Former leaders of the Black Consciousness Movement have described late Struggle veteran Peter Jones as a selfless leader who belonged to a golden generation of leaders that shaped the history of the country.
Professor Saths Cooper said Jones, who died at his home in the Western Cape a few weeks ago, was humble and committed to the struggle for freedom.
He said Jones was a giver who would give his last cent to those in need.
Video: Tracey Adams/African News Agency (ANA)
Jones was given an official provincial funeral in Cape Town on Friday.
“Our society is made up of the givers, the takers, and the rest of us who are somewhere in between struggling to survive. Peter was a giver,” said Cooper, who had known Jones from their Black Consciousness Movement days in the 1970s.
Jones had put his life at risk in pursuit of freedom and justice.
Former President of Azapo, Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, said Jones had been an activist from his student days at the University of the Western Cape.
His fight for freedom was for the liberation of all the people of South Africa.
Later in life, Jones helped him in the 1980s to audit the books of the union Nefolovhodwe led.
Jones was also involved in community projects in the OR Tambo district in the Eastern Cape, said the former Azapo leader.
Video: Tracey Adams/African News Agency (ANA)
“You are talking about a man, from his student days, when we are sending him off, who has been instrumental in the lives of black people. I came to interact with Peter Jones in 1985 when I asked him to help with accounting work for the union I was leading. After his initial work, he remained the union’s accountant for some time,” said Nefolovhodwe.
When he was elected vice-president of Azapo in 1990, Jones audited the organisation's books and went across the country and abroad to fund-raise for the organisation.
But his impact was felt in the community projects of self-reliance that they were involved in in the Eastern Cape.
Barney Pityana also described Jones as a selfless leader who fought for what he believed in.
Pityana said he was imprisoned in the same cell with Jones in 1977, where they were charged with terrorism by the apartheid regime.
He had been arrested with Steve Biko, but were separated later.
Jones had become actively involved in the Struggle at the time when some of the young people led from the front in challenging the system, he said.
“That was a golden moment of being young, gifted and black. Peter was not the noisy one, the forward one. I would see and remember him as a worker, a doer who got things done,” said Pityana.
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