The African National Congress has learnt with shock, sadness and sense of enormous loss, of the passing of Edna Edith Bomo Molewa, who was an NEC & NWC member as well as Cabinet Minister at the time of her passing.The sense of loss we feel, is beyond comprehension.
Her passing has left the ANC and the country poorer given her role in advancing the country’s agenda for fundamental social transformation.She has been and will always remain a symbol of a rare social and political activist, who rose through the ranks of the national democratic revolution that commenced with her involvement in trade unions before joining the North West Provincial government as an MEC in various departments, before her appointment as a Premier of the North West Province.
Cde Edna was in her own right, a stalwart of our liberation struggle who rose through the ranks of the democratic movement. In Cde Edna, we will always remember the champion for workers’ rights and for equality between women and men. She knew that our freedom will be incomplete without us transforming the unequal power-relations that give rise to the economic and sexual exploitation of women as well as violence against women and children. She wanted the ANC to destroy patriarchy and social structures that continue to keep women of our country and the world in bondage. She fought to empower women so that they could take control of their lives and to own their bodies through her activism in the Women’s League and beyond.
“Wa’thinta abafazi, wa thinta imbokodo”.
Cde Edna fully embodied the struggle of our people for national liberation and social emancipation in a true and broader sense of the word. A committed revolutionary till the end.
Her role was noticeable and she was affirmed as a leader of the ANC NEC, NWC as well as a Cabinet Minister in various departments.
Our history as a country will not be complete without acknowledging the pivotal role that individuals like her played in enhancing the impact of the collective effort to make South Africa a better place.
To her family, we thank you for having made available to the country and our people, a true committed and selfless revolutionary who knew no other life than that of servitude and commitment to our people. The African National Congress shares in your profound loss and grief. May her soul rest deservedly in peace.
Cde Ace Magashule is the Secretary General of the African National Congress
