In a Historic Mass Action Since the 1987 Miners Strike, Thousands of Mi Funeral Day - April 19

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In a Historic Mass Action Since the 1987 Miners Strike, Thousands of Mi Funeral Day - April 19 MILLIONS THEIR HERO - In a historic mass action since the 1987 Miners Strike, thousands of mi Funeral Day - April 19. Over 120 000 people packed the FNB Stadium near! and surrounding areas. Workers delivered yet another deadly blow causing im Comrade General Secretary of the South African Communist Party, Chris Hani was assassinated on Saturday as Janusz Walus who belongs to a neofascist organisation called AWB. He is at present in police Custody Hams' life history written by himself in 1991. In addition we have added some important excerpts from A MESSAGE FROM COSATU PRES] II K JOHN G0M0M0 NELSON MANDELA A Fighter for Peace, and Democracy - CHI The assinaiton of Chris Hani is a Chris Hani heinous crime against not only his ThcChris Hani workers know, is thconc who when asked by the ANC and the person and his family* but also SACP to submit or Tight, responded by joining ihe ranks of MK. Through his against (he people of our country as involvement in the underground work, he championed the cause of peace by IN HIS a whole* warning us not to turn the other check when struck by the enemy. Those responsible for (his terrible When he was elected to the mammoth task of General Secretary of the SACP. deed arc demented enemies of he proved himself a committed communist Today he would be in Gugulethu Chris Ham. bom on 28 June 1941, In justice, democracy and pence in our calling for housing, tomorrow in the mines calling for an end to retrenchments, Cofiravaba.Transkei. General Secretary countiy. dismissals and forworkcrs to be paidalivingwagc. As if thatwasnoicnough.two of the SACP since December 1991. and It is the responsibility oft he entire days later he would be in Vent!3 calling for health improvement and later a ANC NEC member since 197-4. Matri­ nation to find them and ensure that march by teachers #nd students around educational needs. culated at Lovcdak\ 1958; Universities- they arc brought before the courts Comrades Cdc Chris agreed with the Rhodes and Fort Hare 1951-61. BALa tin of the land to answer for this inde­ alliance strategy of negotiations. But and English. Joined ANC Youth League scribable act of barbarism. hc was consistent in maintaining the 1957. Active in Eastern and Western Chris has spent his life fighting JM & balance between negotiations and Cape ANC, before tearing S A in 1962. for a just society. Consistent with Commissar in the Lutuli detachment this, he has been playing a centra) I • mass struggles. He played a leading joint ANC/ZAPU military campaign role in the common effort to arrive role alongside other leaders in the 1967, escaped to Botswana, returned at a negotiated settlement of the rolling mass action last year and twice from Botswana to Zambia 1968. Infil­ problems facing our country. marched to Bisho in support of the trated S,A. In 1973 and then based in demands for the creation of climate for Lesotho. Left Maseru for Lusaka 1982 free political activity. In honourof this hero ofourstruggie. after several unsuccessful assassination I call on all of us today, workers in attempts* Commissar and Deputy Com­ particular, to say to the negotiators: Wc mander of Umkhonto we Sizwe, armed want agree memonadate for holdingof ningofANC, 1984, Chief of Staff, MK elections for a Constituent Assembly 1987, now! 71icfollowing britf autobiographical account was written by comrade Chris Hani in February 1991: Fidel Castro Ruz, "••J was bora in a small rural town in the Transfcci called Cofimvaba, This town is almost 200 kilometres from President of Cuba East London* 1 am the fifth child in a During his very Jast days, he has family of six* Only three of us are still been at (he forefront of the cam­ At this juncture... it is confirmed that the forces surviving, the other three died in their paign to end violence in the country of reaction are the only ones which benefit from infancy. My mother is completely and to encourage a spirit of tolerance illiterate and my father scmi-litcrate. among all our people and their the political violence to which the South African My father was a migrant worker in the political organisations. people are daily submitted. The survival of mines in the Transvaal but he sub­ He is a martyr to the cause sequently became an unskilled worker of justice and peace. His death sectors and forces contrary to the elimination of in the building industry. demands of us (hat wc pursue that cause with even greater vigour and the racial segregation regime, even at the price Life was quite harsh for us and wc determination* of such a heinous crime, also confirms that - went through some hard times as our At this