Durban -- THE ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP) have joined a number of South Africans in mourning Mbulelo Musi, the late uMkhonto we Sizwe veteran.
In its tribute, the SACP said Musi was a committed activist and a tried- and-tested peace and freedom-loving patriot.
“Comrade Musi joined the people’s camp for national liberation following the June 16 Soweto students’ uprisings against the apartheid Bantu education system.
“The historic protests spread across many black townships and led to him and scores of his peers and comrades leaving the county for exile in order to seek military training to come back and fight militarily against the racist regime.
“He formed part of a special generation of South African youth of his time who were prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice and lived to see the dislodging of the apartheid system and ultimate liberation of his people,” the communist party said.
The party said Musi became one of the most revered Commissars of the June 16 Detachment of uMkhonto We Sizwe (MK), the joint ANC and SACP military wing, which waged heroic battles against the barbaric, apartheid security system.
“He was fondly referred to in the MK camps by his military and political nom de guerre as Commissar Moss Thema.
“He received his military training in Angola and the then Eastern Germany (GDR). Commissar Musi also graduated in the then-USSR with a degree in Political Sciences.
“During the difficult years of life in exile, Comrade Mbulelo distinguished himself amongst many other brave compatriots as a true revolutionary who was forever prepared to take up some of the most difficult of tasks in various roles in pursuit of the struggle for the liberation of his people.
“Following a stint as a camp commissar in Angola, he was then deployed in the front areas that included Swaziland and Mozambique working very closely with the exiled leadership of SACTU, predecessor to COSATU,” it said.
Musi also survived the Matola raid in Mozambique when the apartheid raided a camp of MK.
“Comrade Mbulelo Musi survived the brutal illegal cross-border raid of Matola in 1981, when the apartheid regime went on an inhumane and horrendous attack of members of the ANC and uMkhonto We Sizwe in Mozambique.
“Sixteen South Africans and a Portuguese national were mercilessly murdered by the fascist, murderous machinery of the then South African Defence Force. Many others were gravely injured.”
The ANC said Musi was prepared to lay down his life to get South Africa freed from the yoke of apartheid.
“Comrade Mbulelo was part of a generation that was prepared to lay down its life for freedom.
“He joined the ANC at a time when it was not fashionable to do so.
“Being a member of the ANC at the time was an invitation for state harassment, police brutality, torture and even death,” the ANC said in its tribute.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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