THE campaign by the Pan Africanist Youth League to be renamed after the late PAC leader Zephania Mothopeng needs to be supported.
Popularly known as "Uncle Zeph", the PAC stalwart played a major role in bringing democratic change in the country.
A teacher by profession, Mothopeng was at the forefront of the struggle for an emancipatory education system in South Africa.
He was a founding member of both the ANC Youth League and the PAC, of which he also became president.
As president of the Transvaal United African Teachers Association (Tuata), now known as the Professional Educators Union, Mothopeng fought relentlessly against the introduction of Bantu Education in 1951 until he was expelled as a teacher.
He was incarcerated - with another former PAC leader, Robert Sobukwe, on Robben Island in 1960 for taking part in the anti-pass campaign. On his release he was banished to QwaQwa from Soweto - where he lived not far from former president Nelson Mandela. He only returned to his home in 1975.
He was arrested again in 1978 and at the conclusion of the Bethal Trial, in which he was the main accused, he was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for his role in the 1976 Soweto uprising and for ferrying arms to the Azania People's Liberation Army, the military wing of the PAC, and for recruiting people to go abroad for military training.
Commenting at the time on his three prison sentences, Mothopeng said he went to prison with his contemporaries, then with his children, and went back in 1979 with his grandchildren when he was 74 years old.
Mothopeng started teaching at Orlando High School in 1941 and became vice-principal in 1946, the same year that he obtained a BA degree through the University of South Africa.
As president of the PAC, Mothopeng was opposed to Mandela's secret talks with the National Party government, arguing that "prisoners were not free to negotiate with their jailers". Only later did the PAC join the multiparty talks which delivered the current political dispensation.
As an Africanist he believed in African leadership - but also believed that an African is everyone who shows his/her commitment to the development of the African continent.
He also believed there was only one race - the human race.
Paying homage to Mothopeng will show how South Africa appreciates the contributions made by those who had laid down their lives for freedom - regardless of their political affiliation.
Homage to 'Uncle Zeph'
THE campaign by the Pan Africanist Youth League to be renamed after the late PAC leader Zephania Mothopeng needs to be supported.
Popularly known as "Uncle Zeph", the PAC stalwart played a major role in bringing democratic change in the country.
A teacher by profession, Mothopeng was at the forefront of the struggle for an emancipatory education system in South Africa.
He was a founding member of both the ANC Youth League and the PAC, of which he also became president.
As president of the Transvaal United African Teachers Association (Tuata), now known as the Professional Educators Union, Mothopeng fought relentlessly against the introduction of Bantu Education in 1951 until he was expelled as a teacher.
He was incarcerated - with another former PAC leader, Robert Sobukwe, on Robben Island in 1960 for taking part in the anti-pass campaign. On his release he was banished to QwaQwa from Soweto - where he lived not far from former president Nelson Mandela. He only returned to his home in 1975.
He was arrested again in 1978 and at the conclusion of the Bethal Trial, in which he was the main accused, he was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for his role in the 1976 Soweto uprising and for ferrying arms to the Azania People's Liberation Army, the military wing of the PAC, and for recruiting people to go abroad for military training.
Commenting at the time on his three prison sentences, Mothopeng said he went to prison with his contemporaries, then with his children, and went back in 1979 with his grandchildren when he was 74 years old.
Mothopeng started teaching at Orlando High School in 1941 and became vice-principal in 1946, the same year that he obtained a BA degree through the University of South Africa.
As president of the PAC, Mothopeng was opposed to Mandela's secret talks with the National Party government, arguing that "prisoners were not free to negotiate with their jailers". Only later did the PAC join the multiparty talks which delivered the current political dispensation.
As an Africanist he believed in African leadership - but also believed that an African is everyone who shows his/her commitment to the development of the African continent.
He also believed there was only one race - the human race.
Paying homage to Mothopeng will show how South Africa appreciates the contributions made by those who had laid down their lives for freedom - regardless of their political affiliation.
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