Peter Cyril Jones, former vice-president of the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) Western Cape was remembered at a memorial service that took place at the Macassar High School hall on Sunday (26 February).
He died on Wednesday 15 February at his home in Pringle Bay.
Also known as Comrade PC, Jones was arrested in a roadblock in 1977 together with Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko while they were on a mission to forge the unity of the liberation movement. They were travelling from Cape Town to King William’s Town, and Jones was apparently the last non-police person to see Steve Biko alive.
Gaontebale Nodoba, Azapo national spokesperson, says he was honoured to be given a chance to speak on this, a sombre yet historic occasion. “We are gathered here this afternoon, in similar fashion to Azapo national leadership and comrades of Peter Cyril Jones in Orlando East in Soweto, Johannesburg, to celebrate the life of an everlasting revolutionary. We are celebrating a life well lived. Azapo is here to thank the Jones family and the Macassar community allowing their son, brother, uncle, husband, father and role-model to be part of the Black Consciousness movement from its inception until it evolved into Azapo, the flag bearer of this vibrant philosophy.”
He described Jones as a brave soldier of the organisation and someone who made a difference in the lives of countless people in the Eastern Cape, and particularly the old Transkei. “Jones was a community practitioner, a pragmatist par excellence and leader who distinguished himself among his peers. He was a humble and approachable person.”
James Matthews, the 94-year-old well-known Cape Town poet, writer and publisher also came to pay his respects to Jones. His poetry was banned during the apartheid era, and in 1976 he was detained by the government and for 13 years afterwards he was denied a passport.
“My message to you all this afternoon as we bid Comrade PC farewell is to remind you that we should care for each other,” Nodoba said. “We should respect one another, be one another’s keepers. We should strive towards showing ubuntu,also known as menslikheid, towards one another – ‘I am because you are.’ Let us embrace one another accordingly and grow together.”
