Elias Motsoaledi

Elias Motsoaledi (26 July 1924 – 9 May 1994) was one of the eight men sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial.

Early Life and Family

Elias Motsoaledi was born on the 26th July 1924 in Phokoane in the Nebo District in Limpopo. He was the third child in a family of eight, he attended school and obtained a distinction in standard six. He moved to Johannesburg at the age of 17. His first brush with the law in Johannesburg was his arrest for failure to produce his pass book – he was sentenced to work on a pretoria road construction. Upon his release he got a job in a furniture factory. He married Caroline and they had seven children. Leshoro, Sethololo, Mphoreng, Lithogoaneng, Nape, Malope and Kokoi

Role in Trade Union Movement

He joined the Leather Workers' Union, served on the Committee of Non-European Trade Unions, and later played an active role in the establishment of the South African Congress of Trade Unions. He met David Modibane who had been an Organiser for the South African Clothing Workers Union since 1940, which later became Clothing Workers Union (SA). Mr Modibane lived on Ndabezitha Street in Mzimhlope, three streets from Elias Motsoaledi. During the Robben Island years Mrs Motsoaledi and Mrs Modibane continued to be friends and senior members of the Mzimhlope community until the latter passed away on 30 July 2009. They both worked in the clothing and textile industry in Johannesburg until retirement. Mr Modibane sent his documents leading up to the Rivonia Trial to our uncle in Bethanie outside Brits, where they were burnt to destroy evidence. Mrs Motsoaledi also recalls that her family also burnt several documents during this period.

Role in ANC and SACP

In 1948 he joined ANC, in June he was elected as a branch secretary. He was a member of the South African Communist Party. He played a central role in many campaigns, including the Defiance Campaign of 1952, the year in which he was first banned. He was imprisoned for four months during the 1960 State of Emergency.

Mandela summed it up in his speech at Elias Mostoaledi’s funeral as follows: “We began our political careers as members of the ANCYL and comrade Motsoaledi was a member of the Communist Party of SA as it was then known. As the YL we were fiercely nationalistic in our approach and anti-White, anti-Indian and anti-Communist. We had many clashes in which he criticized us and at times attacked us viciously for what he considered very conservative and reactionary views.

But in that debate we learnt a great deal because when you debate issues of that nature if you approach that debate with seriousness and earnesty at the end of the debate you find yourself closer to your rivals than you were before that debate.

Even during that time when we accepted the Communist Party of SA was committed to the very ideas to which the ANC and Democratic Movement in this country was fighting was established to achieve Cde Motsoaledi was one of those members of the Democratic Movement who was non-conformist. He did not find it easy to agree with ideas unless he has considered them seriously and carefully. Comrades and friends that has been and still is the strength of our movement”

FUNERAL SPEECH BY NELSON MANDELA

Comrades and Friends, throughout these last 4–5 years I have received numerous reports of freedom fighters, public figures, who have played an important role in our struggle against, racial oppression and the regularity of these reports made me feel that the world itself was dying. To those men and women whose humble contribution has been a source of strength, hope and inspiration to us has always come as a cruel blow painful precisely because it is it causes invisible wounds which are difficult to cure.

We are today burying a man who has helped to make SA a better place to live in . A comrade who has helped the ordinary people in this country to regain their pride their dignity and who has inspired them with hope in the future of their country. We are putting to rest a man who has helped to free not only those who have lived in misery over the last more than 3 centuries but who has helped to liberate those who have created this misery. We are now honouring a man who helped to end SA’s isolation and its status as a polecat of the world and who has helped get SA back to the world community.

In the program that has been put out it contains his background and many speakers who have appeared here have enriched that background which is outlined here and it is not necessary to refer to it except to say I have known Cde Elias during the 1940s We did not always agree on our approach to political issues I and some of my comrades began our political careers as members of the ANCYL and comrade Motsoaledi was a member of the Communist Party of SA as it was then known. As the YL we were fiercely nationalistic in our approach and anti-White, anti-Indian and anti-Communist. We had many clashes in which he criticized us and at times attacked us viciously for what he considered very conservative and reactionary views.

