Beloved Oom Ray an African icon, says Ugandan ambassador

Raymond Mhlaba was not just an Eastern Cape, South African icon — he was an African icon loved and admired throughout the African continent.

This was the message from Ugandan ambassador Kintu Nyango during the fourth annual Dr Raymond Mhalaba Memorial Lecture.

Speaking at the virtual event hosted by the Bhisho legislature and the Mhlaba family, Nyango said he had met the first premier of the province during his tenure as the high commissioner to Uganda and Rwanda.

“[Nelson] Mandela must have had high regard for [Mhlaba’s] skills to appoint him the premier of the Eastern Cape, which was a complex province at the time,” he said.

“Mandela must have had high regard for his diplomatic skills to appoint him high commissioner to Uganda.

“The old man [Mhlaba] contributed immensely to unite Uganda and SA and I had the privilege of meeting him in passing and I remember being very impressed by his simplicity and keenness to learn more about what was happening in Uganda.

“He was an icon in the Eastern Cape, SA, but also the whole of Africa,” Nyango said.

Mhlaba was a political prisoner on Robben Island with Mandela.

He died in 2005 at the age of 85.

National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise, who gave the keynote address, said the ANC should implement the resolutions taken at the party’s 54th national conference.

“For Oom Ray to rest easy and well in his grave, land must be restored to the people because the idea of land is linked to people’s sense of identity,” she said.

“This is one of the things Oom Ray fought for.”

Modise said Mhlaba had fought and spoken out against sexism, yet patriarchy seemed to be overwhelming SA now.

“In this day, as Oom Ray’s children, we will not panic when there’s Covid-19, we will not panic because we’re getting derailed by all the sideshows happening in SA.

“We will not shake because we’re confronted within the state and the private sector.

“We will put our heads down, we will not flinch but fight because that is what they did.

“We will fight because it’s not about us but those who come before us.

“We are trying to build a nation in honour of Oom Ray and his comrades.

“We’re trying to build a nation that will sing praises to its mothers.

“We hold the levers of power but the land is not back.

“The values are being eroded and we stand by and watch.

“Oom Ray’s greatest fear was the misdirection of resources from the poor and the deserving to the pockets of others.

“We know this is starring us in the face.

“Do we tell Oom Ray that his movement is a shadow of itself?

“Do we say that which you started fighting for — the return of the land — we’re procrastinating in delivering?” Modise said.

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