Tribute

We gather today to honor Mama Rita Ndzanga’s legacy, a true champion of justice and equality. As the ANC Veterans League, we’re humbled to pay tribute to her remarkable life and contributions.

Mama Rita, along with her husband Babu Lawrence Ndzanga, played a pivotal role in building the ANC’s underground structures during the apartheid era. Their selfless dedication inspired a generation of activists, including myself, who were fortunate enough to receive political education from Babu Ndzanga.

Her words echo the importance of acknowledging our history and honouring those who fought for our freedom.

However, Mama Rita’s legacy is now under threat, including from counter-revolutionaries who seek to derail our progress. As the ANC, we’ve faced significant challenges, including declining voter support and internal weaknesses.

The decline in vote support in the recent election has been eye-opening. We need to win back our voters’ trust with humility. We need to listen and reconnect with our people, and we need to go out and organise our people, workers, and communities, taking as an example what Mam Rita did. It’s only through our collective action and unity that we can overcome these challenges.

The ANC’s strategic setback should not deter us but discipline us and spur us on to regain the people’s trust. We remain committed to renewing our organisation by ridding it of corrupt individuals and restoring the ANC’s integrity and dignity, just as Mama Rita would have wanted.

In her honour, we’ll enforce the Batho Pele principle, ensuring that our people receive quality affordable services and respect from public servants.

We are unveiling Mama Rita’s tombstone on August 9^th, the day we commemorate the Women’s March to Pretoria against pass laws in 1956.  This is a day to remember our political heroines, but it is also a day to recommit to overcoming the multiple oppression that women continue to face in our country. While we have made strides in the political representation of women, in employment equity and the education of the girl child, it is not enough.  Our apartheid legacy, as well as new curses such as pandemics, ill health, and flooding as a result of climate change – disproportionately impact women negatively.

The Veterans League calls on both the ANC and the new Government of National Unity to intensify its efforts to empower women, to address gender-based violence, to socialise male children to the advantages of an egalitarian society and so on.

We must remain true to our values. Mama Rita, we promise not to disappoint you—your legacy will live on through our actions.

# HambaKahleMama