By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Family and friends gathered at the Bryanston Methodist Church on Saturday to bid farewell to South Africas ambassador to Algeria, Billy Lesedi Masetlha.
The funeral service was attended by several ANC politicians including former president Kgalema Motlanthe, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, former Cabinet minister Lindiwe Sisulu and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.
He died on Sunday following a long-term but undisclosed illness. He was 68 years old.
Sisulu, a long friend of Masetlha, paid tribute to him. She said the ANC veteran “went through a lot of pain” and sacrificed a lot for the country’s democracy, often at great personal cost.
“Billy you’re the greatest, the greatest friend, you were the greatest revolutionary of our time, our age, and an extraordinary human being,” said Sisulu.
“He had a huge heart, huge enough for all of us and he had his hearty laughter that whatever he was laughing at – whether you understood it or not – you would join in because he was so infectious.”
Mbalula described Masetlha as a selfless and “genuine servant of the people”.
“We have come here to bid this great titan of our liberation struggle farewell. We have not come here to cover the grave of comrade Billy, but we have come to salute him for what he was – a genuine servant of the people and a frontline fighter and revolutionary,” he said.
Masetlha was a “great dreamer who forged a new reality” for South Africa’s constitutional democracy, Mbalula added.
“Comrade Billy’s untimely death marks a life seized and a service ended.”
Masetlha’s sister Dipuo said their family came from humble beginnings.
“We come from a family of 6, we had nothing, but we were brought up in a home which is very warm, very loving. My father ensured that we don’t sleep without food.”
Masetlha was born on 21 November 1954 in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg.
The former freedom fighter was a founding member of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) and played a role in the formation of the Azanian Student’s Organisation (AZASO).
Masetlha was also a member of Umkhonto weSizwe and was previously exiled to Botswana and Zambia.
He was detained in December 1976 after Tokyo Sexwale, Joe Gqabi and 10 others were arrested for organising on the ANC’s behalf and for sabotage, but had refused to testify against them.
In the early 1970s Masetlha was a member of the BC-oriented South African Students’ Movement (Sasm), becoming its Transvaal secretary and later its national secretary. He helped organise the 1975 pro-Frelimo rally in Durban, which resulted in the arrest of current Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and others under the Terrorism Act.