South African Communist Party 

SACP dips its red flag, mourns the passing of South African

struggle stalwart Comrade Mbulelo Musi

Thursday 6 April 2013: The South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its deepest condolences to the family, friends, comrades, former combatants of MK and colleagues of Comrade Mbulelo Musi, a committed activist and a tried and tested peace and freedom loving patriot. The SACP also conveys its condolences to the entire liberation movement which he served diligently and selflessly throughout his life. 

Comrade Musi joined the people’s camp for national liberation following the June 16 Soweto students’ uprisings against the apartheid bantu education system. The historic protests spread across many black townships and led to him and scores of his peers and comrades leaving the county for exile in order to seek military training to come back and fight militarily against the racist regime. He formed part of a special generation of South African youth of his time who were prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice and lived to see the dislodging of the apartheid system and ultimate liberation of his people. 

He became one of the most revered Commissars of the June 16 Detachment of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the joint ANC and SACP military wing, which waged heroic battles against the barbaric apartheid security system. He was fondly referred to in the MK camps by his military and political nom de guerre as Commissar Moss Thema. He received his military training in Angola and the then Eastern Germany (GDR). Commissar Musi also graduated in the then USSR with a degree in Political Sciences. 

During the difficult years of life in exile, Comrade Mbulelo distinguished himself amongst many other brave compatriots as a true revolutionary who was forever prepared to take up some of the most difficult of tasks in various roles in pursuit of the struggle for the liberation of his people. Following a stint as a camp commissar in Angola, he was then deployed in the front areas that included Swaziland and Mozambique working very closely with the exiled leadership of SACTU, predecessor to COSATU. 

Comrade Mbulelo Musi survived the brutal illegal cross-border raid of Matola in 1981 when the apartheid regime went on an inhumane and horrendous attack of members of the ANC and Umkhonto WeSizwe in Mozambique. Sixteen South Africans and a Portuguese national were mercilessly murdered by the fascist murderous machinery of the then South African Defence Force. Many others were gravely injured. 

The names of those who were murdered during the Matola raid and other anti-apartheid stalwarts were unveiled in Mozambique on 11 September 2015 in the Matola Memorial Monument and Interpretative Centre. The victims of the Matola raid received the Order of Mendi for Bravery in Gold for their bravery and heroism, bestowed upon them by the democratic South African government. Their names live on in the hearts and minds of the working-class across the world. 

Following our 1994 democratic breakthrough, Comrade Mbulelo Musi continued to serve the people in different capacities meant to foster peace and democratic development of our country. When MK was disbanded in 1993, Commissar Moss was integrated into the new SANDF. 

He furthermore served in the public service in various roles that include, but not limited to, as a communications practitioner in the Gauteng Provincial Government, National Spokesperson to the late Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya, and as Head of Communications at the Department of Military Veterans.   

During the recent all-inclusive MK Unity Conference held in 2022 in East London, Commissar Mbulelo was elected as a National Commissar of Umkhonto WeSizwe Liberation War Veterans (MKLWV), a responsibility he executed with utmost dedication until his last breath. 

In honour of Comrade Mbulelo Musi’s memory and legacy, the SACP will continue to unite the democratic movement, and build a socialist movement of the workers and the poor for the total emancipation of humanity. The yoke of capitalist exploitation calls upon all of us to unite against capitalism and imperialism, evils which Comrade Musi fought against, and wage relentless struggles towards socialism. The SACP calls for the unity of the liberation forces in South Africa and beyond, for a decisive victory of the people against imperialism. 

HAMBA KAHLE MKHONTO!