Ramaphosa hails anti-apartheid stalwart Dumalisile Nokwe as leader of unshakable conviction

JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed anti-apartheid stalwart and former African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Dumalisile Nokwe as a leader of unshakable conviction.

Ramaphosa addressed mourners and dignitaries at Nokwe’s funeral at the Walter Sisulu Hall in Randburg on Saturday.

The struggle icon was finally laid to rest at West Park Cemetery, decades after dying in exile.

Nokwe, the first black advocate admitted to the Johannesburg Society of Advocates, died in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1978.

His remains were repatriated in 2024.

A special provincial funeral was held on Saturday, where Nokwe was reburied alongside his wife, Vuyiswa Nokwe, at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg.

Ramaphosa posthumously conferred upon him the honorary title of senior counsel, saying the activist had finally come home to the free South Africa he fought for.

"He never got to set foot on the soil of a liberated, democratic South Africa. Many more of our brave men and women were pursued, persecuted, and hunted down in exile. Some were tortured, killed, and buried in unmarked graves in foreign lands. The ANC, together with our government, is working to bring them back home."

Ramaphosa also paid tribute to Nokwe’s legacy, describing him as a symbol of sacrifice and resilience in the struggle for democracy.