Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa: Memorial Service of Moses Kotane and JB Marks

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa's address to the Memorial Service of Moses Kotane and JB Marks as delivered by Minister Siyabonga Cwele at the Johannesburg City Hall

The families of Moses Kotane and JB Marks

The leadership of the Tripartite Alliance

Religious leaders and leaders of all progressive formations

Comrades, compatriots and friends

 

We gather here today to remember and celebrate the lives of JB Marks and Moses Kotane.

 

This moment is both joyful and poignant.

 

It is a joyful moment because after 50 years away from home, these two African heroes have returned to the land of their birth. They have returned to a South Africa that is free and democratic.

 

Yet, we are bound at this moment to reflect on the tragedy of our past, that such devoted sons of this soil should have had to spend their last years so far from the people they loved. And that it has taken so long to bring them home.

 

It is fitting that the remains of these two revolutionaries should return to South Africa together.

 

Moses Kotane and JB Marks were comrades-in-arms. 

 

As leaders of the Communist Party - as Chairman and General Secretary - they worked side-by-side over many years. 

 

When JB Marks died Moses Kotane, who was then the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party and Treasurer General of the African National Congress, said that "the Communist, working-class and liberation movements have lost a man whose qualities it will be difficult to replace. For me I have lost not only a leader but a comrade with whom I have planned and worked for over 40 years. I will never forget him.”

 

They served together in the leadership of the African National Congress, and were both deeply involved in the trade union movement.

 

Born just two years apart, both hailing from what is now the North West, their lives followed very similar paths.

 

As a young man, JB Marks had a number of casual jobs, working as a share-cropper, a labourer and, after he had qualified, as a teacher on the mines.

 

Moses Kotane, too, worked in those few jobs that were available to African people at the time. He worked as a photographer's assistant, domestic worker, miner and bakery worker.

 

It was here that they each witnessed the discrimination, exploitation and inhumanity to which Africans were daily exposed.

 

It was these experiences that convinced them of the importance not only of organising workers to improve their conditions, but also organising and mobilising the working class to defeat capitalist exploitation.

 

It was these experiences that led them both to join trade unions, the Communist Party of South Africa and the African National Congress.

 

JB Marks explains more fully in his own words what made him join the struggle: 

 

"In a country where everything was dominated by inhuman laws and racial segregation as early as the turn of the century, the non-white origin doomed me to constant humiliation. I performed all kinds of casual work at the time and this brought me face to face with the lot of the non-European workers who laboured from dawn to dusk. That was when I first realised the need to fight for the workers' just cause.”

 

Moses Kotane and JB Marks became joined in struggle.

 

Speaking at the funeral of Moses Kotane in Moscow in 1978, former President Oliver Tambo recalled how, once in exile, these two comrades-in-arms had operated from Morogoro in Tanzania, "sharing a small office and sleeping in two small adjacent rooms”.

 

It was a mark of their humility, their commitment and their shared determination to prosecute the struggle for freedom under even the most challenging of circumstances. 

 

Their contribution to the achievement of our freedom is immeasurable.
 

Comrade Alfred Nzo the ANC Secretary General said this about Comrade JB Marks: 

 

"Comrade Marks' many-sided qualities enriched our whole movement. In him was personified the indispensable unity of national and class forces which characterises• our revolutionary united front. He will be remembered not only as a great political figure but as a man whose warmth and humanity endeared him to all who had the privilege of working with him. 

 

"No one was afraid of seeking Uncle JB's advice on all manner of problems whether persona l or political because they knew that even in the midst of turmoil they would be met with that broad warm smile and fatherly wisdom.

 

"We are all so much the poorer for the passing of a man such as this; a man born out of our struggle but one who at the same time helped so enormously to give it direction and clarity. The cause to which he devoted his whole life is still unfulfilled and he died in forced exile away from the land of his birth. But when the inevitable victory comes it will bear the stamp of this great figure and his name will be honoured by our people forever.” 

 

Today we honour him and our people will honour him forever.

 

On behalf of the people of South Africa, we once again express our profound gratitude to the families of these fine heroes of our liberation movement. 

 

Re leboga malapa aga Marks le ba ga Kotane ge Ie refile dinatla tsa goswara tau ka mariri. 

