SA President Jacob Zuma leading in struggle songs at the reburial of J B Marks

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http://SouthAfricanMag.com Thina sizwe esimnyama, sikhalela izwe lethu. Elathathwa ngabamhlophe... Mabawuyeke umhlaba wethu!

Struggle hero John Beaver "JB" Marks (Born: 21 March 1903, Ventersdorp, Western Transvaal, Died: 1 August 1972, Moscow, Russia) worked with immeasurable commitment and dedication to ensure that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it, President Jacob Zuma said at his reburial on Sunday.

"Welcome home Comrade JB Marks. Welcome home our leader, commissar, intellectual, soldier, teacher and accomplished revolutionary," Zuma said in a speech prepared for delivery in Ventersdorp, North West.

"Your soul may now rest in eternal peace, on home soil, on South African soil."

Zuma said that Marks was a distinguished South African who was totally committed and dedicated to freedom, equality, justice and human rights for all.

Zuma said Marks noticed when African students and white students were treated differently at the teacher training college he attended and could see that black African students were discriminated against, Zuma said.

"He then made it his mission to mobilise other students and showing them exactly how the conditions they were subjected to warranted a revolt," said Zuma.

"It was the beginning of the conscientisation of this remarkable revolutionary."

Zuma said that Marks was one of the leaders who played a key role in the Communist Party-led anti-pass campaign of 1944, which drew 20 000 people, including ANC members.

Marks' success was "remarkable" and he managed to mobilise workers from various countries from Southern Africa under one banner and purpose, said Zuma.