Struggle hero a ‘gallant fighter’

STRUGGLE Stalwart and freedom fighter Moosa (Mosie) Moolla, who died on Saturday at the age of 88 after a long illness, has been hailed for his contribution to the liberation Struggle.

His involvement in politics began at the age of 15, when he joined the Congress Movement.

Moolla was born on June 12, 1934, in Christiana, in the North West province, to parents who had emigrated from the Indian state of Gujarat.

He was an executive member of the Transvaal Indian Congress and Natal Indian Congress during the liberation Struggle.

In December 1956, Moolla was arrested on allegations of high treason with 155 other Congress activists including Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, Ruth First, Ahmed Kathrada and Lillian Ngoyi.

In 1965, he joined Umkhonto we Sizwe and spent a year and a half in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics receiving specialised military training.

In 1969, while the ANC was banned, he was sent to work among South African students in Bombay, and in 1972 joined the Asian Mission of the ANC in New Delhi as its chief representative.

He featured on the list of ANC members of Parliament during South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

In 1995, Moolla was sent to the Islamic Republic of Iran as South Africa’s first ambassador, and from 2000 he was South African high commissioner to Pakistan.

On his return in 2004, he was appointed to mentor new diplomats-in-training at the Foreign Services Institute of the then Department of Foreign Affairs in Pretoria.

Moolla was also a recipient of the Order of Luthuli in Silver in 2013.

Sbusiso Ndebele, South African high commissioner in India, paid tribute to Moolla.

He said: “For 16 years of tireless mobilisation of the people of India for active support of the liberation Struggle against apartheid South Africa, Mosie Moolla was a ubiquitous and peripatetic presence in this great nation.

“It is no wonder that by 1986 the government of India had granted the ANC diplomatic status as it intensified its own Struggle to isolate apartheid.

“The great Nelson Mandela Road was inaugurated during his term in New Delhi. It stands as a proud symbol of the India/South Africa friendship,” Ndebele said.

“As part of celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations between India and South Africa, a huge statue of President Nelson Mandela is in the final stages of being installed on this road.

“This is a tribute to the pioneering work of Cde Moolla.

“Mosie Moolla, a stalwart of our freedom Struggle, has stopped breathing. It is us, the living who close the eyes of the dead. But it is the dead that must open the eyes of the living.

“We, in India, able to see and touch the work you started and achieved for South Africa, can only hope to maintain and emulate your work,” said Ndebele.

“Since being high commissioner in India, I would constantly call Mosie Moolla telephonically for advice.

“To the Mosie Moolla family, draw comfort in the knowledge that you enriched and hastened the liberation of the people of South Africa. That can never be taken from you,” he said.

Fawzia Peer, a member of the ANC and former eThekwini deputy mayor, said: “Comrade Moosa (Mosie) Moolla, a revolutionary, served the ANC as an exemplary diplomat and a gallant fighter in numerous capacities.

“Comrade Moosa was a beloved elder, leader and mentor to many, who was known for his vibrancy and captivating insight.

“He demonstrated a determined spirit against the brutal apartheid regime even after his arrest and in the face of possible death.

“May the bright and much loved spirit of Comrade Mosie Moolla live on. May the Almighty grant him the highest abode in heaven,” Peer said.

Moolla is survived by his children Tasneem, Azaad and Afzal.

He was buried on Sunday in Westpark Cemetery, Johannesburg.