Johannesburg. At a tender age he was confronted by great odds, and became a victim of oppression, like any other African child. His small school beginnings saw him up to Standard Six - a major achievement for those times. While he attained this standard, he was at the same time performing the rural task of herding cattle for his grandfather.
Later, Pule, as he was called, hit the road for greener pastures in the Golden City. It was there in Johannesburg that he enhanced his education, and collected Forms One and Two as well. Eventually, despite obstacles along his path, his determination saw him qualify as an electrician.
John Pule Motshabi`s interest in politics was fired by discussions - which he listened to intently - between his grandparents and their colleagues. These discussions included activities of the members of the African trade union, the Industrial and Commercial Union (ICU), their involvement in different regions, and how they solved their day-to-day problems. The ICU was so active that many people started to show appreciation by giving donations for the good work it was doing. As an act of such appreciation, Pule`s grandparents also donated two big beasts in support of the union.
John Pule was also encouraged by political organisations and political personalities of the time. He was influenced by those personalities who participated in the All-African Convention in Bloemfontein in 1936. The men and women at this convention were of differing outlook and character, but were bound together by their resolve to defeat the Hertzog Act and the 1913 Land Act, which deprived Africans of the right to freehold ownership of land.
It came as no surprise, then, when John Pule Motshabi joined the African National Congress in 1942, when he was in his prime, a young man of 22. He came in contact with thinkers and practical leaders like J.B. Marks, Moses Kotane, Jack Simons, Bram Fischer, Edwin Mofutsanyana and David Bopape. Later in 1942, he joined the Communist Party of South Africa.
When, in 1947, the ANC, the Natal Indian Congress and the Transvaal Indian Congress entered into the Xuma-Dadoo-Naicker pact of unity, Pule had become a fully-fledged activist. He became the provincial secretary of the ANC. In 1946, together with Comrades Schreiner Baduza, Mark Ramitloa, Lucas Bokaba and Abner Kunene, he campaigned with the squatter movement in Alexandra Township, where the people were demanding land to build themselves houses to live with their families, and freedom to work wherever they wished.
He also became one of the organisers of the African mineworkers` strike in 1946, in which H.M. Seperepere, Elias Motsoaledi and Ruth First also took part.
When the barbarous Ghetto Act of 1946(1) was passed, Comrade Motshabi was on the task force to take the struggle to the citadel of power by mobilising the masses to resist. As an official of the ANC, he took part in the planning of, and actively participated in, activities of the movement and chaired commissions.
These events, landmarks in the history of our struggle, involved names like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Dan Tloome, T.T. Nkobi, John Nkadimeng and others, some of whom are serving life sentences. During the Alexandra bus boycott in 1957, at the time of the historic Treason Trial, it became John Pule`s main task to coordinate with other areas in conducting a solidarity boycott in Soweto. Political activist, organiser and fighter, he was in the centre of the whirlwind.
When the historic Rivonia crackdown took place, and some comrades were arrested while others dived underground, Comrade Pule worked hard to save many comrades who might have been arrested. This demonstrated his ability to master underground work, and his finesse in handling underground machinery; and he developed a close contact and working relationship with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu.
In the early 1960s, Comrade Pule joined the external mission of the ANC, and continued his activity in the South African Congress of Trade Unions. His disciplined lifestyle and rigorous devotion to the politics of his country saw him working for SACTU abroad.
At the same time, he also rendered service to the Communist Party, under its new name, the South African Communist Party. One of the main tasks of Comrades John Pule, Ray Simons, Jack Simons and Flag Boshielo was to establish a strong Central Committee that would help to consolidate activities of the party with the internal struggle. The ultimate thrust of this exercise was to harmonise the entire struggle for effective liberation. That Flag Boshielo took the decision to go inside South Africa speaks for this.
Comrade Pule repeatedly pointed out that political consciousness was supreme, and military struggle only complementary to the political struggle. He said it was possible to win the military struggle and fail to win the political struggle, if the people did not understand the direction of the political struggle. He stressed the importance of people`s leaders speaking in the languages people understood and cherished. He believed that we should be ready to speak our own languages and to encourage their use at meetings; that we should develop literary works as a priority and as a symbol of progress, prosperity and freedom for our people.
Pule liked music. Also, like Moses Kotane, he was a footballer, and founder member of Pretoria Callies Football Club. While active in politics, he helped organise the famous Moroka Swallows Football Club, in Moroka Emergency Camp.
One of Comrade Pule`s best qualities was that he was always keen to learn from others. So overwhelming was his commitment to truth that, once convinced of his stand, he would stick to it, until the cows came home, even if it appeared distasteful to his colleagues. To Pule, truth and politics were inseparable. During his oration at Pule`s funeral, President Tambo underlined this fact, which he said was a rare quality.
John Pule Motshabi was buried in Lusaka on November 28, 1988.
Farewell, Comrade Pule. Your contribution and sacrifices were not in vain. Historians of the future will study the period you lived in, and the struggle of that time to bring the South African regime to its knees, win for all our people freedom, democracy, justice and peace, and establish a non-racial democracy on the basis of the Freedom Charter.
