SIYABONGA SITHOLE
Suspended secretary-general of the ANC Ace Magashule has again shared his respect and admiration for his former assistant secretary general, Jessie Duarte, and her contribution to the struggle for freedom in this country.
Magashule was speaking during an hour-long interview on Power Perspective with host Denzil Taylor.
Magashule added that Duarte, who died of cancer on Sunday, was a “staunch non-racist disciplinarian” who did not want to be referred to as a minority. The latest tribute comes just days after Magashule paid his last respects to Duarte at her funeral on Sunday.
“She never wanted to be referred to as a minority. Rather than talk about national groups, if you wanted to, you could refer to the so-called Indians and coloureds, but once you use ‘minority’, she felt offended,” the former premier of the Free State said of his comrade.
Besides being the staunch, no-nonsense and fearless comrade she was revered for, Magashule said that Duarte always preached not losing sight of implementing the resolutions of the conferences of the ruling party, which are the highest decision-making structure in the ANC, adding that she saw this as part of the job of the secretariat.
“Comrade Duarte was the one person who said, SG, we must never lose focus of the resolutions of the national conference, whatever happens in our little corner as the secretariat. We are the ones who are supposed to be by all means fair on the conference resolutions,” Magashule said.
Magashule, who has been part of the ANC NEC since the unbanning of the ANC and has seen all the regimes of past and present ANC leaders, said there were times when Duarte felt the party was veering off from implementing policies of the ANC and she would be the first to point these out to him.
“We did at times feel like we were getting away from implementing resolutions of the conference … She would remind me that as the secretariat our work is supposed and is still supposed to monitor our deployees in government, whether they are implementing the resolutions of the conference or not. This is because she understood that the ANC conference is the highest decision-making body and comrade Jessie Duarte was very strong on that. Even when we work as a collective, she would say there is no way SG, that we can work outside the collective,” Magashule said.