Nelvis Qekema, Johannesburg
Last night was surely one of those nights on which I should have slept like a baby until the next morning. That’s because I was dog-tired and my mind so fatigued as if I was crawling towards a shutdown. For some reason, no drowsiness would intervene and close my eyes.
What a relief! At 00h35 a WhatsApp notification alerted me that there was a message dying to be read by me from the BC Stalwart and AZAPO Veteran Monelo George Bongo. “Something to keep my mind busy”, I thought to myself.
I clicked on the message and I knew something was not right when the first 5 words read: “It is with great sadness…” I paused and a lump developed in my throat. Once I regained my composure, I started at the beginning and read the message:
“It is with great sadness that I have to announce the passing of Judge James Ntlupheko Yekiso this evening…”
Instead of being shocked and shattered, I angrily wrote to Elder Bongo and told him:
“Yith’ uyaphazama, Baw’ uMfene! Yintoni lento imbi kangaka uyithethayo?!” (You must be mistaken, Elder Mfene! What’s this bad news you’re sharing?!).
Led by Provincial Chairperson Zanewonga Bedeni, the AZAPO Western Cape Leadership visited the Yekiso Family to express their shock and commitment to support the Family in their time of distress.
Some of you may remember Judge (Ret) Ntlupheko James Yekiso as the erudite and engaging old man I’d sometimes address as “M’Lord” or Rhudulu as he regularly contributed on the threads on my Facebook Wall.
Like those orthodox Judges, the Rouxville-born Cde Yekiso was soft-spoken and never raised his voice even when he was supposed to be angry. He spoke only when it was necessary to do so. And when he spoke, he was sure to wisely choose his words without any haste as he was counting them.
When that immaculately dressed gentleman stood up in an AZAPO gathering with his high-rise trousers belted somewhere on the bellybutton, we all knew that he would close the discussion with a neatly knitted and compelling argument.
He enjoyed the honour of being counted among those credited to be in the midst of the Founders of the Black Consciousness Movement under Biko’s leadership. He played that role as a student of the University of Fort Hare and a member of SASO.
After finishing his school at Fort Beaufort with top marks in English and isiXhosa, he worked as a Court Interpreter. His job whetted his appetite to pursue his academic studies from BProc, LLB to LLM (Constitutional Law). It is worth mentioning that he was expelled at Fort Hare in 1973 with a banning that disqualified him from enrolling at another university. He was expelled doing his BProc final year, and about a month before writing his final Exams. He had no choice but to forfeit all the 4-year effort of his BProc studies and start from scratch by enrolling at UNISA. He finally completed his BProc in 1978, and enjoyed the curious distinction of being the “first African” to open a law firm in Cape Town. He had a great professional reputation as a practising defence lawyer in the Western Cape, as well as one of the leaders of the Black Lawyers Association.
With his positive reputation as a legal eagle, many lawyers who later became household names underwent their articles in his Law Firm. It is during those years that he represented many political activists, including AZAPO and AZANLA members. It was a matter of time before he would be appointed a Judge, as he was, during the democratic dispensation.
He was the AZAPO Western Cape Chairperson and AZAPO Central Committee member when I left Vista PE to register at UWC in 1995. It was in my capacity as the Chairperson of the UWC AZASCO Branch that I got to work very closely with him.
To write as I do, and in my capacity as the President of AZAPO, I am announcing to the nation and the world the sad news of a passing of a wonderful human being and an unflinching revolutionary of the Azanian Liberation Struggle. If their memory was sharper, the Flags of the Republic of South Africa would salute this great Azanian Warrior by flying half mast.
