Tribute to Rev Simon Dyakala Reverend Simon Dyakala a member of Azapo Veteran's Convention will be buried on Sunday. He was avid sportsman, loved golf dearly, He was born in Athlone.
Image: Nelvis Qekema
Nelvis Qekema, the president of AZAPO
One after the other, the Black Consciousness (BC) Stalwarts are packing and leaving this earth as evidence that the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) is 57 years old. For some reason, we never thought Rev Sizinzo Simon Dyakala (73) was next in line to depart.
He passed on after a brief illness this past Friday. His untimely death happened at a time when he, together with his fellow BC Stalwarts, was working towards the launch of the Azanian Veterans' Convention (AZAVEC) on May 3, in Soweto.
Rev Dyakala was the son of Mr Mntunaye and Nosomi Dyakala. He was born in Hlakeni (Athlone) as one of six siblings, four of whom have now since died.
Born into a strict and highly religious family, the young Dyakala would learn the spiritual ropes of the Seventh Adventist Church at a tender age. He rose through the ranks and studied to become an ordained priest.
As a Black Theologian and BC militant, he was able to smartly use African Spirituality as a weapon through which to fight for land, liberation and the restoration of the humanity and dignity of black people.
He was one of the BC political activists who were at the forefront during the June 16 uprisings in the Western Cape. While Zolile Hector Pieterson was the first political activist to have his young life ended by an apartheid bullet, Christopher Truter had the honour to be the first to be martyred in the Western Cape. Such heroism by a boy from the so-called "Coloured" community of Bontheuwel was evidence of how Rev Dlakala and his Comrades had managed to cement the unity of black people, thereby undermining the divide and rule of apartheid.
Regrettably, the democracy has witnessed the degeneration and erosion of such hard-earned Black Solidarity as manifested by some people seeing themselves as being "100%" of one or the other ethnic group.
Worse still, others go as far as to boast that they are the "first citizens of South Africa" to the exclusion of the rest of the black people. That has to be the worst betrayal of the black unity cultivated by Biko and the likes of Rev Dyakala.
With the banning of the BC organisations on October 19, 1977, and the murder of Biko in police custody on September 12 of the same year, Rev Dyakala and his BC Comrades moved with speed and formed AZAPO on April 28, 1978, to continue as the institutional continuation of the banned organisations.
Rev Dyakala enjoys the honour of being among those who represented the Western Cape at the AZAPO inaugural Congress.
Rev Dyakala so loved sport that he vowed to demonstrate that black people could overcome the societal stumbling blocks imposed to frustrate their natural talents. He was an accomplished golfer with an excellent drive. However, he was not the one to monopolise skill and opportunities. Accordingly, he established the Simon Dyakala Golf Academy where young people honed their skills. It is hoped that the authorities will not allow the academy to depart with Rev Dyakala.
He is survived by his spouse, Nophumzile, and children, Simphiwe and Nombulelo, as well as his siblings, David and Xoliswa. While his Memorial Service will be on Thursday, Rev Dyakala's funeral will be held on Sunday April 26.