 

Nnete ke gore ba reagetse naga, sarona ke go lebooga ka go tsweletsa midiro ya bona pele. 

 

Anything less, will be a betrayal of their struggle against the indignity and dehumanisation of our people.

 

Comrades and friends,

 

The African National Congress has declared 2015 the Year of the Freedom Charter. It is the year of unity in action to advance economic freedom.

 

It is appropriate that the remains of these two giants of our struggle should return home in this year.

 

The ideals to which they dedicated their lives are reflected in the clauses of the Freedom Charter.

 

The achievement of economic freedom is an objective for which they fought and for which they sacrificed so much.

 

For them, the national liberation struggle was never about private gain or personal exaltation.

 

It was a humane struggle against atrocities directed at families torn apart by pass laws and the migrant labour system.

 

It was a struggle against the exploitation of the workers in the mines and the peasants on the farms.

 

It was a struggle born both of painful experience and a keen understanding of the economic and political underpinnings of the system they sought to confront.

 

Exposed both to the exploitation of workers and the iniquities of racial oppression, Moses Kotane and JB Marks found in the ideology of the Communist Party the means through which to liberate their people.

 

JB Marks explained how he had long searched for an answer to the question of how to eliminate social and racial hatred:

 

"Marxism-Leninism opened my eyes to the fact that the decisive thing is not national but class distinctions? and that only the working class can fight consistently against capitalist exploitation, rallying all the oppressed and disinherited behind it.”

 

Together with Moses Kotane, he understood that the struggle for national liberation could not be separated from the struggles of workers.

 

It was in the seminal 'Cradock Letter' of 1934 that Moses Kotane wrote:

 

"The [Communist Party] must pay special attention to South Africa, study the conditions in this country and concretise the demands of the toiling masses from first-hand information, that we must speak the language of the Native masses and must know their demands.”

 

They were among the most articulate proponents of the relationship between the national struggle and the class struggle.

 

They embodied that relationship.

 

Yusuf Dadoo memorably said that JB Marks stood at the heart of the liberation movement. 

 

In paying tribute to Moses Kotane following his passing, the ANC said:

 

"He was a communist, a Marxist-Leninist and at the same time a member of the ANC par excellence. He did not 'support' the ANC but was himself a personification of the ANC; a man who attached so much importance to the national liberation of the African people, especially the African workers.”

 

In earlier days, at a time when there was much antagonism within the ANC towards Communists, it was the patient, tireless engagement of people like JB Marks and Moses Kotane that challenged prejudice and broke down resistance.

 

Madiba later recalled how Moses Kotane would go to his house late at night and they would debate until morning. In the end, said Madiba, "I had no good response to his arguments”.

 

It was thanks to their integrity, their hard work and their undoubted commitment to the cause of the people that JB Marks and Moses Kotane earned the respect of even the most anti-Communist within the movement.

 

These were leaders who understood that change could only be achieved through effective organisation and collective effort.

 

They were party builders and union organisers.

 

They advanced the view that it was the task of the Communist Party to build and strengthen organised trade unions.

 

JB Marks will forever be remembered for building the African Mine Workers Union into a formidable force.

 

He led the mine workers strike of 1946, in which over 100,000 workers went out on strike to demand a minimum wage of 10 shillings a day.

 

Brutally crushed by the Smuts government, the strike was a turning point in the history of the trade union movement. 

 

It demonstrated that even the most exploited and oppressed, when properly organised and mobilised, could wield great power.

 

The strike coincided with the revival of the ANC and the start of a new era of mass action and direct confrontation.

 

JB Mark's outstanding leadership of mineworkers in the forties became a huge inspiration to mineworkers as they later became organised into the National Union of Mineworkers. The NUM has honoured JB Marks by naming a mineworkers' scholarship after him. The JB Marks Bursary Trust Fund has already helped to fund the education of 830 children of mineworkers in many disciplines in engineering, agriculture, finance and many others. The spirit of JB Marks continues to live in the lives and hearts on mineworkers and their children. His contribution will never be forgotten.

