Hon Deputy Speaker, I move without notice:
That the House -
1) notes with great shock and sadness the death of struggle veteran comrade Henry Makgothi, who suddenly passed away on 24 March 2011 at 4.20am in Johannesburg after suffering a stroke;
2) further notes that he was born on 25 December 1928 to Walter Mokowa and Martha Makgothi and that he attended Pimville Government School and completed his secondary school education at the St Peters Secondary School in Rosettenville and then went on to Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and a teacher's diploma;
3) remembers that in 1944 he joined the ANC Youth League at St Peters Secondary School, along with the late Joe Matthews who served as chairperson and Michael Tsoke (secretary), then taught at Pimville High School until the 1952 Defiance Campaign, when he was expelled, and thereafter found employment as records clerk at Isaacs and Kassel, an accounting and auditing firm;
4) further remembers that on 5 December 1956 he was arrested on charges of treason at his home in Sophiatown and detained at the Fort, to be later released on bail, and after 1960 tried to leave South Africa, but was arrested in Botswana and charged with leaving the country without a passport, sentenced to 10 years in prison and then spent two years at Leeukop Prison, and eight years on Robben Island;
5) recalls that, on his release from Robben Island in the 1970s, he was restricted to Mabopane outside Pretoria from where he escaped to Swaziland and joined the staff of the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College at Mazimbu in Tanzania and, whilst in exile, was elected to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC and also served as the organisation's Deputy Secretary General until his return home in 1990;
6) further recalls that on his return to South Africa, he worked in the ANC's Finance Office and later served as Chief Whip of the National Council of Provinces from 1997 to 1999 and, at the time of his death, was an active member of the ANC Mzala branch;
7) believes that he has served the movement and the country with distinction; and
8) conveys its heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and comrades in the ANC and Alliance.
Agreed to.