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The Congress of South African Trade Unions dips its flags in honour of Comrade Curtis Nkondo, who passed away on 3 December 2009 aged 82, after a long illness. We send our condolences to Rose, his wife of 52 years, and his four children.

Comrade Nkondo was the founding deputy president of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and devoted his entire life to the liberation struggle, in particular to the fight for better education for all.

He was born on 1 February 1928 in Louis Trichardt and qualified as a teacher in 1952. He was a high school teacher for 20 years, at Pimville High School, and principal of Lamula High School in Meadowlands. He was the founding president of the National Education Union of South Africa (NEUSA) and was elected as the first deputy president of its successor, SADTU, at its launch in 1990.

He also became deeply involved in the broader political struggle as an active ANC member. In 1983, Comrade Nkondo was elected as Vice-President of the United Democratic Front in Cape Town and in 1985 was elected chairperson of the Release Mandela Campaign. As a result of his political activism he was banned as a teacher, imprisoned and subjected to house arrests, when he could only have one visitor at a time.

He also played an active role in the Soweto Teachers Action Committee which emerged during the June 1976 riots and was also involved in the English Language Teaching Information Centre.

After the democratic elections in 1994, Comrade Nkondo became a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and served on the Association against Woman and Child abuse and the Etwatwa Community Trust. At the time of his death he was the head of South African Diplomatic Mission in Namibia.

COSATU pays tribute to a stalwart liberation fighter, who inspired generations of student activists with his commitment to the struggle for a non-racial and equal education system and who will continue to be a role model for generations of students to come.