OPINION | Memory and legacy of SACP's Smiso Nkwanyana honoured 20 years after his death

During the struggle era many, many youth were slain. As tragic as that was, it became accepted as part of the sacrifices that had to be paid to achieve liberation. The slogan was “Don’t mourn, mobilise!”

Not so with Smiso Nkwanyana’s death. His was such an unnecessary, senseless, unbelievable death. The 31-year-old dynamic SA Communist Party provincial secretary for KwaZulu-Natal lost control of his car, crashed into an electric pole and toppled over several times in the Durban city centre on August 12 2003. He was returning from a long trade union meeting.

Smiso’s death was so unexpected it reverberated throughout the ANC Alliance in the province, not just the SACP, and even nationally. Such was the mark he made in the few years he served as the SACP’s leader in KwaZulu-Natal.

“There is not a single major issue in Cosatu in KZN that Smiso did not help to sort out. We don’t know who is going to suffer more now — the SACP or Cosatu?” said Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, at a packed memorial service which was also addressed by then SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande, ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma and ANC provincial chairperson Sbu Ndebele. That such senior leaders turned up conveys how important Smiso came to be in the movement.

In 1998, the SACP in the province was going through a bad patch. Our paid-up membership had sunk to about 600. Relations with the ANC were not good. Smiso, a student activist, rose to prominence at meetings held to revitalise the SACP. He was vociferous, brash, impulsive.

His name surfaced as a candidate for full-time provincial secretary. He was too young, I thought. Too rough around the edges. We needed somebody who would make inroads into the trade unions and also patch up relations with the ANC. He would not be credible.

How wrong I was. He plunged into his work with enthusiasm — and within two years, our paid-up membership shot up to more than 3,000, many of them workers. And the membership continued to grow. It was he who set the momentum for KwaZulu-Natal to become the largest SACP province under the leadership of his very effective successor, Themba Mthembu, still in that position. The current membership hovers around 70,000.

Smiso’s stature in the unions grew. And unexpectedly in the ANC too. He mended relations with the ANC leadership in the province and came to be respected by Sipho Gcabashe, the ANC secretary and Senzo Mchunu, the deputy secretary. He was also appointed deputy co-ordinator of the ANC’s 2004 election campaign.

You couldn’t avoid Smiso. That loud laugh of his. So unique. It was a piercing, raucous, crackling laugh that came from deep inside and spread through his whole face, lighting up his eyes. At first you could find it jarring, but you soon got used to it. Often you heard it in the distance, long before you saw him. Sometimes you laughed just at seeing the sheer delight he got from laughing.

He was such a positive, lively, engaging person. As he grew in his leadership role, he became more rounded and settled but he still had a brash, strident side. He would certainly speak his mind unhindered at times and rattle people.

Sometimes he would drive down from Durban to meet me in Pietermaritzburg. Not just because he liked my cooking, but because he wanted to talk, and not just about narrow SACP politics, but about much broader issues. What I saw of him then was a more reflective, considered side. A certain political wisdom beyond his years.

We all missed him after he passed on. You couldn’t not. He was not just a huge loss to his wife, Gcina, their new one-month-old baby, Akwande, three-year-old Olwethu and other family members. But to many, many others. Not least Nzimande, who was very close to Smiso.

Of course, there have been many other strong SACP leaders since Smiso. But Smiso stood out because of his unique personality and style. And so, he gets easily remembered. But it’s his political contribution that ultimately most matters. That on this 20th anniversary of his death, a Smiso Nkwanyana Centre for Alternative Ideas is to be launched is certainly a fitting tribute to him.

Yunus Carrim is an SACP Central Committee and PB member and ANC MP