The Speaker of the Limpopo Legislature, Dr Tshenuwani Farisani, described Eddie Siala (52), a leader of the 1976 student uprising, as an exceptional hero who paid a supreme sacrifice for freedom of the oppressed masses of South Africa.

Siala, the Secretary of the then South African Students Movement, was laid to rest at Mukula Village, outside Thohoyandou, on Saturday. He died of heart failure last week.

Siala was also a member of the Soweto Committee of 10 who organized the 1976 uprising. He fled the country and received military training in Botswana where he owned a farm which was used as a base and military training camp for freedom fighters who fled South Africa. He would smuggle guns into South Africa to his fellow comrades to intensify the war for freedom. He organized refuge funding for freedom fighters in Botswana to get education and to start with businesses to sustain themselves in exile. He later established himself as a respected businessman in Botswana, but he came back and established his businesses in South African when political organizations were officially recognized in 1994.

The funeral programme started at Thohoyandou Town Hall and later the cortege proceeded to Mukula graveyard. Farisani told thousands of mourners that Siala’s role in the freedom of South Africa will never be forgotten. “He was a son of the soil who could not put down the spear until Bantu education, apartheid, inequality and injustices were totally eradicated. He was vibrant, militant and a dedicated freedom fighter, whose fighting spirit will continue to inspire us. Unlike other people who hijacked the struggle, Siala was not afraid to risk his life for the freedom of his people. It is sad because he died just a few days before celebrating the 30th anniversary of the student uprising…”

Eddie Siala was born at Mukula village, outside Thohoyandou, on 15 May, 1954. He received his primary education at Takalani Primary School and then proceeded to Thengwe High School where he acquired his Junior Certificate. He then joined the Department of Education as an unqualified teacher and later moved to the Department of Agriculture and served as an administrator between 1970 and 1972. He left and went to Khwevha High School, where he completed matric in 1974.

He was doing his teacher’s diploma at Venda College of Education when he left the country for Botswana in 1977. He taught in Botswana, and later started an estate agency business there. After the unbanning of political organizations, Siala came back and started his businesses in Polokwane and later moved to Thohoyandou until his death on June 1.

He married Lovisa and was blessed with a son, Bernie.

A member of the Limpopo Legislature, Mr Maxwell Nemadzivhanani, who stayed in exile with Siala, told the mourners that South Africa had lost a great soldier whose dedication to the struggle for freedom had borne visible fruits “which we are enjoying today. His works will remain to be seen because he has laid a foundation for the democracy of our country…”