SOUTH AFRICA: JOE SLOVO COMMUNIST LEADER DIES

(6 Jan 1995) English/Nat

Joe Slovo, South Africa's communist leader, has died after a long battle with bone marrow cancer. He was 68.

Slovo was a key player in the battle against Apartheid and was rewarded for his efforts with the post of Housing Minister in Nelson Mandela's government.

Only last month, Slovo told APTV in an exclusive interview that he would like to be remembered as a man "who did not waste his life".

Joe Slovo died in his sleep at his Johannesburg home shortly before 0100 GMT.

His cancer was first detected during the negotiations leading to South Africa's first all- race elections.

But despite the illness, Slovo continued to play a crucial role during the negotiations - proposing a plan for the ANC to initially share power with the National Party.

Following the April elections, he was awarded the job of Housing Minister in Mandela's government.

The post made him responsible for carrying out ANC promises to build one (m) million houses over five years for the millions of blacks living in squatter camps as a legacy of Apartheid.

Slovo looked gaunt when he was awarded the top ANC honour at the group's national conference in December.

Upon bestowing the Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe (He who wears the leopard skin) award, Nelson Mandela paid tribute to the man who was the ANC's first white executive committee member.

SOUNDBITE:
"We are extremely fortunate to have in our ranks such an outstanding revolutionary who has contributed a vigorous mind with attention to practical organisation."
SUPER CAPTION: President Nelson Mandela

Slovo, who came from Lithuania, became known for his work for defendants in political trials in the 1940s.

At the same time, he was becoming active in the Communist Party, the first formal South African political party to welcome black members.

Slovo, Mandela and 154 others were charged in 1956 with treason for supporting the Freedom Charter, which proclaimed South Africa belonged to both blacks and whites.

They were acquitted five years later.

When the Apartheid rulers banned the ANC and the Communist Party in 1960, Slovo and Mandela embarked on a sabotage campaign.

After the arrests of Mandela and other ANC leaders, Slovo fled into exile as chief of staff of the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe.

While in exile, Slovo worked for both the ANC and the Communist Party, eventually returning to South Africa under an amnesty in 1990.

In one of his last interviews before his death, Slovo told APTV how he wished to be remembered.

SOUNDBITE:
"I think I would like to be remembered as a person who did not waste his life, who tried his best to contribute what I have hopefully contributed to the transformation that is taking place. I'm going to die...you know, life is terminal illness, so we are all going to die. In my case, I am going to die with the satisfaction that I've had a rare experience. That I started in the early 40s when there was absolutely no hope. I have been involved in every phase of our struggle, in the passive resistance campaign, in the armed struggle, in the negotiating process and now in government and then as Housing Minister. What more do you want out of life?"
SUPER CAPTION: Joe Slovo

Announcing his death, President Mandela said the nation mourned the passing of a great South African patriot.

Friends and colleagues have been paying tributes to their comrade.

SOUNDBITE:
"We mourn his death."
SUPER CAPTION: Walter Sisulu - ANC deputy president

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SUPER CAPTION: Unidentified woman

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