Zambia: ANC Freedom Fighters Going Home to South Africa. 

-A historic moment is happening in Zambia.

By Bishop Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba*

Mr Fikile Mbalula the Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), in a letter to Bishop Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba, President of the United National Independence Party (UNIP), has informed him on a party-to-party level about historic developments.

A South African delegation comprised of various ministerial departments working on the implementation of exhumation and repatriation project, arrived in Zambia 30th of

August 2024, until the completion of the process. 

The African National Congress (ANC) together with the South African government have embarked on an initiative to repatriate and honour the liberation struggle combatants who selflessly gave their lives in the fight for South Africa’s freedom. 

The families of heroes and heroines of the freedom fighters travelled to Zambia to perform traditional rites in preparation for the exhumation of their mortal remains.

Among the revered heroes and heroines whose mortal remains are being repatriated are Advocate Duma Nokwe, former Secretary General of the ANC (1959-1978) and Comrade Kemoabele Florence Mophosho, former Head of the ANC Women’s Section (1975-1985); Also, Comrade Adophus Mvemve and Todd Matshikiza as well as those

whose remains are at the Nakating burial grounds in Livingstone, Zambia.

A Service of Repatriation of the remains of ANC Freedom Fighters buried at Leopards Hill Cemetery, Lusaka, Zambia, was held on Saturday 31 August 2024, officiated by 

the UNIP President Bishop Trevor Mwamba together with the Chaplain General the Reverend Joseph Maphatsoe of the South African Defence Force. 

Bishop Mwamba paid tribute to Comrade Philemon Pearce Dumasile Nokwe and the gallant freedom fighters.

“In 1962 Kenneth Kaunda remembered meeting Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela ‘two young men’ as he called them in Ethiopia. The three of them had discussions. It was in the spirit of Ubuntu and pan Africanism.

He remembered telling them how UNIP had already made a stance that when Zambia became independent, she would support our brothers and sisters in the ANC in fighting for freedom. The pledge was resolute. 

The ANC together with many other liberation movements in the region found a home in Zambia. 

Zambia was blessed to have great freedom fighters, men and women, heroes and heroines, like Comrade Duma Nokwe in its midst.

Duma Nokwe is a great star in the history of the ANC and South Africa. And for as long as the history of South Africa is recounted to generations to come his name shall be honoured and shine brightly among the greats as Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, and Walter Sisulu.

These men played an important role in shaping the future of South Africa. They were architects of South Africa’s democracy. 

Comrade Duma Nokwe like Oliver Tambo trained as teachers. They both were excellent teachers, but the oppressive forces of apartheid drove them out of their chosen profession for fear that they were abusing their position to teach their students to aspire to greater heights than those determined by their oppressors. 

Little did they foresee that inspired and helped by the wise man of the ANC Walter Sisulu; they would become lawyers.

So, Duma Nokwe studied law and became the first black lawyer to be admitted to the Transvaal Supreme Court. 

He was also the first African to be admitted to the Johannesburg Bar. Though welcomed by the leaders of the profession, the supporters of the apartheid regime threatened that if he came into the Bar common room, they would report the matter to the group areas inspectors to charge him and the Bar Council with the offence of allowing a native into a place where seating was available for refreshments. 

The Bar Council told Duma that he was a fully-fledged member but that he would have to make a decision for himself as to whether he would risk prosecution if he insisted on his rights. Duma consulted Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. There was a difference of opinion. Nelson and Duma thought that he should take the risk. Oliver however agreed with Walter who said that the African people had been trying for a whole generation to have an African advocate; the opportunity should not be lost for the sake of a cup of tea.

Duma Nokwe was a brilliant Secretary General of the ANC. He was at the core of the life of the ANC. 

We remember him at the the formation of the ANC Youth League on Easter Sunday, 1944. And from 1953 to 1958 became the Secretary of the Youth League. 

We remember Duma Nokwe passionate and committed to the purposes of the ANC as he participated in the Defiance Campaign and represented communities and individuals in court. 

He did this until he could not practise because he was accused in the 1956-61 Treason Trial. 

We remember Duma Nokwe when he was elected secretary general of the ANC in 1958, a post he held until 1969. 

We remember Duma Nokwe when the Sharpsville massacre took place, being a member of a small group comprising Walter Sisulu, Joe Slovo, Nelson Mandela holding an all-night meeting in Johannesburg to plan a response. 

One of the response was to burn their passes. The president of the ANC Chief Luthuli accepted that and on March 26, in Pretoria, publicly burned his pass and called on others to do the same.  Chief Luthuli also announced a nationwide stay-at-home on March 28, a national Day of Mourning and protest for the atrocities at Sharpeville. In Orlando, Duma Nokwe and Nelson Mandela burned their passes before hundreds of people and dozens of press photographers.

We remember In 1963 Duma Nokwe being ordered by the ANC to flee into exile and leaving the country to Zambia. And how he helped establish the ANC in exile.

We remember Comrade Duma Nokwe as a cheerful and positive man who brought joy and happiness to his family, friends, and colleagues. 

In his memoir Madiba recalled a moment in 1955 before he was about to embark on a mission to Durban, the Transkei and Cape Town. And Duma Nokwe and others gathered at his home one night to see him off. 

He wrote that Duma Nokwe was in his usual jovial mood and as the evening lengthened, he became more lucid and talkative and kept every body roaring with laughter. And occasionally he would burst into song singing some Russian and Chinese songs he had learned at a conference in Bucharest and sometimes gesticulating zealously as if conducting an imaginary choir. The fun continued up to midnight. 

In remembering Duma Nokwe and his colleagues this afternoon before their repatriation we thank God for their lives, and service and sacrifice to South Africa from apartheid oppression.

We thank God for these great people who played an important role in shaping the future of South Africa. They truly were the architect of South African democracy. They were gifted with the spirit of service and sacrifice, of intelligence and wisdom, and leadership. 

* Bishop Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba is President of the United National Independence Party (UNIP)