COSAS’ congratulatory note to Joburg Mayor Jolidee Matongo

0Shares

By Fred Mokoko

Comrade Jolidee Matongo is one of the most dedicated and brilliant comrades I came to know from COSAS, To the ANC YL and now the ANC. He is the son of an emigrant father who came from Zimbabwe who we buried at the Avalon cemetery shorty after Comrade Jolidee had bought his parents a house. He has always inspired leadership and discipline in others and we are not surprised that he has been elected as the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg.

Jolidee comes from the Generation that saw Dr Nelson Mandela come out of prison and delivered to the Union buildings as the first President of a Free and Democratic South Africa.

He was there when COSAS was relaunched after unbanning when we did the 20cents a day campaign to raise funds for the founding conference. He later became the spokesperson for COSAS Soweto when we were fighting for the scrapping of the examination fee for students who were doing Matric.

The Examination fee campaign was one of the victories delivered by the leadership of COSAS. When the apartheid government’s education authorities forced students to pay school fees which was deepening inequalities for many children of the working class and the poor we decided to intensify our efforts for the removal of the illegitimate government.

Because we could not burn our schools we decided to go on a campaign to fight against every commercial enterprise or government symbol of oppression. We were sending demands to the apartheid government and we were marching to their offices. Atone point we were blocked at the Diepkloof bridge were Ms Pemmy Majodina performed an act of defiance which led to pandemonium. I will not get to the story of the leadership staging a sit inn when education authorities were caught un prepared. It’s a story for another day.

Jolidee was also part of the delegation that represented us in the Soweto Education Coordinating Committee(SECC). He did all this work voluntarily and he was committed and brilliant. Jolidee was present at the conference of the ANC Youth League Johannesburg after the realignment of structures as a resource person and as a former secretary of the ANCYL in Johannesburg. Infact he was elected the first secretary of the ANC Youth League after the SOWETO sub region was closed down and merged as part of greater Johannesburg.

He led the delegation to the erstwhile national conference which saw Malusi Gigaba become the President of the ANC Youth League against the wishes of the Gauteng Delegation. He was heavily criticised and that brought him to be out of the committee of the ANC YL.

In 2004 we saw an opportunity to bring him back and unfortunately his name did not make it in the finally announced Regional Executive Committee. We saw the second opportunity through cooption and this time we succeeded through the input of Comrade Valentine Mbatha.

After becoming part of the REC he really showed his dedication and brilliance when he again emerged in the next conference as the next Chairperson of the ANC Youth League in the Greater Johannesburg region. We were correct in our faith in his leadership because later he would become part of the City of Johannesburg’s Head of the Youth Unit. He later worked in the Office of the Members of the Mayoral Committee for Finance as head of his office.

I was not surprised by his growth because he was erudite. I had been fortunate to share political trenches and Leadership responsibilities with him. I also worked with him in the ANC Caucus of the Gauteng Legislature during the time of Comrade Mandla Nkomfe as the Chiefwhip. He was the office manager for the caucus and he also showed his hardwork and fortitude.

So I am surprised today when people question his bonafides and suggests that he is a foreigner when we know that he is a full South African who went to school in Orlando West, was a member of the Methodist Church from his youth.

I am reminded you f a Memorial service we attended in 1998, of the late Siyabonga Nhlapo when comrade Jacob Khawe was paying his respects and he spoke in passing about a certain verse in the Bible, Jolidee quoted the chapter and verse. Comrades Brian Maropeng and Thabisile Moyo were amazed to a point of saying: “hayi unamanga Jolly!”. Jolidee went to fetch his bag and took out the Bible and showed all of us the book, chapter and verse. So we learned on that day that Jolidee carried with him in his bag the Holly Bible.

So those who are so jealous that you would cast doubt on the citizenship of Comrade Jolidee we should ask who you are and we’re you come from. We know Jolidee because he has always been with us in the Congress movement. He like many of us bare the scars of our apartheid past and like many of us joined the front ranks of the struggle when we were supposed to be enjoying our childhoods.

He was a front rank combatant when we pushed back the apartheid government to its surrender when the 90s were very rough and it was easy to be lost in the detail. He was present in leading the workers, the youth, communities in the efforts of rebuilding lives of the people in society in post apartheid South Africa. He is here today leading the city of Johannesburg.

Yet we must ask a question who are you to question this child of South Africa.

–Fred Mokoko is amember of the African National Congress who served with Mayor Matongo in COSAS and is writing in his personal capacity.