President to attend reburial of Dr Alfred Bathini Xuma

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Sunday, 8 March 2020, deliver the eulogy at the reburial of liberation struggle hero and one of the first African South Africans to become a medical doctor, Dr Alfred Bathini Xuma in KwaManzana village, Engcobo.

Dr Xuma passed away in January 1962 in Johannesburg after a life of selfless service to justice and humanity. He was buried at the Brixton Cemetery and will be reburied on Sunday, 08 March 2020, at his birthplace in KwaManzana village , Engcobo.

The President declared a Special Official Funeral Category 1 for the reburial of the Dr Alfred Bathini Xuma following the request by the Eastern Cape Provincial government.

Born into a time of widespread racism and discrimination against the community of Engcobo in the Eastern Cape, Dr Xuma rose above the strictures of colonialism and apartheid to undergo western medical training in the United States of America and Europe. 

Dr Xuma was able to attain his education with the aid of supportive white Americans who gave rise to his enduring belief in multiracial partnerships and propelled him to become an advocate of racial integration and equal medical education for Africans.

At his practice in Sophiatown, Dr Xuma treated South Africans from all backgrounds.

In December 1940, he was elected President of the African National Congress where his vision of calling for the ANC to rekindle the African political initiative in South Africa led to the establishment of the Women’s and Youth Leagues.

Dr Xuma was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli in Gold for his exceptional contribution to the national democratic struggle for freedom and for his outstanding contribution to the struggle against colonialism on the African continent and the struggle for a free, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa.

The President has ordered that the National Flag fly at half- mast until the evening of, 08 March 2020, the day of reburial. 


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency 
Pretoria