Durban - Veteran ANC operative Gordon Webster, who in the ’80s was dramatically rescued from a Pietermaritzburg hospital after he was shot five times, has died aged 58.
Webster 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.
Greta Apelgren, who was part of Webster’s unit Operation Butterfly, described him as a courageous person who was always humble and jovial despite the post-traumatic stress disorder that he suffered after 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. Ngubane was killed and Webster, shot five times, was rushed to Edendale hospital.
Robert McBride, his father Derrick and others carried out a daring rescue operation and freed Webster after a shoot-out with police. 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.
Apelgren said after being rescued and recovering, Webster returned to South Africa and recruited and helped train operatives.