By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe has described the former Umkhonto we Sizwe Veteran’s Association Kebby Maphatsoe, as someone who has made a significant contribution to the party.
Mantashe delivered eulogy at Maphatsoe’s funeral service at the G.O.G. Recreational Centre in Protea Glen, Soweto.
He said the disbanding of the MKMVA and MK national council shouldn’t be an issue rather the discussion should be around the conference to unify the MK veterans.
The ANC NEC had approved the disbanding of the MKMVA and MK national council,the party said that it was time for the ANC to clean all its structures.
Mantashe has also dismissed the talks that Maphatsoe died being an angry man.
He worked with Maphatsoe as the ANC Secretary-General in the early years of the formation of MKMVA. Mantashe says they were discussing an all-inclusive unity conference of former MK combatants.
While he was still at the podium, a group of MK members entered the recreational center singing,disrupting Mantashe from speaking and he allowed them to continue singing until they were told to leave the centre.
Mantashe acknowledged that this is part the problems that the ANC is facing and they will attend to it, he also conceded the factionalism within the party.
In the ANC, factions are prevalent, enough that conventional wisdom holds that the party is at war with itself. They greatly affect the country and reduce the party’s capacity to address challenges affecting daily life, said Mantashe.
“In our view, factionalism is a gross deviation from ANC policies and is rooted in the promotion of self-interest and careerism above the interest of the people. It is also a self-preservation agenda that sees self above all.”
“It is also driven by counter-revolutionary tendencies which are rooted in maintaining the status quo at the least or returning to the old ways at best,added Mantashe”
Maphatsoe died at his home in Meyersdal near Alberton in Johannesburg less than a week ago of what the family says was cardiac arrest. He served as deputy minister between 2014 and 2019 and was a member of the ANC NEC until December 2017.
Maphatsoe’s brother, Joseph Maphatsoe, rejected what he described as “fake reports” that his brother had died as a result of complications experienced following his second jab of the Covid-19 vaccine.
“On Tuesday 31 August around 11:45, I realised I missed Kebby’s wife’s phone[call] and I responded immediately, and she said, ‘brother please come home immediately’.
“I found him lying quietly in his home and I realised something was very wrong. I then proceeded to try and resuscitate him, but there was no response except for a pulse that seemingly increased.
He also challenged allegations that the former MKMVA president had died in hospital, saying he was certified dead by the paramedics at his home.
Mantashe,Supra Mahumapelo, Ayanda Dlodlo and Nathi Mthethwa were the speakers he specifically asked to be given time to speak about him. He asked that they “not be pressured, but given time.”
They were all in attendance on Sunday except former president Jacob Zuma who sent a tribute.
Maphatsoe was a member of the Congress of SA Students (Cosas) and the Soweto Youth Congress (SOYCO) as well as the SA Youth Congress (SAYCO).
During the apartheid years he went into exile and became a trained political commissar of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC. He received further training in Angola and the Soviet Union and was also exiled in Uganda before returning to SA.
Maphatsoe also led the MKMVA as a regional chairperson, and was elected provincial chairperson in 2007.
Under his political direction, the MKMVA became an integral component of the ANC and for the first time, the association was in the central agenda of the ANC political framework, “with the achievement of progressive resolutions for the association and the ANC”, according to a statement by the ANC.
Maphatsoe will be laid to rest at the West Park Cemetery.