Durban - ANC Struggle activist Dr Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday paid tribute to uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) ANC operative Gordon Webster, who in the 1980s was dramatically rescued from a Pietermaritzburg hospital after he was shot five times.
Webster died on Tuesday aged 58. He had been in hospital for more than a week after the vehicle he and his wife were travelling in collided with a stationary vehicle near Estcourt.
His wife passed away a few days before him.
Mkhize said Webster was among the finest freedom fighters, who had a love for people and for humanity and placed this above their own lives.
“He was prepared to face death despite all the risks and adversity. The apartheid government was heavily armed but they were prepared to face insurmountable circumstances.”
Mkhize called on young South Africans to look at the example set by Webster and others who sacrificed so much for freedom and dedicated their lives to the service of the country.
“We need to honour these heroes and we need young South Africans to show integrity, honesty to get rid of corruption and deliver the best services for all people.
“We dip our banner in saluting our fallen hero. The story of his heroism will always inspire future generations,” Mkhize said.
Greta Apelgren, who was part of Webster’s MK unit Operation Butterfly, described Webster as a courageous person who was always humble and always jovial despite the post-traumatic stress that he suffered from being shot by the apartheid regime, tortured and imprisoned on Robben Island.
In 1986, Webster then 22, and fellow MK operative Bheki Ngubane had been shot at by police on Sinathing Road in Pietermaritzburg. Ngubane was killed and Webster, shot five times, was rushed to Edendale hospital in the early hours of April 27.
According to media reports, Webster provided the hospital with an alias – Steve Mkhize – and was rushed to the theatre, where four bullets were removed. As he recovered in the ICU, the notorious apartheid security police had identified him as an MK operative.
While he recuperated a doctor later whispered a secret code word to him letting him know that fellow MK operatives knew where he was and that help was on its way.
Webster’s brother Trevor’s girlfriend, Pam Cele, a professional nurse at another hospital then informed him of a plan to free him from the hospital on May 4.
Robert McBride, his father Derrick and others carried out a daring rescue operation and freed Webster after a shoot-out with police. McBride would later become the chief of the metropolitan police for Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
Webster would later remark that during the escape doctors and nurses sang Struggle songs and shouted “viva ANC” while he was whisked away on a hospital trolley.
Webster would eventually be taken to Wentworth in Durban before travelling in a caravan to Gaborone, Botswana where doctors eventually removed the last bullet that had been lodged next to his heart.
Mkhize said there were many doctors and nurses who were ingrained in the Struggle for freedom and they were part of the network that was aimed at liberating the country.