Chairperson, two weeks ago Ronald Herboldt, the only African to participate in the Cuban revolution, died in Cape Town after a short illness.
In December 1958, Ronald, then a 21-year-old from Salt River, Cape Town, was working on the cargo ship, Constantia, which docked in Cuba to load sugar just as the Cuban revolution was reaching its climatic moment. Fraternising with the members of Fidel Castro's rebel army, Ronald was instantly attracted. He left the Constantia and participated in the liberation of Cuba from the Batista dictatorship. In 1962 he married Martha Rangel Sandoval and raised a family in Cuba. Throughout his long exile, Ronald never lost his love for Cape Town and his South African family, or his desire to return home to a liberated South Africa.
In 1975 and again in 1987, Angola asked for Cuban help to repulse the South African invasion. Ronald was amongst the first to volunteer for duty in Angola. His knowledge of Afrikaans provided invaluable assistance to Cuban military intelligence. South Africa's retreat at Cuito Cuanavale marked the defeat of the racist oppressors and the collapse of apartheid. Ronald served as a Cuban representative in the Joint Military Monitoring Commission that oversaw South Africa and the Cuban military disengagement from southern Angola. He never lost his love for his adopted country, his Cuban family and his determination to come home.
Finally able to return home 10 years later in 1998, Ronald was reunited with his South African family. The ANC expresses its condolences to the Herboldt family at home and abroad. Thank you. [Applause.]