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21 Jun 2010 17:00
The ANC on Monday paid tribute to “gallant fighter” and former anti-apartheid activist Nico Smith who died over the weekend.
“We pay homage to this gallant fighter and will forever treasure the contribution he made in the struggle for liberation and the building of our democracy,” said ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu in a statement.
“He fought with distinction the apartheid regime for all of us to achieve the freedoms we now enjoy.”
Smith was attending a birthday party on Saturday when he collapsed and died of a heart attack.
He was known for his battle against the apartheid system and was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Pretoria.
Smith and his wife Ellen protested against the apartheid laws by residing in the Mamelodi township during the 1980s.
Mthembu said that Smith was among those who demanded an inquiry into the assassinations of activists in the township.
“We will also remember him as a stalwart of our congress movement, a fearless fighter who sacrificed his well-being and forsook his privileged white status, in terms of the then apartheid racial design of the South African society, to join hands and lead the struggle for the emancipation of black people,” he said.—Sapa
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