moment of unbounded mother had to supplement the family grief for the whole country, our although the future looks promising - the anti- budget through subsistence farming, deepest sympathies go to Chris's apartheid movement will have to wage great and had to bring us up with very little wife* Umpho. the children and the assistance from my father who was rest of (he family battles and face unforeseeable obstacles. always away working for the white capitalists. OURN DEATH OF MASSIVE STAYAWAY eworkers joined millions of South Africans to mourn the death of their hero by staying away from work on Hani's m\o for Hani's night vigil and funeral service, while thousands others flooded Elspark Cemetery in Germiston BIculable harm to the ailing apartheid economy which fuels the racist Pretoria regime. 0 April at his home in Dawnpark near Boksburg. The alleged murderer is a white man of Polish origin known facing murder charges. As a tribute by South African Mineworkers, NUM News publishes Comrade Chris tatements made by ANC President, Nelson Mandela and other leaders on the coldblooded murder of Chris Hani. US HANI OWN WORDS I had to walk twenty kilometres 10 tyrants as portrayed in various literary school every five days and then walk works also made me hate tyranny and (he same distance to church every institutionalised oppression. Sunday. At the age of eight I was In 1961 I joined the underground already an altar boy in the Catholic South African Communist Party as I Grist stricken family or Chris Hani, two young dauntiters and their mother Limpho. church and was quite devout After realised that National liberation, finishing my primary school educa­ though essential would not bring tion I had a burning desire to become about total economic liberation. a priest bui this was vetoed by my My decision to join the Party was COMRADE JOE SLOVO - father influenced by such giants of our In 1954. whilclwas doing mysccon- struggle like Govan Mboki, Braam SACP CHAIRMAN dary education, the apartheid regime Fisher. IB. Marks. Moses Kotanc, Ray IlwasforthccauseorthcHorfccrsand introduced Bantu Education which Simons, etc* the poor, that Comrade Chris took up was designed to indoctrinate Black In 1962, having recognised the in­ arms. It was for them that he crossed the pupils to accept and recognise the transigence of the racist regime. I Zambezi with MK to light in the Wankic campaign in 1967* supremacy of the white man over the joined the fledgling MK. This was the blacks in all spheres. This angered and beginning of my long road in the It was for this cause that he was the outraged us and paved the way for armed in which there have been three first ANC NEC member in the 1970s to return 10 SA and operate in the under­ my involvement in the struggle* The abortive assassination attempts against ground. arraignment for Treason of the ANC mc personally. The struggle, has Chris Honi always led from the front leaders in 1956 convinced me to join brought about the present crisis of in theMK^m the undergrounds Bi$ho the ANC and participate in the struggle apartheid. In 1967 1 fought together last yean Chris Hani was not a head­ forfreedomJn I9571madeupmymind witli Zipra forces in Zimbabwe as quarters leaden but a field commander and joined the ANC Youth League. political commissar. In 1974 I went {and not just in the military sense). He I was fifteen then, and since politics back to South Africa to build the never expected anyone to do an>thing was proscribed at African schools, our underground and I subsequently left he was noc prepared to do himself. He was a rare combination of different activities were clandestine. In 1959 I for Lesotho where I operated under­ strengths: went over to university at Fori Hare ground and contributed in the build­ ing of the ANC underground inside theory. It wasn't big words. For him. whcrcl became openly involved in the • he was an intellectual who could our country. communism was: struggle, as Fort Hare was I liberal speak the language of the poor * jobs for the jobless campus. It was here that I got exposed The four pillars underpinning our • he knew how to lead, and be knew * homes for the homeless to Marxist ideas and the scope and struggle have brought about the how to follow; * a living wage for the workers nature of the racist capitalist system. present crisis of the apartheid regime. * he was a revolutionary who did not * hope for the youth My conversion to Marxism also The racist regime has reluctantly confuse revolution with noise; * a life of dignity for the old deepened my non-racial perspective. recognised the legitimacy of our * by nature be was the most peaceful, * free health care and decent educa­ the most humane person, He hated My early Catholicism led to my struggle by agreeing to sit down tion for us all.
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