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! -- Sending your posting to payco@googlegroups.com Unsubscribe by sending an email to payco-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com You can also visit http://groups.google.com/group/payco Visit our website at www.mayihlome.wordpress.com