Funeral of Cde Theresa Ramashamole 5 December 2015, 08h00, Sharpeville Community Hall Please note the Tribute below this notice. Theresa Ramashamole Poster, smaller.jpg Tribute to the late Theresa Machabane Ramashamole Like all Four Seasons, Mother, Your Contribution to the ANC is Complete We received your message on Wednesday, 25 November at around 11:36 midnight that expressed sad and unexpected news. This opened the windows of many eyes and doors of many spirit to hear that the woman-mother, the woman-sister, and the woman-friend went to sleep but forever. In the journey of your life you came across people of all age groups, you have touched many souls of good and bad people, the ANC and many of those people will always remember you like the Four Seasons. You were like a cloud that mingles with objects, but never becomes united with them. Against all odds you always remained ever smiling and straight forward talker. You loved and always defended the ANC. Your presence made people happy, made some angry, made some uncomfortable, made most of us comfortable to leave and survive in the presence of your wits. You were like the summer sun and shined as bright, like winter cold shivered in the cell, like the autumn dust and reminded Africans about the value of democracy even like the spring rain that blossomed you in Sharpeville We want to borrow from the book "nine twentieth century essayists" - Aldous Huxley on his famous title meditating under the moon: "Outside my window the night is struggling to wake; in the moonlight, the blinded garden dreams so vividly of its lost colors that the black roses are almost crimson, the trees stand expectantly on the verge of living greenness. The white-washed parapet of the terrance is brilliant against the dark-blue sky. (Does the oasis lie there below, and beyond the last of the palm trees, is that the desert?) The white walls of the house coldly reverberate the lunar radiance. (Shall I turn to look at the Dolomites rising naked out of the long slopes of snow?) The moon is full. And not only full, but also beautiful. And not only beautiful, but..." Theresa Machabane Ramashamole, unique is what you were. You were a true iMbokodo, a veteran of Umkhonto we Sizwe fighting for a divided people. You served the movement differently praying in dark cell and gallows of shadow of your death and that is why your MKMVA force number was given to you by the extra ordinary high in command in the ANC, baba Oliver Tambo! "Mother" that's what you told us and we believe you. You attended ANC Political Education and Training classes to refresh on your political memories. You never made it to complete all modules because your left leg had to be amputated. We made a submission for your honorary doctorate - it was as if we knew that your departure was too soon but we know you through your brave Mother who in 1960 Sharpeville uprising carried you in her womb fighting apartheid system, and like your Mother you never disappointed the revolution. We hope the Vaal University of technology will claim the achievements of your struggle and help us to popularize your History. We will always visit your Mother to remind us of your fond memories. "Mother" we salute you because you were the only woman and first in the Country to be sentenced to hanging by the brutal apartheid system. Many women enjoyed and some still enjoy the beauty of their bedrooms and nice flavours coming from their kitchen cooks. The electric shocks that were applied on you as a woman never took away your PRIDE. You adopted other children and made them your own. You provided wisdom to all women old and new. You suffered the triple oppression and history has recorded it and AND ANC must never forget you. Under Political education and training Unit, we dedicated the class of 2013 to celebrate the life and painful times of Theresa Ramashamola. We did so because of the conviction that no mother of any race and background deserves what cde Theresa went through. In her sworn statement to TRC she also said "To stand on death row, to be killed, I would think that I would be hanged for somebody I didn't kill. I could have killed myself, committed suicide, but I asked myself why I would do that or escape because I didn't do such a thing". You always loved your rosary and always prayed your God. The quality of your spirit has indeed determined your status in the world you come from. You related very well with many people of different denominations. Before the time came to surrender himself to the hangman, Chirisa Chimsoro he wrote a letter to his comrades: "...I saw white clouds above me and I rose towards them. Before I got into clouds, a thought occurred to me, that if i went into the clouds and beyond I might not return to Earth. I decided to turn back and fly back to Earth. Then a strange thing happened. An old woman, very, very, old, came through the clouds and spoke to me. She spoke to me. Chirisa, don't turn back. Come through the clouds and go with me, because the land to where you are about to go is a beautiful land. It's a land such as you have never seen before. Its the land of the spirits. I have been send by your great-great-great parents to lead you to that world. It's the world that people on Earth speak about, but have no idea what it looks like. Christians call it heaven, Africans call it the Land of the Ancestors, but nobody knows what it looks like. Before I lead you there, you have a right to know what it looks like..." Quality of your spirit Theresa Machabane Ramashamole "Mother" is beyond any measure. You confronted death without fear before in your life and we also know that you met your untimely death without fear. Death can never be proud because it has stolen you from us. We are sure that you are going to see your God like you never did before. Like cde Chirisa Chimsoro said it in his letter to comrades: "...No other spirits are pure, only Supreme Spirit. The Christians call this Spirit God, the Muslims call It Allah. The Native Americans call it Manitou, the Zulus call it Nkulunkulu (the Great Great one), the BaSotho call it Modimo, and you Shonas call it Mwari, The Kikuyu of Kenya call it Ngai, and the Hindus call It Shiva. Different nations call this Spirit by different names, but they are referring to the same one. This Spirit is the Source of all life, and all life returns to it in the end..." We salute you Mother! Robala ka Khotso Theresa Machabane Ramashamole Au Revoir! . Jason Mkhwane is the head of African National Congress Political Education and Training Unit in Sedibeng region and writes this in his personal capacity -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
