Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana says the street in Tantyi where local youth leader, Oscar Dondashe, was killed will be named after him.
Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana says the street in Tantyi where local youth leader, Oscar Dondashe, was killed will be named after him.
Lwana told hundreds of mourners who came to the Joza Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday to pay their last respects to the late ANC Youth League regional secretary that Grahamstown "cannot afford" to have letters of the alphabet and numbers instead of street names while there were heroes such as Dondashe to commemorate. "I will lead a programme to rename V Street after Oscar," he said.
While laying wreaths down on V Street he convinced the residents that a street commitee will be established there so that other areas can follow suit. While he does not agree that the Mngcongo family should be ostracised, he says he grew up in an era where such families would be driven away.
Turning to the ruling party’s internal divisions, Lwana said that the party will not support any leadership which does not "embrace the tripartite alliance [ANC, Cosatu and SACP]". "In Makana there are tendencies for some comrades to be factional," he emphasised.
Dondashe’s brother, Thulani, said Oscar had been brave since childhood and that despite Thulani being older he fought most of his battles. He says Oscar was the strongest tenor in the church choir.
"I have lost my baby brother, but from Monday I’ll be facing a challenge because at work I’ll have to deal with my brother’s killers on a daily basis," said Thulani who works as a prison guard at the local Waainek Correctional Services Centre.
Over six hundred mourners, many of whom donned ANC t-shirts and scarves, sang and danced in the hall which was decorated in ANC colours with the banners of the party and its alliance partners hanging against the wall. ANC leaders including members of the provincial legislature (MPL) came to pay their last respects to their "selfless cadre".
MPL Bonisile Nesi said Dondashe was his "son, friend and comrade. Together we would discuss politics of the National Democratic Revolution, the basis on which the ANC was formed," he added.
He lambasted Makana Municipality for not awarding tenders to local businesses on the grounds that had that been the case the provincial office of the youth league would not have needed to fork out money from its coffers towards Dondashe’s burial expenses.
Like some speakers at the funeral he expressed concern over the fact that while the ANC has 20 councillors in the Makana council only 12 voted for Lwana as mayor. He said it bothered him that seven supposedly ANC colours voted for the opposition while one was "merciful enough" to spoil their ballot.
"If Dondashe was killed because of motives other than criminal interests we will never be consoled," he warned. Riding on the same wave was Luyanda Sakata, Youth League co-ordinator in Makana, who told the audience that this party believes that the murder is linked to intra-party factions in Makana.
"The killer must speak the truth, we don’t believe it was robbery for, despite handing over his cellphone, Oscar was shot twice in the head," he added. He also said the operation of the municipal car wash facility in Beaufort Street was one of the reasons Dondashe was at loggerheads with former mayor Pumelelo Kate.
"We said that two young people should be taken from each ward to work there but instead a couple of coucillors decided to bring their own people into the project," said Sakata.
Leaders of the Old Apostolic Church of Africa which presided over the ceremony praised Dondashe for his discipline amd commitment to church activities. "The church has also lost because Oscar had a progressive outlook on life and was possessed of outstanding leadership qualities," said one priest.
Dondashe leaves behind his parents Mthuthuzeli and Kholeka and siblings Thulani, Siphokazi, Phumeza, Nomphelo, Thapelo and Siphesihle. He has two children, Liyakhanya and Lunam-Uthando. He was laid to rest in New Cemetery.
