The heart-breaking news of the passing of Dumisani Mafu has left the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature in a state of despair. Many of us who had an opportunity to work with him in the struggle for liberation can attest that the movement has indeed lost a disciplined, devoted and hardworking cadre.

It is not every day that you get a whole generation giving the entirety of their lives to the cause as noble as the liberation of humanity. Comrade Dumisani ‘’Mazolo” Mafu and his generation did just that. For someone to come through the ranks of an army of freedom fighters and become the sort of commander, educator and leader that he became is something special.

Comrade Mafu belongs to a special category of people who voluntarily joined the struggle for liberation, led by the Revolutionary Alliance of the African National Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party (SACP). It is no exaggeration therefore to say that his passing is a loss not only to his family and friends, but a loss to the nation as a whole. It is in that spirit therefore that we join many other South Africans (as individuals and organisations) in paying tribute to the late comrade Dumisani “Streaker” Mafu. We salute him for his bravery and his revolutionary spirit.

Man’s dearest possession is Life and it is given to him to live but once. He must live so as to feel no torturing regrets for years without purpose,

Never know the burning shame of a mean and petty past, so live that, dying he can say:

“All my life, all my strength was given to the finest cause in the world – the fight for the Liberation of Mankind!” (Nikolai Autrovsky).

And so he did.

 

Issued by Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature