{"id":231530,"date":"2022-07-17T17:06:09","date_gmt":"2022-07-17T15:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/jessie-duarte-a-revolutionary-dynamite\/"},"modified":"2022-07-17T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T15:06:09","slug":"jessie-duarte-a-revolutionary-dynamite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/jessie-duarte-a-revolutionary-dynamite\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessie Duarte: A revolutionary dynamite"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the late struggle stalwart, ambassador and ANC Deputy Secretary General, <\/strong>Yasmin \u201cJessie\u201d Duarte, as a faithful, dedicated and fiercely loyal leader \u2013 a revolutionary dynamite.<\/p>\n

Although Duarte has been gravely ill for several months, the President said that it is difficult to comprehend that someone with such vitality and such spirit has departed this earth.<\/p>\n

The President was delivering a eulogy at the funeral service of Duarte who succumbed to a battle with cancer at the age of 68 on the early hours of Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

Duarte, who was accorded a special official funeral Category 2, was laid to rest on Sunday afternoon, according to Muslim rites at the Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

She has served, as South Africa\u2019s Ambassador to the Republic of Mozambique between 1999 and 2003 and was a long-time anti-apartheid activist who served as Special Assistant to former President Nelson Mandela and struggle stalwart, Walter Sisulu.<\/p>\n

At the time of her untimely passing, Daurte served as the Deputy Secretary General and Acting Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC).<\/p>\n

\u201cFor close on 10 years, she served as ANC Deputy Secretary General. For 25 years, she served on its National Executive Committee. Moreover, from the years of her youth to her final days, she served the people of South Africa with dedication, with humility and with a passion that is all too rare. She worked alongside great leaders of our struggle,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n

President Ramaphosa said that throughout her life, Duarte was an organiser who mobilised women across the country to resist the restrictions imposed upon them by a racist and sexist political system and a patriarchal society.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remember the courage with which she spoke against the abuse of women not just by the apartheid security forces, but within the ranks of the liberation movement itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in the democratic era, Jessie was relentless in advancing the position of women in all areas of public and private life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The President said that she confronted the patriarchal attitudes and practices that sought to diminish the role and contribution of women in Parliament, in government and across society.<\/p>\n

The President said that Duarte worked alongside great leaders of our struggle and learned the politics of liberation from leaders like Mama Albertina Sisulu, Oom Beyers Naud\u00e9 and Madiba.<\/p>\n

From them, he said, she imbibed the qualities of revolutionary leadership, qualities that she was able to demonstrate in every position she occupied.<\/p>\n

Despite the great qualities she learnt, the President said she always found a way to mix the qualities with her own dynamism.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we worked with her we have gotten to realise the truism in the saying \u2018dynamites come in small packages\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cJessie was a typical and quintessential dynamite, she was small, short and well packaged as a revolutionary dynamite,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the attributes she possessed, the President said that Duarte was a unifier who was always teaching, organising, mobilising.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe embodied a politics that was neither divisive, mean, nor small. Her politics were empowering and unifying. She understood the immense power of a united people and a united movement,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n

President Ramaphosa reflected that Duarte fought strongly against factionalism and disunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe stood firm against those who would sow division, who were interested only in personal advancement, who pursued narrow interests to the neglect of the needs of the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The President called on everyone in Duarte\u2019s memory to follow her example, and strive towards unity and common purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us build a united nation and a united movement founded on the principles of our democratic Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay we all strive to honour her life by doing everything within our means, sparing neither strength nor courage, to achieve the free, united and equal society for which she so gallantly fought,\u201d the President said. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the late struggle stalwart, ambassador and ANC Deputy Secretary General, Yasmin \u201cJessie\u201d Duarte, as a faithful, dedicated and fiercely loyal leader \u2013 a revolutionary dynamite. Although Duarte has been gravely ill for several months, the President said that it is difficult to comprehend that someone with such vitality and such spirit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-231530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/jessie-duarte-a-revolutionary-dynamite.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}