It is indeed with much sadness that we lay our comrade and brother, Thamsanqa Brian Hlongwa, to rest.
Indeed, the past few years have been the most tumultuous in the life of comrade Hlongwa and his family, and as we pay him our final respect, we do so with heavy hearts. We mourn that he will no longer exist in this world with us, and as he has departed so too will his contributions to the struggle for total economic liberation of South Africans, a principle that Brian firmly believed in.
As we honour Brian today, we recall that he was not just a foot soldier of our movement but an architect of the mind and a contributor to the politics of the ANC, as well as to the transformation of the Gauteng provincial government.
Brian understood a fundamental truth: a revolution is only as strong as the ideas that fuel it. He was a man who believed that the struggle for a better South Africa was a lifelong commitment, and his life was the ultimate testament to that belief.
In talking about comrade Hlongwa, we need to acknowledge our ancestry of struggle that is anchored in the youth of 1976, who were not only radical but also committed to a more equal future and disciplined enough to do whatever was required to oppose the apartheid regime. This ancestry of the struggle is what defined the activism of Brian and his peers.
The formation of the United Democratic Front under the leadership of the likes of Mama Albertina Sisulu, Rev Frank Chikane and many others also served as an important anchor for comrade Hlongwa’s activism, moulding his activism from a very young age.
Brian’s journey was rooted in the very heart of the resistance. From his youth, he was a dedicated activist who rose through the ranks of the organisations that shaped our democracy. He served in the Congress of South African Students (Cosas), the Soweto Youth Congress (Soyco), the South African Youth Congress (Sayco), and its regional body, the Southern Transvaal Youth Congress (Styco).
It is during this period that the ANC and other liberation movements in the country were banned; however, this created an opportunity for grassroots politics to become more robust, resulting in an active and conscious youth across our townships. The youth of Brian’s generation was tasked with the responsibility of holding the fort at a time of great political uncertainty.
This as such, talks much about the nature and character of comrade Hlongwa, that he was agile and understood what was required to sustain the revolution, even under challenging circumstances.
During the apartheid period, as the youth we were resolute in making the apartheid state unworkable. This required that we would be stoic and unrelenting about the need for change, and specifically, the role that we as the activists at the time would play in bringing about that change.
In our resolve to destabilise the status quo at the time, we were also able to model our activism through the UDF, COSAS, SAYCO and all its structures to ensure that we operated as laboratories of leadership that prepared young people, particularly for the responsibility of power during the period of the struggle and beyond. We did not just fight to tear down a system; we fought to learn how to build a new one. It is indeed this new system that the likes of Brian Hlongwa would shape and build.
As he rose through the ranks, Brian eventually became a cornerstone of the ANC Youth League and served in multiple structures at both the municipal and provincial levels, also taking responsibility on government as a member of the Joburg City Council, and later as MEC for health in Gauteng under the leadership of premier Mbhazima Shilowa.
While many lead through titles, Hlongwa led through enlightenment. At the OR Tambo School of Leadership, he didn’t just manage programmes; he cultivated the next generation of South African thinkers and shaped political discourse on social change among ANC activists and cadres. He was a seasoned political educator who was known for, among other things, his humility and selflessness in leadership.
To Brian, political education was never about dogma. It was about empowering every cadre to think critically, lead ethically and serve selflessly.
He held a deep conviction that the liberation of the mind was the ultimate and necessary step in the liberation of the people.
Even during holidays when we spent time together with family friends, Brian will sit arguing with others till early hours of the morning. This is his character that I noticed even when we were in prison together.
In the year 2008, Brian was part of a delegation that I led to China as chairperson of the ANC in Gauteng. This trip included David Makhura, Ntombi Mekgwe, Mduduzi Mbada and others who would later play a crucial role in growing Gauteng through governance transformation. This trip was a mission to further explore models of building state capacity in a new era under ANC leadership.
It is arguably from this trip and other studies that Brian would insist on a functional party school and his involvement in the OR Tambo School of Leadership.
The life of comrade Hlongwa teaches us an important lesson about the totality of struggle, particularly that in the same way the liberation movement and the 1976 youth fought “apartheid in its totality”, so should this generation fight poverty, inequality and administrative failure with the same bravery and zeal.
This, of course, requires further commitment towards the renewal of the African National Congress. Renewal should be a duty and not merely a slogan; it must be anchored in the hard work of political education and cadre development.
As per the resolution of the NEC, all leaders and in the ANC have already been enrolled in a political education programme, this is to highlight the importance of political education for all activists, and to ensure those who are leading are capable and well-seasoned, more especially in the current political dispensation that is characterised by coalition politics, specifically, the Government of National Unity.
This reality and the passing of Hlongwa compel us to pause and reflect on the current status of the ANC and our country. Is the ANC still the leader of society? Have we as activists remained true to the cause of total liberation, which transcends political liberation? In answering these questions, we then have to respond to this bigger question: what is to be done?
Allow me to draw from Amilcar Cabral’s 1965 party directive for revolutionary practice to assist us in contextualising where we are and what needs to be done. He says that revolutionaries must “always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children”.
“We should recognise as a matter of conscience that there have been many faults and errors in our action whether political or military: an important number of things we should have done we have not done at the right times or not done at all …”
He further concludes that revolutionaries “must practise revolutionary democracy in every aspect of our party life. Every responsible member must have the courage of his responsibilities, exacting from others a proper respect for his work and properly respecting the work of others. Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories”.
This, comrades, is what I think is one of the lessons that we can take forward from Brian’s life, that indeed to the congress and to the people we should remain true. As we prepare to go to the ANC January 8 celebration of its 114th anniversary, our political posture needs to shift. We must ignite the slogan that says ‘amandla ase masebeni’, real power lies with the people!
To the Hlongwa family: we recognise that while the nation has lost a leader, you have lost a pillar of your family. We thank you for having shared him with the ANC and South Africa for all these years. May the stories of his bravery in the anti-apartheid struggle and the building of our democracy bring you a sense of pride and peace during this time of grief.
May we find comfort in the memories of his service, and may we honour him by continuing the work of liberating the mind in everything we do.
May his soul rest in eternal peace.
Hamba kahle, comrade Brian Hlongwa. Qhawe la maqhawe!
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