Moses Mauane Kotane (9 August 190519 May 1978) was a South African politician and activist. Kotane was

secretary general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

from 1939 until his death in 1978.Tribute to Moses Kotane
South African Communist Party

Biography

Early life

Kotane was born in

Pella Pella ( el, Πέλλα) is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is best-known for serving as the capital city of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, and was the birthplace of Alexander the Great. On site of the ancient cit ...

in Maphusumaneng Section,

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

(now

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

) to a devout Christian family of Batswana origins. He received little formal schooling prior to entering the workforce. In 1922 at the age of 17, Kotane began his working in

Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a major town in the west ...

, where he worked in various jobs including as a photographer's assistant, domestic servant, miner, and bakery worker.Biography
at sahistory.org.za

Trade unionism and early party politics

In 1928, Kotane joined the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

but left it, considering it weak and ineffectual. Later that year he joined the African Bakers Union, an affiliate of the new Federation of Non-European Trade Unions then being built by the SACP. Kotane joined SACP a year later in 1929, soon becoming a member of the party's

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

. In 1931, he became a full-time functionary of SACP. Within the Communist Party, Kotane worked on '' Umsebenzi'', the party's newspaper. As a promising young party member, Kotane was sent to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

to study Marxism-Leninism at the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet Unio ...

. In Moscow, Kotane studied under Endre Sík, 1967 recipient of the

Lenin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (russian: международная Ленинская премия мира, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a pane ...

and other Marxist theorists. Returning to South Africa in 1933, Kotane advanced through the Party until the point where he became the party's general secretary in 1939.

Political legacy

Kotane was a well-respected member of the struggle for majority rule in South Africa by even non-communist leaders.

Walter Sisulu Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu (18 May 1912 – 5 May 2003) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), h ...

credited him as a "giant of the struggle" because of his logical and non-dogmatic approach. Kotane was also a leading member of the

at the same time as the SACP. With the African National Congress, Kotane served as Treasurer General from 1963 to 1973 when he was replaced by Thomas Nkobi. Kotane, representing the Communist Party, attended the 1955 Asian-African Conference in

Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. From 1956 to 1961, Kotane was a defendant in the

Treason Trial The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956. The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not gu ...

alongside fellow South African leaders

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

Joe Modise Johannes "Joe" Modise (23 May 1929 – 26 November 2001) was a South African political figure. He helped to found Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress, and was its longest serving Commander in Chief, deputis ...

, Albert Luthuli,

Joe Slovo Joe Slovo (born Yossel Mashel Slovo; 23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Pa ...

and 151 others. Despite years of prosecution, none of the defendants, including Kotane, were convicted.

Personal life and death

Kotane suffered a stroke in 1968. Following the stroke, he went for treatment in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, where he died on 19 May 1978. On the 1 March 2015, Moses Kotane's remains were returned to South Africa together with the remains of

J. B. Marks J. B. Marks (21 March 1903 – 1 August 1972) joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1928, at the age of 25.Roth, 2015, p. 200 He was sent to the Soviet Union for the first time in 1930, as a student at the Communist University of the ...

and he was reburied on 14 March at Pella,

. Kotane was survived by his wife, Rebecca. She died in

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

in January 2021 at the age of 108.

Honours

Kotane was honoured with the

Isitwalandwe Medal Isitwalandwe/Seaparankoe, until 1994 known as the Isitwalandwe Medal, also known as the Isitwalandwe Award and also spelt Isithwalandwe and Isitwalandwe/Seaparankwe, is the highest award given by the African National Congress (ANC) "to those who ...

by the ANC in 1975. A local municipality is named after him in

North West Province North West is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of Apartheid in 1994, an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

.Moses Kotane Local Municipality
/ref>

References

External links

* ttp://novodevichye.com/kotane/ Moses Kotane's tomb {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotane, Moses 1905 births 1978 deaths People from North West (South African province) South African Tswana people Members of the South African Communist Party Members of the African National Congress Anti-apartheid activists South African activists People acquitted of treason South African expatriates in the Soviet Union Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery South African communists International Lenin School alumni UMkhonto we Sizwe personnel