Cape Town - The ANC in the Western Cape has sent its condolences to the family of liberation icon Peter Cyril Jones, who passed away on Tuesday in his home in Pringle Bay.
Affectionately known as PC, Jones was one of the founders of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) in the mid-70s, and together with Steve Biko, was arrested on August 18, 1977, during a roadblock by the apartheid regime after the pair had travelled to Cape Town on a mission to unite black organisations inside and outside the country.
“PC was subsequently separated from Biko. While they were jailed in the same prison, he never heard from him again until he learned of his brutal killing.
“He suffered continued persecution from the apartheid regime and was banned and given house arrest in Macassar near Somerset West,” the ANC WC said.
“PC contributed immensely to the liberation struggle, and he, together with many activists in the Black Consciousness Movement, kept the fires burning when the liberation movement, as led by the ANC, was banned and its leaders jailed and exiled.
“They inspired black people to believe in the course for freedom in the face of despair and a culture of fear and intimidation.
“The Black Consciousness Movement inspired the student uprisings, inspired the ultimate launch of the United Democratic Front and various sights of struggle.
“The ANC joins the people of the Western Cape (where he spent most of his adult life) and the people of the country as a whole in mourning this upright freedom fighter.”
Cape Times