South Africans should never allow anyone to insult the country’s anti-apartheid heroes and struggle icons, Gauteng Premier David Makhura said as he bid icon Ahmed Kathrada farewell on Wednesday.

Kathrada, affectionately known as “uncle Kathy”, died on Tuesday after a short illness following surgery to the brain to remove a blood clot.

The premier said the veterans must continue to speak out and draw attention to serious issues facing the nation.

“We as leaders must listen and have humility to listen to stalwarts and veterans of our struggle. We must be angry if anyone insults our stalwarts, for they represent that dignity … that integrity of the liberation struggle and priceless prize of our people,” Makhura said to a loud round of applause from the audience.

“Let us ensure that their views are heard and respected. So as we bid farewell to you uncle Kathy, we rededicate ourselves to the vision espoused in the Freedom Charter and the Constitution, and we will strive to conduct ourselves in accordance to the values thereof.”

Kathrada was one of the African National Congress (ANC) veterans who penned a document titled “For the Sake of our Future”.

In the document, the more than 100 ANC veterans signalled their unhappiness with the state of the governing party and that of the country. They requested an ANC national consultative congress, where their concerns would be thoroughly addressed.

The veterans include respected anti-apartheid struggle figures such as Ahmed Kathrada, Andrew Mlangeni, Gertrude Shope, Trevor Manuel, Mavuso Msimang, Sheila Sisulu and Ben Turok.

They decried the political and economic situation in the country, rampant corruption, “the inability of the ANC to act against corruption, nepotism, factionalism, arrogance and election slates in the ANC and its alliance partners”.

Makhura saluted the stalwarts with whom Uncle Kathy worked with, and said they were the “moral beacon, voices of reason and conscious of our movement.”

“We salute you, honour you for the life of selfless struggle. Kathy always made his views known, even though he lies quite here today he refuses to be silenced. As Martin Luther King Jnr said, there comes a time when silence is betrayal, and that our lives will begin to end the day when we become silent on things that matter,” Makhura said.