But in that debate we learnt a great deal because when you debate issues of that nature if you approach that debate with seriousness and honestly at the end of the debate you find yourself closer to your rivals than you were before that debate.

Even during that time when we accepted the Communist Party of SA was committed to the very ideas to which the ANC and Democratic Movement in this country was fighting was established to achieve Cde Motsoaledi was one of those members of the Democratic Movement who was non-conformist. He did not find it easy to agree with ideas unless he has considered them seriously and carefully. In fact Comrades and friends that bhas been and still is the strength of our movement. In the leadership of the ANC in each Policy structure there are various schools of thought. There are among us who’s views on any particular issue are unpleasant?

It is a tendency in the movement that has to be welcomed because when you start from different points of views and you debate the matter as comrades concentrating on merit decisions reached cannot be faulted which has considered all the various issues relevant to the problem that you are addressing and one the contributions of Cde Elias precisely that.

But there is an aspect of his contribution and his quality which is not widely publicized Many speakers would have referred to the Rivonia Trial in which he was one of our co-accused We were then asked each one of us to write out our backgrounds and this document document of these accounts were to be given to the writer Nadine Gordimer to prepare a story for the media locally and abroad Now most of us were graduates these were accomplished writers But the opinion of Nadine Gordimer who as you know subsequently became a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for literature – she said in the accounts amongst the accounts that of Elias Motsoaledi stood head and shoulders above us all it was simple he said what he wanted to say in very simple language and every word was in its place it was irreplaceable That was the opinion of Nadine Gordimer In fact this was one of the aspects that intrigued us tremendously especially in prison We had no better story teller than Cde Motsoaledi and that was very necessary in prison The grimness of a policy of a country you will never know fully unless you are in the jails of that country It was especially during the first 2 decades a very difficult life indeed but were able to go through that experience because of the caliber of the comrades who shared this experience with us and the contributions of Cde Motsoaledi whose ability to keep the morale of his comrades very high He made people to see some humorous aspect out of every situation sometimes even tragic ones.

Some of the comrades would have mentioned the role that he played before he was sent to jail He was in the proper sense of the word one of the founders of Umkhonto we Sizwe because he was critical in the recruiting and sending out of the country of young people to be trained as soldiers of Umkhonto we Sizwe It was that that led to his conviction It is also very encouraging especially for young people to look at how an ordinary person without much education would pull himself up through his bootstraps and become a national hero What’s even more was that he struggled against illnesses which could easily have been fatal During the early 1950s he spent more than six months it could have been closer to a year at Baragwanath Hospital suffering from kidney He was also an asthma case But the extent to which he exerted himself many people who suffered from these illnesses would not have been able to acquit themselves in the same manner in which he did. That is in very brief outline the man whom we are honouring today He died on the day a new President was inaugurated and it is a very painful experience that some of those who have worked to ensure that that day comes are not there to share the joy the excitement which seized everybody in the country and even outside far beyond the borders of our country and in this regard we think in terms of Cde Oliver Tambo Chris Hani and now Cde Motsoaledi and many others and we approach that day with mixed feelings, feelings of joy and feelings of sadness that those who should have been with us were unable to share that experience.

Cde Caroline, herself a veteran of our struggle who has been in and out of prison should be comforted by the fact that her husband was revered though-out the country. His children should be proud of their father He was not only a father, he was a worthy freedom fighter second to none.

There is a way in which we can honour men and women like Cde Elias We have got an important plan to better the lives of our people the Reconstruction and Development Program. It is a program which has been circulated widely in this country to a wide variety of opinion makers state corporations, Govt departments like those of Finance business academics religious organizations and has been broadly approved by these organisations notwithstanding reservations they had here and there.

