The Mokaba family,
Leadership of the ANC and the Alliance Partners,
Ministers, Premier, Deputy Ministers and MECs,
MPs and MPLs,
Mayors and People Representatives of Local Government,
Comrades and friends,
Fellow South Africans,
I bring you greetings from President Jacob Zuma on whose behalf and indeed the entire behalf of the South African government - I am presenting this Eulogy to an outstanding Patriot of South Africa Comrade Priscilla Mokaba.
We are here today to bid farewell to one of Mankweng and indeed one of Limpopo’s greatest daughters, and also to assure the bereaved family that the good Lord loves them. It is not as a result of their failing that we find ourselves in this service today. It is on occasions like this, that God’s love reveals itself to His people, although for the heart-broken it is difficult to immediately understand His workings.
Comrade Priscilla Mokaba was not simply a model community worker, a model ANC member, a model humanitarian, she was a model human being and an outstanding citizen and patriot of South Africa. It is therefore befitting and not a surprise at all that, the President has conferred the distinct honour of a special provincial and official funeral, and ordered the lowering of the provincial flag today.
She, who now lays here before us, gave real meaning to the saying “The ultimate measure we judge any human being is the extent to which they are willing to sacrifice their lives for a noble ideal which can change the lives of people in a very meaningful way”.
We are reminded of this fact as we pay our last respects to this time-tested revolutionary, an activist par excellence and a loyal dedicated and humble servant of the liberation movement and the people of South Africa, Comrade Ma Mokaba.
For her the struggle against injustice did not end with the demise of apartheid, it remained a life-long project that continued until death claimed her body.
Death has robbed us of a fearless freedom fighter, a fighter for the rights of the rural masses, the poor and working class, for women and the youth, and yet in her humble way contributed to the free and democratic South Africa, we today live in.
When some of the parents were sceptical and even reluctant to participate in the struggle, she inspired her children to dedicate themselves to the cause of the people by being an activist herself and fighting alongside them.
When other parents denounced the young people and renounced their own children who were in detention for their stance against the repressive regime, she stood firmly behind hers and other children and denounced the laws that kept them captive instead.
When the regime could not silence her, her children and her organisation, the United Democratic Front in the 1980s, they detained her without trial and hoped to crush her spirit but she remained undaunted and continued to defy the illegitimate government.
She dedicated her entire life to the struggle against exploitation and oppression. She indeed represented all that is about equality, freedom and dignity.
In our time of grief it is imperative that we remember this, both because to deify her is to ignore the human foibles she overcame to achieve what she did, and because if we ignore her humanity and make her superhuman we absolve ourselves of the responsibility to emulate her beliefs and deeds with our own lives.
It is the moral force of these ideals that saw her endure imprisonment, harassment and torture and the firm belief; even when the apartheid government told her that she will receive her son Peter Mokaba’s body in a coffin- that the goal of freedom in our life time was within reach.
It is only by trying to shape our thoughts, actions and beliefs to align with the example she set that we appropriately honour her memory and defend the legacy she sacrificed so much to create. If there is a price to pay for our freedom, that is it. We owe her and many others an enormous debt of gratitude and no currency other than treating one another as she treated us can settle it.
Compatriots, Comrade Priscilla throughout her life has been a bridge and a unifier, promoting the rights of the rural people, promoting non racialism, and fighting for a better life for the poor and the working class.
Being of farm labourer parentage, her experiences of exploitative conditions and her own work on the farm gave her first hand experience of the misery that constitutes her parents and other farm workers’ daily toil.
And it is these developments which turned Comrade Ma Mokaba into a formidable freedom fighter that she was, one who fought tirelessly for freedom, social justice and equality for the poor and rural people of South Africa.
It is for this reason that Comrade Ma Mokaba and her own entire family joined the African National Congress, and helped build the ANC in Limpopo into the formidable force it is today.
Fellow Mourners,
Many words have been spoken and written about her son the late “Young Lion” Peter Mokaba, but no-one knew him better than his mom, it is through her and the ANC that his character and identity of a fear-less, feisty and outstanding revolutionary was installed. It was also through her that when the time arrived that they both championed peace in the face of oppression and forgiveness in the face of hate.
