More pictures of Liberation icon Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe. The PAC said the widow of its party founder, Robert Sobukwe, passed away in the early hours after a long illness.
Liberation icon Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe, 91, has died, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) said on Wednesday.
“It is with great sadness that we wake up at the saddest news, we have lost one icon of the liberation, Mma Veronica Sobukwe,” said the PAC in a statement. Sobukwe had been at the Midland Hospital in Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape for three weeks. Her discharge from was hospital delayed because she could not get her medication on time after a mix-up at the in-house chemist.
In April, Mama Sobukwe, affectionately known as the “Mother of Azania”, was awarded the Order of Luthuli. Her son Dino, who is also executive director at the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust (RMST), received the award on her behalf due to her advanced age.
This year also marks the 40th commemoration of the death under banishment of her husband, the founding president of the PAC.
Mama Sobukwe epitomises the collective experiences of many Black women throughout the Afrikan continent and diaspora whose roles and contributions in the liberation struggle remain unacknowledged, written out of popular historical narratives, biographical memory and national consciousness.
She celebrated her 90th birthday on the 27th of July last year. They called her Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe, the forgotten, ignored and erased ‘Mother of Azania’ who has endured unspeakable suffering, struggle and pain.
Born Zondeni Veronica Mathe on 27 July 1927 in Hlobane in Natal, she got married to Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe on the 6 June 1954.
And, in line with African tradition and matrimonial rites of passage, she received the customary nuptial name of Nosango. She bore four children: Miliswa, Dinilesizwe, Dalindyebo and Dedanizizwe.
Before her death, she was awarded the Order of Luthuli. Mama Sobukwe, affectionately known as the “Mother of Azania”, received this honour in this year marking the 40th commemoration of the death under banishment of her husband, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, the founding president of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC).
Source: IOL
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