Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who died at the age of 90, was a powerful, forthright voice, that irked both the Nationalist government and its successor, the African National Congress and its allies, writes Andrew Donaldson.
Ebrahim Ebrehim was an exemplary comrade in the South African struggle for freedom, who until his death was a committed internationalist, writes Sidney Luckett.
The September 1989 Cape Town peace march rocked aparthe dailymaverick.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymaverick.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SOUTH Africa’s largest trade union confederation has launched a joint campaign today in support of jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has written to United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres, urging him to press for the release of Mr Ocalan.
The letter highlighted the precedent set by the UN in calling for the release of Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years behind bars before his release in 1990.
The UN helped to establish the Nelson Mandela Rules which set out standards for the treatment of political prisoners, the letter notes.
Cosatu compared Mr Ocalan’s continued incarceration and Turkey’s brutal treatment of the Kurdish people to that of Mr Mandela and the apartheid system.