Cde Tyamzashe
Joe Moabi was the Secretary for Finance in the Central Committee of the PAC of
Azania in the external mission. It was fitting that at his memorial service at
the Holy Family Catholic Church in Spruitview on Wednesday afternoon, many of
his comrades and friends, and allies of the PAC, come to render their
condolences and pay respect to this gallant solder of freedom. I'd last paid
Bra Joe a visit early last year after a long period not seeing him even though
I had been told he had spent a while in hospital due to a heart ailment. I
took my wife with me and made the visit social rather than personal and
private. Promised to stay in touch but did not. I guess the rat race in
Gauteng caught up with me.
I first met Moabi in 1984 in Gaborone, Botswana, when comrades in the PAC
office arranged that we meet and exchange information on internal Party
matters. He was on a whistle stop visit and my presence in the town was
coincidental. He struck me as an honest open-minded character, and easily
appreciated the odds we were facing with fund raising and attempts by our
enemies to smother anything the Party designed as a programme of action. He
also then spoke about leadership and how important it was to have a leadership
succession plan, to hold together the same programme and to retain talent in
the PAC. At that stage, the chief rep of the PAC in Botswana had crossed and
defected to join the SAP with all information about who came to the office
from inside the country. Moabi was calm and philosophical about this. You
will therefore understand when I say meeting him made an impact.
I then met him again at a PAC congress in Mthatha in April 1992. He was
savaged and torn to pieces for his financial report and the exile accounting
methods. In other words, he was the fall guy in the internal fights for power
between the new leadership inside South Africa after the unbanning and the Dar
es Salaam contingent. It was quite a spectacle in congress because no one
could claim not to understand the underground methods of raising funds and
secrecy in using them. There was also no paper trail allowed because of
obvious reasons of security. Moabi took the punches. In the interest of peace
and to hold common purpose - we were under the watch of the people - this
savage attack did not get a backlash.
So when his friends - Joe Thloloe, Thami Mazwai, Mike Muendane, Thoko
Mkwanazi, Sputla, Ray Fihla, Motsoko Pheko, Lesaoana Makhanda and others -
eulogised him and paid respect to his good name, it was a fitting farewell to
this son of Afrika. There was also a powerful drum performance by the Molefe
Pheto father and sons quartet called 'Ko ntoeng'. Our story is indeed never
told - but we must take the blame when yong people ask why. He will be buried
tomorrow with a service at the same venue.
Jaki
> Subject: Farewell Bra Joe
> To: payco@googlegroups.com; jmapla...@gmail.com; sero...@hotmail.com;
> mmbar...@hotmail.com; mohato...@gmail.com; g...@bcawu.co.za;
> jntab...@gmail.com
> CC: mr.fi...@webmail.co.za; aplamvanatio...@gmail.com
> From: tyamza...@yahoo.com
> Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:49:45 +0000
>
>
> Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!
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