ANC veteran pays tribute to Kathrada

TSHIDI MADIA

“We have to honour his life and life’s work,” Goldberg said last week. He said Kathrada’s belief of non-racialism was a value South Africans still needed to work towards.

“Of course, we have to deal with the historic apartheid legacy that the African majority are the most oppressed, but we cannot rectify this at the expense of the minorities,” said the Rivonia Trialist.

Black people, Indians, coloured people and whites, have to somehow walk a line of respect for each other. It is difficult, but it has to be done otherwise South Africa is in for a lot of unhappiness, added the ANC stalwart.

Goldberg said he and Kathrada had a lovely relationship.

“You know, if you had been through a trial together and you faced death together, there’s a bond. Even if you don’t see each other often, there is a bond of a shared experience,” said the youngest surviving trialist.

“People you respect and admire leaving you all alone – actually it’s not a nice feeling,” he added.  Goldberg told News24 that he didn’t want to be the only remaining Rivonia Trialist. He said he needed both Kathrada and Andrew Mlangeni (the other remaining Trialist) alongside him.

He said the last time he saw Kathrada was at the Drakenstein prison in February. This was the correctional facility which used to be called Victor Verster prison, where former President Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 after spending 27 years behind bars.

“When Kathy came… I was astounded by how frail he looked,” said Goldberg. He said that he believed the blood clot on the veteran’s brain was possibly the result of a fall he had had that day.

“I had wondered what caused the fall, was it a stroke or a minor incident? But these things tend to go with age,” said Goldberg philosophically.

The veteran said he would always remember his comrade for the respect he showed others and to his close friend Madiba.