South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary Solly Mapaila has paid homage to Minister in the Presidency, Dr Essop Goolam Pahad, whom he described as a selfless leader without personal interests.
“You demonstrated this up to your last days. May your undying fighting spirit live on and inspire new generations of our people to continue the struggle until all forms of exploitation and oppression are eradicated in society,” Mapaila said on Thursday.
He made these remarks while honouring Dr Pahad during his funeral at Westpark Cemetery, Johannesburg. The struggle stalwart passed away at the age of 84 and was laid to rest in a ceremony in which ceremonial honours were provided by the South African Police Service (SAPS).
“Your intellectual rigour to assess the conditions of the working class of our country, to place the movement that you so led with distinction, to be a selfless servant of the people will never fall down. Dr Pahad was a senior leader of the SACP, a great patriot of our party. A selfless comrade who lived humbly and respected all people but was also a communist intellectual,” he said.
He served in the World Maxis Review, which essentially assessed international development of the socialist struggles and the struggles of the working class towards their emancipation.
“If he was engaging with you and you are not rising to the occasion, he would come across as arrogant because intellectually he will decapitate you. You needed to raise the bar when you engage him on intellectual questions of the revolution. He was not a man to be taken for granted and in that regard, the Communist party will miss him dearly,” Mapaila said.
He expressed gratitude to Dr Pahad’s immense contribution and service to the country.
Minister in the Presidency, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, also paid tribute to her former mentor, describing him as a kind hearted and caring individual.
“The loss of this committed, revolutionary and caring internationalist is very sad but we understand it as the cycle of life,” the Minister said.
She remembered him as a dedicated cadre of the movement who did not miss the opportunity to speak out.
“He also created an environment where everyone could speak up. He was a selfless patriot and he put the country first. That is the lesson we must learn because it is a lesson that seems to elude us.
“We bid farewell to a former secretary the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, executive committee from 1958 to 1964. We bid farewell to a selfless and daring volunteer that risked everything when producing and distributing pamphlets to mobilise communities behind the then banned African National Congress (ANC),” Dlamini-Zuma said.
She said Dr Pahad was a vibrant student activist of the 1960s at universities such as Wits and other universities abroad.
“We bid farewell to an exile revolutionary who led the ANC and SACP structures in exile. Dr Pahad comes from the golden generation of ANC and Alliance who placed revolutionary ideas at the forefront of building the consensus and ideas that guide us and a guide to ideas.
“He comes from a generation that gave priority to quality and not quantity of membership. Yes, we need quantity but we need quality leadership. We learn from Dr Pahad and his collective that the success of an idea must first depend on its strength and not on the mere number of people who support it,” the Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za
