MFANASEKHAYA Gqobose's legacy will reverberate until the end of time. His spirit will forever reign among us. Gqobose, or "Gqobs" as some would call him, was a great hero whose legacy and contribution to the preservation of humanity has received so little coverage.
After only 12 years in the ranks of the ANC, Gqobose felt he could not make an impact on or contribution to black working class struggles under the ANC, hence he became one of the founding members of the PAC in 1959. He therefore became a Pan Africanist who also seized the opportunity of being one of those who were tasked with the establishment of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apia), a move that would transform the manner in which the African masses engaged the white racist system of apartheid.
Gqobose, along with the late Nyati Pokela, mobilised cadres to establish Apla in 1961 and this was a gigantic strategy that would institutionally remove the apartheid machinery within three decades. This means that Gqobose helped initiate a strategy that would shake the apartheid government out of its complacency.
The guerilla forces that Gqobose and others trained were successful and unmatched in the field of combat. Oom Gqobs leaves an unwavering legacy that cannot be matched by leaders whose struggle credentials have been glorified by their political affiliations and the extent to which such leaders ingratiate themselves with the political elite of this country.
He served in World War 2 as a corporal, which was then the highest rank attainable for a black man. His credentials far exceed those of many elite politicians of today, but his story is yet to be told. Young people in this country know more about insignificant leaders whose only contribution in the struggle against black oppression is to sing Dubul' ibunu but actually end up never doing that.
Oom Gqob's calibre of leadership and cadreship cannot be matched by many, not even the glorified leader of leaders. Oom Gqobs was a leader through actions and not through setting up conferences in which futile strategies of combating indigence would be recited as if it were primary school children reciting a prayer.
His legacy is that of taking the challenge by the scruff of its neck and handling it with the utmost brutality — which has helped to bring the dawn of imagined freedom in this land.
We will forever remember him as a leader who pledged his allegiance gallantly with the masses of black people, and served all of us with courage and resilience. His rigidity in the carrying out of orders proves to us that we must never despair.
We shall always be keen to carry out our duties with a high morale and high discipline.
By: Sindile Lembede Jan, fourth year student, Rhodes University
Source: HERALD, Your Views