The MEC for Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development in the Northern Cape Mr Norman Shushu praised Mr Ulysses Modise and other martyrs of freedom for the outstanding role they played to dismantle apartheid. MEC Shushu was delivering a memorial lecture to a packed hall at Galeshewe in Kimberley during a Human Rights Day ceremony.
Human Rights Day is commemorated annually to remember demonstrators in Sharpeville who were gun down by the police in 1960. The police opened fire, apparently without having been given a prior order to do so. About 69 people were killed and 180 wounded. This day became known as Sharpville Day and was later changed to Human Rights Day after the new dispensation.
MEC Shushu highlighted that “Goggie” as Mr Modise was affectionally known by his comrades served the ANC with distinction. The MEC stated that human rights did not happen in vacuum as the struggle was to bring back the human dignity.
Mr Mogogi Ulysses Modise was born in December 1942 and he was one of the first youths from Kimberley to skip the country and join the ANC’s Umkhonto we Sizwe in exile. He was instrumental in the formation of the Military Veteran Association in the province. He underwent military training in Lusaka, the ANC’s headquarters. He died in May 2007 after a short illness. The MEC concluded that as part of history the municipality must consider renaming some areas and streets after our fallen heroes.
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