Those of us who cut our political activism at Turfloop in the 1980s, were fortunate to be inspired by her courageous example and indomitable spirit. The formation of the South African Youth Congress // SAYCO, and its militant engagement against the apartheid regime derived from the encouragement given us by Cde Ma Mokaba and her peers in the trenches.
Dare we not forget that when some tried to create divisions among the ANC here in Limpopo- Comrade Ma Mokaba advocated maximum unity in the ANC of Mandela, Sisulu, Tambo, Lillian Ngoye, Helen Joseph, Joe Slovo, Ephraim Mogale, Peter Mokaba, Frans Mohale and many others.
This was Comrade Ma Mokaba playing her role of unifier and bridge builder, and that we should never steer away from building a unified and dynamic ANC, for it is only through a strong and united ANC that we can continue to build a better country for all.
We should honour her by trying ourselves to be more positive and build a strong and united ANC, here in the home of the black, green and gold.
While it is important and necessary that we grieve, it is equally important that we celebrate a life well lived. Take comfort knowing that as we weep for her, and as we salute her, the entire country does likewise. Cde Ma Mokaba gave her love to the country, and the country loved her in return.
Unlike many, she saw many of her aims and dreams realised in her lifetime. This is both a testament to her vision and her ability to inspire those around her to achieve the seemingly impossible. In Comrade Priscilla we had the quintessential model of selflessness, integrity and compassion. She together with her entire family initiated, oversaw and builds strong structures of the mass democratic movement in Limpopo that shook the roots of the oppressive regime and moved our country to a progressive one. Her ideas and her actions with many others- havechanged our country, forever.
Compatriots, Fellow South Africans,
Today, thanks in no small part to Comrade Ma Mokaba, South Africa boasts one of the most egalitarian and inclusive constitutions on earth. We enjoy rights and freedoms unimaginable to our parents, but we cannot afford to become complacent. Through the actions of many like Cde Ma Mokaba – who have forged a fine path for us, there remains a long journey ahead in the manner in which we treat one another, regardless of race, religion or creed, and is to align with the tenets enshrined in our constitution.
The women of South Africa, Cde Ma Mokaba and luminaries such as Albertina Sisulu, Lillian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph, to name but a few we owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude for their commitment to the cause of the empowerment and emancipation of women.
Comrade Priscilla understood, and helped many comrades to understand, that the fight for gender equality was not an isolated one, but intrinsically linked to the liberation of all oppressed people. As we have seen in the outpouring of condolences from the entire country, Mom Priscilla was truly a people’s person. She was dedicated to the plight of all humanity, not merely that of her comrades. Her struggle for the liberation of South Africa's oppressed was only one aspect of her fight for equality.
As long as any South African woman or child lives in fear, or any member of our society goes to sleep hungry, in particular in the rural areas- there remains work for us to do. Let her legacy continue to touch every aspect of our society. We will tell our grandchildren and their children of her feats, but more
importantly, we will tell them of her character and identity.
Comrade Ma Mokaba has left this country in a state far better than the one in which she entered it. It is left to us who continue to inhabit- to defend her legacy and to ensure the inequalities and injustices she fought and overcame are never again allowed to exist in this country, or any other for that manner.
As we lay her to rest today, we proclaim proudly that Comrade Mokaba was one of us, and that she was one of the finest cadres of the struggle for liberation in our country. We are privileged to have known and to have worked with Cde Ma
Mokaba, as a nation, we are indeed poorer without her, but we must pick up her spear and continue to build our country.
Cde Ma Mokaba you have run your race; you have made your contribution and we are grateful for all that you have done for your community, country and your people. Your leave behind a legacy and many inspired by your courage and good work and we declare here today in your name that we are ready to uphold and preserve your proud legacy.
We say death be not proud, for within us you Comrade Ma Mokaba will live forever. As the government and the people of South Africa, we convey our sincere condolences to the Mokaba Family. You should draw strength in the knowledge that our thoughts are with you during this hour of need. We share you pain; your loss is our loss too.
Today we send Comrade Ma Mokaba off to reunite with her fellow compatriots and comrades, there are so many, but she will also reunite with her son the “young lion” Peter Mokaba, with whom she shared the foremost trenches during our struggle for liberation.
Yours was a race well run – a life fully lived.
We salute you! Hamba kahle
May your spirit live forever within all of us.
I thank you.