All of our political parties who were contesting the election promised a better life for our people. But now it is time to begin to prepare to deliver in accordance with our promises. And one of the best ways of honouring our comrades who have fallen is to ensure that the Govt of National Unity honours its obligations. It is not going to be very easy because we must deliver to the masses of the people We must change their living conditions We must create jobs we must build houses we must provide free compulsory quality education we must build schools hospitals and clinics We must ensure that electricity water are installed not only in the urban but also in the rural areas we must ensure that there are places of entertainment and recreation. We must ensure a better life for all our people that is our primary responsibility but of course our responsibility goes beyond that We have minorities in our country who believe that the implementation of this program will lead to the falling of standards which they have enjoyed for centuries that their properties are going to be in jeopardy We must therefore keep a balance between delivery to our people which it is our duty to do All the things that I have mentioned it must be our aim to ensure that within a reasonable time these are enjoyed by our people at the same time we want to ensure that the enormous advantage especially those enjoyed by the white minority in this country are now harnessed in order to develop the country and to make sure that the RDP is implemented to the full We should keep that balance and in doing so I sincerely hope that everybody will nevertheless leave the final decision to the leadership of the ANC working in the context of the Government of National Unity (GNU) After all although we agree on the broad approach we must always remember that the leadership now of the country which is drawn from all population groups comes from different backgrounds. We are produced by the resistance movement We are the products of the squalor the miseries which have been experienced by the people for centuries are sill being experienced today and we know not only by reading newspapers and books but thru actual experience we have lived throughout these miseries We are dealing with white colleagues white friends who are sincere in their commitment to this Program But we must remember they come from a different background they are produced by a wealthy society which is used to comfort which has no tradition of spending huge resources for the country in order to meet the basic needs of the masses of the people in this country And therefore will be differences in regards to implementation Already some of them quite genuinely and without being mischievous feel that the amount that we are going to spend on the RDP is too much We are have no tradition of spending such huge resources in order to address the problem of blacks in this country of Africans Coloureds and Indians So we must nurse them along with patience and I say that should be mobilised and used in order to ensure the realization of that Program We are proud of the Democratic Movement in this country of the liberation in particular because it has it has produced men like Cde Elias Motsoaledi It is because of men and women like him that we have at last been able to attain our freedom It is because of that heritage that legacy that we are going to work hard and in a spirited manner to ensure that the lives of our people are better and I have no doubt that in the course of the next 5 years many Motsoaledi’s are going to emerge to order to ensure that our people do not just talk about freedom but that they actually enjoy it The future of this country lies in men and women like of the caibre of Elias Motsoaledi that is how we are going to honour him to ensure that we create the environment in which the Motsoaledi’s of this country are going to rise to be counted It is in this spirit that I have put aside all the problems I have the tight schedule which has been worked out for me today so that I can come and share with you this tragic moment but at the same time one which enables us to place before the country and the world the achievements of a freedom fighter of the caliber of Elias Motsoaledi. I thank you.

NELSON RHOLIHLAHLA MANDELA – Former President of the Republic of South Africa

The third of eight children, he was born in Nebo, Sekhukuneland. Motsoaledi moved to Johannesburg at the age of 17 in search of work. He soon became involved with trade unions, and later played an active role in the establishment of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

A lifelong member of the SACP and the ANC, he played a central role in many campaigns, including the Defiance Campaign of 1952, the year he was first banned. Detained during the 1960 State of Emergency, he was imprisoned for four months. When he was released, he went underground and worked for Umkhonto we Sizwe. After 26 years on Robben Island, Motsoaledi was elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC. Mzimhlope Rivonia Trial Trail

Motsoaledi received an Isitwalandwe Medal on 8 January 1992 along with Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Helen Joseph, Ahmed Kathrada, Harry Gwala, Andrew Mlangeni, Raymond Mhlaba, and Wilton Mkwayi. He died on the day that Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the President of South Africa.

External links

• Profile.
• Death of Elias Motsoaledi