By: Carl Niehaus *
On Tuesday afternoon, the 31st of August, it was my painful duty as spokesperson of Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA), to issue a statement announcing that our President, comrade Kebby Maphatsoe, had passed on. Comrade Emmanuel Ramaotoane Maphatsoe was born 59 years ago, on the 31st of December 1962, and he grew up under the harsh conditions of apartheid.
At a young age comrade Kebby’s life, like so many young people of his age, was shaped by the racist oppression of the apartheid regime. The events of the student revolt of 1976, and the subsequent heightened resistance to apartheid, deeply impacted on the political consciousness of the young Kebby Maphatsoe.
As a student, he became involved in the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) and was also a member of the Soweto Youth Congress. Because of his political activism, and outspoken opposition to apartheid, he was targeted by the apartheid regime and was forced to eventually leave the country of his birth, and to go into exile.
In exile Comrade Maphatsoe formally joined the African National Congress (ANC), and became a member of the liberation army of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He underwent training in Angola and also received specialized training in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the former Soviet Union, and Cuba.
Comrade Kebby was throughout the time that he was in exile, in the MK camps in Angola and Uganda, known as a highly committed soldier of MK with a clear and unwavering political consciousness. Shortly before returning from exile, he was involved in a tragic incident that led to him having been shot by a member of the Ugandan Defense Force. This resulted in him having lost his right arm.
Despite malicious claims that he was trying to abscond, Comrade Maphatsoe was cleared of any wrongdoing. The truth of the matter was that he was trying to bring the difficult conditions that prevailed in the MK camps in Uganda, and elsewhere, to the attention of the senior leaders of the ANC. Him leaving the MK camp in Uganda was not an act of desertion, but a courageous act of care and concern for his fellow comrades, and the conditions that they were suffering under, in some of the MK camps. This care and concern for his fellow comrades are what characterized comrade Kebby Maphatsoe throughout his life.
Once having returned to South Africa from exile he was deeply hurt by the manner that MK soldiers were disregarded by the ANC leadership, and how their return to South Africa, and integration into the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) and South African Police Service (SAPS), was mishandled. The unilateral decision by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC, at the commencement of the CODESA negotiations, to bring an end to the armed struggle, and the subsequent disbanding of MK on the 16th of December 1993, without proper consultation with the Commanders and members of MK, left a deep – and lasting – wound.
From then on, Comrade Kebby Maphatsoe’s life was defined by his unwavering commitment to fight for the recognition and dignity of MK military veterans. He became the leading champion for MK veterans and military veterans in general. He was always very clear that while MK liberation fighters had played a central, critical, role in the liberation struggle and the subsequent achievement of democracy, they have been grossly mistreated by their own leaders in the ANC, and that the manner in which MK soldiers were integrated into the SANDF and SAPS was deeply flawed. In fact, he argued that there was no real integration into a new SANDF and SAPS, but the entirely unacceptable ‘absorption’ of MK members into what remained basically the old SADF and SAP command structures.
The manner in which the experience and years of dedicated service of MK soldiers were disregarded in the ‘integration’ process, and how they remained relegated to lower ranks, often reporting to former apartheid officers, deeply irked comrade Maphatsoe. He was throughout convinced that a great injustice had been committed, and was an ardent supporter of all the instituted re-ranking processes, for what became known as the Non-statutory Forces within the SANDF and SAPS. He always ensured that MKMVA, once it was formed, gave its clear support for, and was centrally involved in, ensuring that these re-ranking processes would eventually succeed and that justice will finally be done to MK veterans who dedicated their lives to the achievement of our liberation.
Comrade Kebby’s commitment and insistence that MK soldiers must receive their full dues in the democratic dispensation that came about after the 27th of April 1994 elections, led him to play a leadership role in the formation of the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Association (MKMVA), that was formed by MK veterans. He was always clear that MKMVA was formed for, and by, MK veterans in order to advance our own cause, and the rights that we are entitled to.
As such MKMVA was not formed by the ANC, but by MK veterans who organized ourselves. Similarly, comrade Maphatsoe played a central role in pushing for the establishment of the Department of Military Veterans (DMV), and also the overall representative structure for military veterans in South Africa, namely the South African National Military Veterans Association (SANMVA).
Comrade Maphatsoe, together with MKMVA, also played a central role in the drafting and eventual adaption of the Military Veterans Act, Act Number 8 of 2011, that legalized the rights that military veterans are entitled to. The adoption of this Act, and the establishment of the Department of Military Veterans (DMV), during the administration of President Jacob Zuma, represented great strides in the struggle for recognition, and full dignity, of MK military veterans, and military veterans in general.
In 2014 comrade Kebby Maphatsoe was appointed by President Zuma as Deputy Minister of Defense and Military Veterans, a critical part of his responsibilities was the Department of Military Veterans. He remained Deputy Minister of Defense until 2019.
