By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Yasmin ‘Jessie’ Duarte, the ANC’s long-serving Deputy Secretary-General, died early on Sunday morning after a battle with cancer. Duarte was known for being outspoken and for not shying away from the official line.
During a media briefing on Sunday, the ANC said she was a strong leader despite being subjected to continued harassment under apartheid.
“An activist, feminist, cultural worker, internationalist, and servant of the people. Hamba Kahle Cde Jessie.”
The ruling party said it “dips its revolutionary banner” to mourn Duarte’s passing, describing her as an activist and servant of the people.
“The ANC is highly indebted to comrade Duarte. […] Her loss will reverberate throughout all our structures”.
Duarte’s long history in the struggle goes beyond her siblings who also contributed to the battle for liberation. She formed part of a young group of women known as “Mama Sisulu’s girls,” after being recruited by the iconic Albertina Sisulu in 1979, to help build structures of the Federation of Transvaal Women (FEDTRAW). During this period, she also served as an assistant to Reverend Beyers Naude.
Part of her role at FEDTRAW was to establish the federation across the provinces, engaging churches, and women in education and health care, mobilising them in the fight for freedom.
One of her more well-known roles was that of being at the side of another liberation giant – South Africa’s founding president, Nelson Mandela, whom she served as one of his assistants when he came out of prison in 1990. Duarte has often spoken of her relationship with the man fondly known by his clan name Madiba, saying he improved her understanding of her role as an activist in society.”
“His absolute commitment to humanness, to humanity and people’s quality of life,” is one of the key take-ways Duarte told the SABC remained with her, even decades after she worked with Madiba.
She also served as an assistant to another struggle hero – Walter Sisulu in the lead-up to the country’s first democratic elections.
In the 1990s she was part of the ANC in Gauteng, and served two years on its provincial executive committee, before being elected to the national executive committee in 1997.
She was also part of the first democratic government, serving as the safety and security MEC in Gauteng.
During this period, she was accused of driving an official government car without a valid driver’s license, getting into an accident with that vehicle and then failing to report it on time. She was also accused of hiring an underqualified consultant at an R300 000 annual salary and for purchasing an unauthorised flight ticket to Portugal for her supposed boyfriend at the time.
She quit her role after a commission looking into the matter found that there was strong suspicion that she had covered up the car accident while driving without a license.
In 1999 she was appointed South African ambassador to Mozambique, leaving that role in 2003.
Duarte was elected deputy secretary general of the ANC at its 53rd national conference in 2012, which took place in Mangaung; she was re-elected into that role at the 54th conference of 2017, which took place in Nasrec.
In her second stint as the deputy in the powerful office, which operates as the engine of the former liberation party, she served under party president Cyril Ramaphosa, who was elected deputy president when she was first elected into the top six.
Ramaphosa came out in support of Duarte in 2021, when she faced threats from her own comrades over her signing off on a suspension letter against her boss – Ace Magashule.
She was laid to rest this afternoon in Johannesburg according to Muslim rites.
Duarte is survived by her children, grandchildren, siblings, and extended family.
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