Tributes pour in for Struggle stalwart John Nkadimeng

Tributes continued to pour in for the late Struggle stalwart John Nkadimeng, who died at the age of 93 on Thursday morning.

Last night, ANC officials visited the home of the late trade unionist, who was instrumental in the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in 1985.

Nkadimeng was among the 156 activists who were detained during the Defiance Campaign in 1952 and charged with treason in the 1956 Treason Trial.

The ANC has described him as one of the greatest revolutionaries of his time.

“As a true servant of the people of South Africa, his contribution was aimed not at seeking personal glory, fame or material rewards. It was also not motivated by the pursuit of personal ambition, self-interest and undying lust for power and self-privilege,” the party said.

“It was about serving the interest of the people as a whole and working to attain the goal of building a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa,” it added.
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a Special Official Funeral Category 1 to honour the ANC and SACP veteran, who was also the Esteemed Member of the Order of Luthuli in Gold.

Ramaphosa, who visited Nkadimeng at his home in Johannesburg in April last year, paid tribute to the country’s former Ambassador to the People’s Republic of Cuba.

“We have lost a remarkable veteran of our country’s liberation struggle, who was a selfless, exemplary and courageous stalwart who contributed immensely to South Africa’s democracy,” he said.

Nkadimeng served as a member of the SACP’s Interim Leadership that spearheaded the establishment of the party’s structures after the unbanning of political organisations in South Africa in 1990. He was also part of the SACP’s central committee in exile and in the underground in South Africa.

The SACP described Nkadimeng as a trade unionist of note, having ascended to the responsibility of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) general secretary in 1983, a position that saw him playing a central role in the formation of Cosatu.
SACTU formed part of the Congress Alliance that organised the Congress of the People in 1955.

A year after the Congress of the People adopted the Freedom Charter, Nkadimeng and 155 other activists were charged with treason.
The ANC bestowed its highest honour of Isithwalandwe/Seaparankwe to the veteran in 2019.

The year before, the government conferred on the prominent leader the Order of Luthuli in Gold for ‘Dedicating his entire adult life to the struggle for liberation, workers’ rights and for the formation of a united federation of trade unions’.


In 2002, the SACP bestowed upon Nkadimeng the Moses Kotane Award for outstanding service to the communist party and the working class.

The ANC bestowed its highest honour of Isithwalandwe/Seaparankwe to the veteran of the South African struggle in 2019.

“In memory of the fine revolutionary, the SACP calls upon the working-class and the progressive trade movement to unite and fight corruption to the finish,” the party said in a statement.

Nkadimeng’s funeral will be held on Friday. Ramaphosa has directed that the National Flag be flown at half-mast at all flag stations until the evening of 14 August.

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