Despite comrade Maphatsoe’s best efforts he was constantly undermined in this position, by an ANC leadership that continued to show a callous lack of concern and care for its own MK veteran liberation soldiers. The only person who really showed real concern among the top ANC leadership was President Jacob Zuma, but he was constantly frustrated by a lack of care and concern from the rest of the ANC leadership.
The manner in which the attempts by comrade Maphatsoe to highlight the dire plight of MK veterans, and to address those, were constantly disregarded and undermined by the ANC leadership remains a serious blight on the name of the ANC. The ANC leadership must carry the bulk of the responsibility for the failure of the DMV to carry out its task and to adequately address the needs of military veterans. The callous manner in which comrade Kebby Maphatsoe was eventually removed as Deputy Minister of Defense in 2019, was an outrage, and he was deeply hurt by the disgracefully thankless manner in which he was treated.
Despite all of these challenges and the hurt that was so often and callously inflicted on the community of MK veterans, and also on himself personally, Comrade Kebby Maphatsoe remained throughout a remarkably humble, and loyal, member of the African National Congress. Comrade Kebby was deeply committed to forging principled unity in the ANC. No matter what the challenges, he always continued to implore his fellow MK veterans to similarly remain loyal to the African National Congress. Comrade Kebby accepted the Resolution of the 54th National Conference of the ANC that unity must be forged in the ranks of all MK veterans and also convinced the rest of the MKMVA leadership to accept the Resolution and to advance its implementation.
Together with the senior leadership of MKMVA he worked diligently, together with the Peace and Stability Sub-committee of the ANC NEC, to ensure that the preparations for a unity conference of MK veterans were put in place with integrity and democratic representativity. Great strides were made, and it should be possible to hold a MK unity conference this month, in September, on the basis of that excellent work, to which comrade Kebby made such a leading and definitive contribution. Attempts to discard the work had been done so diligently because factional political machinations must be resisted. The legacy of comrade Maphatsoe will be greatly honored if it can be ensured that the MK unity conference will still be held this month, as was his declared wish.
Comrade Kebby Maphatsoe was a close comrade and friend of President Jacob Zuma. He had the greatest respect for President Zuma’s overall legacy within the African National Congress, and specifically the commitment that President Zuma, as a senior commander of MK himself, showed for respecting and honoring MK veterans.
Under comrade Maphatsoe’s leadership, MKMVA remained unwavering in our support for President Zuma. He was outraged by the callous manner in which President Zuma was targeted, and victimized, by political factions within the ANC. The more recent illegal political imprisonment of President Zuma irked him deeply, and he was always unwavering and clear about his personal comradely support for President Zuma, and also the support of MKMVA, for President Zuma. His voice remained strident in his support for the call that President Zuma must be released immediately and unconditionally.
Comrade Maphatsoe remained similarly, and fully, committed to the historical liberation ideals and the task of the ANC. Under his leadership, as President of MKMVA, a strong Resolution in favor of Radical Economic Transformation (RET) was adopted at the 5th National Conference of MKMVA, that was held in July 2017 at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Boksburg. He never compromised these ideals.
It was comrade Kebby who prevailed on me in 2017 to avail myself for the National Executive Committee of MKMVA. He also championed my appointment as National Spokesperson of MKMVA. I will always be deeply grateful for the opportunity, and trust, that he gave me throughout.
It is no secret that comrade Kebby and myself disagreed sometimes about political strategy, but never about political principles. We both debated and articulated our views vigorously and openly, but always in a manner that acknowledged our mutual respect in friendship and comradeship. Comrade Kebby was never one to bear grudges. For me, he was always my leader.
It is sad that despite comrade Maphatsoe’s remarkable loyalty to the African National Congress, there were those within the ANC who maligned him, and increasingly targeted him as part of their overall triumphalist factional campaign against those of us, and specifically MKMVA, who remained convinced that the historical liberation task of the ANC should not be comprised, and that MK military veterans have a sacred historical task to ensure that this will never happen.
It is my ardent wish that now that comrade Maphatsoe had passed on, that he will be shown the respect and dignity that he so richly deserves and that these callous and unwarranted attacks will cease.
My heartfelt sympathy goes to comrade Lerato, the wife of comrade Maphatsoe, all the children, and their whole family. Together with my fellow MKMVA comrades will stand with them throughout this difficult time of loss and bereavement.
With the far too early passing of comrade Maphatsoe, the spear that he carried with so much dignity, vigour, and commitment had fallen. I and my fellow comrades of MKMVA will pick it up and forge ahead. Comrade Kebby would have expected no less from us. A LUTA CONTINUA!
HAMBA KAHLE MKHONTO!
*Carl Niehaus is the National Spokesperson of MKMVA. He worked for years closely together with the late President of MKMVA, Kebby Maphatsoe.
