On+the+passing+away+of+Cde+Ncumisa+Kondlo,+SACP+Media+Release



**SACP Media Release, 24 March 2008 **

= On the passing away of Cde Ncumisa Kondlo =

This morning, the South African Communist Party received the sad news that our National Deputy Chairperson, Cde Ncumisa Kondlo has passed on. Cde Ncumisa Kondlo succumbed to death after a courageous battle against illness.

At the time of her passing away Cde Ncumisa was a member of the NEC and NWC of the ANC and Chairperson of the ANC Caucus in Parliament.

A dedicated communist activist, human rights and gender activist and a hard worker has ceased to be. Her loving heart that embraced many in her line of duty has ceased to beat. Her brilliant mind that was responsible for her well sought after brilliant ideas in our structures has ceased to function. Her strong and imposing, yet soft voice is no more!

Cde Ncumisa will be remembered for her bravery, courage and forthrightness. She had truly become one of the most respected women revolutionaries in our party, and she was definitely destined for an even bigger role in our unfolding democracy, in our Party, and our broader movement.

Cde Ncumisa Kondlo was active from an early age and in her student days at Fort Hare she was active in AZASO and later SANSCO where she served in the regional structures of the organizations. She later moved to Rhodes where she was also active in the Black Students Movement in the 1980's.

Her passion to liberate the poor from the burden imposed on them by the barbaric capitalist system was deeply inspired by her upbringing in the rural village of Pedi in the Eastern Cape. Driven by her exposure to inhumane living conditions that the apartheid regime subjected many of our people to, she joined the South Africa Youth Congress to take up the struggle against injustice and was elected to its NEC in 1989.

Like many of her peers at the time, she was schooled in the traditions of Marxism-Leninism and later on recruited into the South African Communist Party. She embraced the ideals of Marxism-Leninism and fully participated in the South African Communist Party, being part of the interim leadership core in the Border region in 1990, and was elected into the first PEC when structures of the SACP were provincialised. She was elected into the Central Committee of the SACP in 1998 and was elected into the Politburo in 2001 and in 2007 she was elected as the National Deputy Chairperson of the SACP.

Comrade Ncumisa was also a former MEC Welfare in the Eastern Cape Provincial government, and was amongst those who refused to be broken by her unceremonious and totally unjustified removal, if not purging, from that position by the previous national leadership of the ANC. At experience even made her stronger as she always understood that you do not have to occupy a government position in order to loyally serve your people. It was this humility that was one of the most distinguishing personality characteristic of this departed heroine.

She is survived by her son and three sisters.

Cde Ncumisa Kondlo will no longer be with us when we meet in the near future or when we take up the struggle to radicalize the NDR and defeat Capitalism, but her determination will be with us forever. Her courage, selflessness, dedication, astuteness and love for Marxism-Leninism will not be allowed to die.

We wish to express our deepest and most profound condolences to her family, relatives, colleagues and friends. We shall always be guided by her revolutionary example as we deepen the struggle for Socialism!

Hamba Kahle Bhelekazi!

Issued by the SACP

 * For information Contact:**


 * Maleka Malesela**
 * SACP Spokesperson – 082 226 1802**

By e-mail

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