By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The family and friends of struggle stalwart, Dr Motsoko Pheko gathered at the Rosebank Union Church in Johannesburg on Saturday, to pay their last respects to the former Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) leader.
Pheko who was an anti-apartheid activist, author, lawyer, historian and academic died two weeks ago at the age of 93.
He was accorded a Special Provincial Funeral by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Paying tribute to their father at his funeral service in northern Johannesburg, one of his three daughters Mammelo Pheko said despite being a public figure, he remained engaged in their lives.
“Given how he shares his time with so many, I never felt or experienced a moment when he didn’t have time for me. I could call him, I could panic about the exams and he would say so dear what do you want to do, what should we do about this? It was never up to me; it was up to us. He knew about my exam timetable, he would call.”
Professor Gordon Zwide, who spoke on behalf of the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust urged government to honour Pheko’s calls for land redistribution.
“Our life is land, the resources of this country are in the land and everything that was taken from us is land. There can never be freedom without the land.”
The Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO)’s Kekeletso Khena echoed these sentiments.
“We are grateful Ntate Pheko for telling us that the land is everything. That the land is and never was a commodity to be traded.”
She added that Pheko would be remembered as a liberation hero who never neglected his roots and values.
Paying tribute to the late leader and echoing sentiments shared at the service, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said he would be remembered as a man who cared about the liberation of oppressed South Africans.
“We bow before you as the Gauteng government with a gesture of a special provincial official funeral to demonstrate how hurt but how proud we are that this son of the soil, scholar, leader, lawyer was indeed a person that can’t go quietly without the honour of the government.”
Pheko was a renowned author who wrote 45 books, some of which detailed the importance of returning South Africa’s land to its rightful owners.
He was a member of parliament for 10 years and served on various portfolio committees including foreign affairs and Safety and security.
Following the dawn of democracy Pheko served as a Member of Parliament for ten years and served in different portfolio committees, including Foreign Affairs and Safety and Security. He also served as the PAC representative to the United Nations.
Motsoko was born in neighbouring Lesotho in 1933. Following the death of his parents, him and his brother moved to South Africa to live with a relative.
In 1960, Pheko joined the PAC, founded by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe in 1958.
He joined political activism against the apartheid regime and was soon arrested and handed a hefty jail sentence.
Upon his release from prison, the anti-apartheid stalwart went into exile, where he stayed for 30 years. He worked in New York, USA, the United Kingdom, Zambia and Tanzania, according to online history site SA History Online.
Following the dawn of democracy in 1994 and his return back home, Pheko, as PAC president, was elected to serve in Parliament in 2003.
The 93-year-old butted heads with the PAC and was subsequently expelled over missing party funds in 2007.
Although he successfully challenged his expulsion in the high court, the PAC expelled him again in 2008.
His seat in Parliament was taken by Letlapa Mphahlele, who replaced him as party president at the PAC elective conference in Qwa Qwa, Free State in 2006.
He served as a PAC MP for 10 years, working in various portfolio committees including the safety and security and foreign affairs committee.