TRIBUTE TO NTATE DON NKADIMENG, A GALLANT FIGHTER FOR FREEDOM
Death is untimely, not because there is no time for it. It is untimely because it comes when we least expect it. It is untimely because it does not allow us an opportunity to finish our projects. Like a thief coming in the dead of the night, it robs us of those we still need amongst us.
On the 16th March 2025 the people of Azania and the continent of Africa received with shock the news of the passing of Ntate Donald Nkadimeng.
Ntate Nkadimeng was an astute lawyer and a devoted revolutionary to the cause of freedom. He dedicated his entire professional life to the service of his people, at times to the sacrifice of his family and his own life.
As a leader of AZAPO he led with example and provided clarity of thought during the most difficult period of our struggle. He was incisive in his analysis of the material conditions and allowed himself to be guided by both revolutionary practice and theory. He understood and fearlessly advocated the principles of democratic centralism, recall and active participation as well as Black solidarity which are central pillars of AZAPO.
As a lawyer, eloquence came naturally to him when he explained party policies and strategies. I recall a meeting he convened as the then chairperson of AZAPO in Limpopo where structures were required to consider whether to allow Ntate Mosibudi Mangena to accept the appointment to serve in President Mbeki’s administration as deputy-minister of education. The meeting was heated with comrades on both sides hitting very hard on their analysis of the political trajectory in our country.
Bra Don as he was affectionately known, kept his calm and continued to steer the organization towards a decision. Needless to say that the decision to accept the appointment fractured AZAPO. True to principle, he remained in AZAPO and defended it’s position until his death. He told those of us who cared to listen that the problem facing Black people in South Africa was not the ANC but white racism. To defeat white racism, Black people needed to unite. The invitation by the ANC to an AZAPO member to serve as a deputy minister should be understood within the broader context of bringing together forces of liberation to advance the interests of the poor who are mainly Black including members of AZAPO. He explained with lucidity the intricacies of amending the constitution of the country in order to demonstrate the seriousness of the matter. It is now a matter of public record that the appointment of Ntate Mangena as a deputy-minister necessitated and resulted in what is known as “Mangena amendment”. In him we had a true soldier whose commitment to the cause of freedom was not seasonal.
He taught us to remain faithful to party principles and reject opportunism. Indeed it is Amilcar Cabral who wrote in The Weapon of Theory that ” We must be faithful to our principles, we must apply them everyday, we must not compromise our principles, whether on the internal plane, in our internal life, or on the external plane, in our relations in the external field”. Bra Don owed fidelity to AZAPO and her principles until death stole him from us.
In a country ravaged by years of settler colonialism and in transition to a new societal order based on the principles of human rights, it is devastating to loose someone like Ntate Don Nkadimeng.
He was an inspiration to us as the young generation of lawyers at the dawn of democracy. I am a direct beneficiary of his benevolence as he represented me and others in a disciplinary hearing at the University of Venda as well as in the criminal proceedings in Thohoyandou magistrates court. I saw first hand his mastery of case analysis and cross-examination. Like so many people he represented, he did not charge us for this service as he correctly located our student struggle within the broader issues of the liberation of our people from perpetual bondage perpetrated by Apartheid repression. He often told us that as a country, we do not only need educated people but those who are conscientised and are aware of the need to change the social order stacked against Black people. He reminded us of what Onkgopotse Tiro told graduates at the University of the North that our education will be meaningless unless it is tied up to and linked with the issues of the development of our people. Indeed as students and guided by the principle of Black student-worker solidarity, we enmeshed ourselves in the issues of the workers both on campus and on the shop floor of industries in Thohoyandou.
We will miss his teachings, laughter and guidance as we continue this journey for a complete and total freedom of our people. The story of freedom cannot be complete without acknowledging the contribution of this gallant son of our soil.
May his Black and Beautiful soul rest in eternal peace and rise in glory when the trumpet of freedom is blown.
Black Love, Black unity and Black solidarity.
I remain
Maboku Mangena wa Azania
