Anti-apartheid activist, African National Congress veteran Yasmin Jessie Duarte dies at 68

South Africa’s veteran freedom fighter and Deputy Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), Yasmin “Jessie” Duarte, handed away on Sunday after a protracted battle with most cancers. She was 68.

The ANC confirmed that Duarte handed away within the early hours of Sunday morning.

Duarte had been on medical depart since November final yr as she underwent remedy for most cancers.

She was the longest serving member of the ruling social gathering’s nationwide govt council (NEC), after first being elected to the physique in 1999 below the management of then president Thabo Mbeki.

Sharing its condolences, the ANC mentioned Duarte had been “a tower of strength to the organisation as well as a matriarch and pillar of her family. “

“The passing of Comrade Jessie is a great loss, not only to the family but to the democratic movement and the country as a whole,” ANC nationwide spokesperson Pule Mabe mentioned in a press release.

“She dedicated her entire life to the struggle for a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, prosperous, and just South Africa. A committed gender activist, she relentlessly championed the emancipation and empowerment of women. Her life and work reflected a consistent commitment to advancing the rights of the poor and marginalised,” Mabe added.

“As a committed internationalist and former diplomat, not only will she be mourned by South Africa, but by colleagues and comrades on the African continent and the international progressive movement,” he mentioned.

A administration accountant by career, Duarte joined the liberty wrestle at an early age and was concerned in establishing girls’s constructions all through South Africa whereas the ANC remained banned within the nation below the white minority authorities.

Duarte served as the non-public assistant to Nelson Mandela, who was launched after 27 years of imprisonment as a political prisoner to grow to be South Africa’s first democratically elected president.

She was additionally the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Safety and Security in Gauteng province and South Africa’s ambassador to neighbouring Mozambique for a interval.

In April this yr, Duarte spoke out after widespread rumours on social media that she had died of most cancers. She had earlier indicated that she would step down from her place on the subsequent elective convention of the ANC, scheduled for the top of this yr.

Duarte’s funeral by Muslim rites was scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

She was married to John Duarte, with whom she had two kids. The couple had been divorced in 2001.

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