 

Comrades and friends,

 

As we confront the challenges of the present, the role of Moses Kotane and JB Marks in the revival of the ANC and in the growth of the Communist Party is profoundly instructive.

 

At different times during the difficult 1930s, both Moses Kotane and JB Marks were excluded from the structures of the Communist Party.

 

Yet they did not abandon the Party. They did not seek its destruction. 

 

Instead, they continued diligently and patiently to pursue its aims and advance its interests of the Party. The stayed loyal and disciplined.

 

Having been restored to their positions, they both went on to lead a stronger, more cohesive Party.

 

They were instrumental in building the ANC at a time when it had become weak and ineffective. 

 

They did this because they understood that no progress could be achieved without structures that were vibrant and democratic, without cadres that were committed and politically empowered, and without programmes that responded to the needs of the people.

 

Moses Kotane and JB Marks were ready and available at every critical moments in the history of our struggle to do what was required of them.

 

We recall the central role that JB Marks played in the formation of the South African Congress of Trade Unions; the involvement of Moses Kotane in drafting the Africans' Claims in South Africa.

 

We remember the role they each played in the campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws, in the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe and in the establishment of the ANC's mission in exile. 

 

Moses Kotane and JB Marks were internationalists.

 

They identified with the struggles of the oppressed and exploited across the world. They saw the liberation of South Africa as part and parcel of the world anti-imperalist struggle.

 

Comrades and Compatriots,

 

In remembering and honouring Moses Kotane and JB Marks, we are called upon to safeguard and promote the unity of the alliance they helped to build.

 

A divided alliance serves no-one but those who want to maintain the current patterns of privilege and exclusion.

 

A divided working class weakens the ability of our people to advance their rights and improve their lives.

 

A divided trade union movement threatens to render ineffective one of the most powerful weapons that workers possess.

 

Whatever differences we may have today - whether personal or political - they are not greater than the responsibility we have to work together to achieve economic emancipation.

 

In honouring Moses Kotane and JB Marks, we must work together to defeat poverty, unemployment and inequality.

 

Today, these cadres of our movement would have been keen champions of the programme of radical economic transformation.

 

They would have been at the forefront of efforts to build an economy that serves the interests of all. An economy that creates jobs, lifts people out poverty and contributes to thriving communities.

 

As loyal and disciplined members of the African National Congress, they would have been deeply involved in policy deliberations and would have paid great attention to the progress of implementation.

 

They would have had the courage to own up to mistakes and the resolve to correct them.

 

They would have been wary of the trappings of office and acutely aware of its power to corrupt and divert the course of our revolution.

 

Comrades and compatriots,

 

The conditions of struggle evolve. Its character changes with time.

 

The country that Moses Kotane and JB Marks were forced to leave over 50 years ago is a very different place to the one to which they have now returned.

 

They would see profound, meaningful change. There is much they would not recognise.

 

But there is also much that they would find familiar.

 

They would see that most whites still live more comfortable lives than most blacks. They would see young men and women unemployed. They would see poverty and hardship in many of our rural areas.

 

They would continue to see the interaction of class and race - and gender - in the economic and social fabric of our society.

 

But, at the same time, they would also recognise in our people their resilience and determination to be free.

 

They would recognise the undying resolve of our people to overcome the burden of history and build a better future for all.

 

Comrades and friends,

 

The lives of Moses Kotane and JB Marks reveal that true leadership is about affection, concern and respect for the masses.

 

They suffered terribly for the work they did. Banned, restricted, arrested and forced into exile - separated from families and friends - they never departed from the paths they had chosen.

 

They never sought sympathy or adulation for they saw the hardships they experienced as nothing compared to the daily privations of the masses.

 

In everything we do, improving the lives of our people must be uppermost.

 

As a generation that has inherited the revolutionary legacy of Moses Kotane and JB Marks, we must remain true to our mission, our principles and our people.

 

During this year of the Freedom Charter, let the return of the mortal remains of these great leaders inspire us to return to our best traditions of discipline, service and unity.

 

Together we move South Africa forward.

 

Yinde lendlela. Kepha siyaqhuba!

 

Long Live the spirit Moses Kotane. 

 

Long Live the spirit of JB Marks.

 

Matimba! Amandla! Matla!