It is with a deep sense of sadness that YCLSA (uafasimba) has come to hear of the passing away of ubaba uEric Stalin Mtshali in the early hours of this morning.
 
Cde Eric "Stalin" Mtshali was a principled communist, an MK combatant who received politico-military and intelligence training in Cuba and the Soviet Union, a Central Committee member of the SACP, a trade unionist, a Commissar of note, a veteran of the Tripartite Alliance, a staunch enforcer of organizational and political discpline hence referred to as a "Man of Steel".
 
As we solemnly lower our red flag in his name, we must not forget that he was a materialist dialectician who understood that 'everything comes and goes', including human life itself. He knew that nothing exists beyond time and space. Neither transcendentalism nor  ertenalizing  eschatologies would have sufficed to sway him, only a dialectical materialist perspective would.
 
It is within this context that YCLSA believes that we must celebrate his life, and strive to live according  to his teachings and not despair. It would therefore be an affront to the revolutionary dialectical materialist principles he steadfastly embodied, to speak about him in idealistic terms.  
 
Having been affectionately known as the 'youngest member of the YCLSA, we take it as our responsibility as the YCLSA to live up to his teachings in pursuit of a socialist-cum-communist order.
 
We would like to send our heartfelt condolences to the Magalela family. May their hearts and souls withstand the pain of loss and possess the ability to celebrate his life.
 
Cde Eric Stalin Mtshali's life can best be summarised by  Nikolai Ostrovsky's words who, in his seminal work How the Steel Was Tempered, observed:
 
"Man's dearest possession is life. It is given to him but once, and he must live it so as to feel no torturing regrets for wasted years, never know the burning shame of a mean and petty past; so live that, dying, he might say: all my life, all my strength were given to the finest cause in all the world──the fight for the Liberation of Mankind”
 
 
Hamba kahle mkhonto.
 
 
May your soul rest in peace and power.
 
 
Issued by the YCLSA