President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his deep sadness at the passing of Leon Levy, who was the last surviving signatory of the Freedom Charter and Accused No 4 in the 1956 Treason Trial.
Levy passed away in Cape Town at the age of 96.
The President conveyed his condolences to the family and friends of Levy, who played a significant role in the liberation struggle alongside his identical twin brother, Norman Levy, who passed away in July 2021.
Born to parents who had emigrated from Lithuania, Levy joined the Communist Party of South Africa as a teenager and became a trade unionist at the age of 24. Two years later, he was elected president of the South African Congress of Trade Unions, which he had helped to establish.
Levy was among the organisers of the Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter on 26 June 1955. The six signatories of the charter were African National Congress President Chief Albert Luthuli; Jimmy La Guma of the South African Coloured People's Congress; Monty Naicker of the Natal Indian Congress; Pieter Beyleveld of the Congress of Democrats; and Levy of the South African Congress of Trade Unions.
In December 1956, security police arrested the Levy brothers during a crackdown on liberation movement leaders and charged them with high treason, a charge that carried the death penalty as a possible sentence. While Norman Levy was later discharged, Leon Levy remained on trial until his acquittal in 1961.
The brothers remained politically active, with Norman Levy serving three years in prison after being convicted under the Suppression of Communism Act.
Levy was subjected to two periods of detention, after which he went into exile in England, where Norman later joined him following his release from prison.
Paying tribute, President Ramaphosa said the passing of Levy was a “sad moment for us as fellow human beings”.
“It is particularly sad for us as citizens of a South Africa that attained freedom from apartheid through the hard and sacrificial activism of Leon Levy and those who were in the trenches with him, including his brother, Norman.
“As we mark 70 years since the Treason Trial of 1956, we are obliged to pay tribute to the cohort of leaders and other activists who fought the apartheid state based on their belief in the inherent equality and dignity of all people.
“Leon Levy attached his signature to the Freedom Charter that lives on in our Constitution whose 30th anniversary we observe as well in 2026.
“Leon Levy was part of a generation whose contributions to a better life and a better world for all South Africans and humanity globally must never be forgotten or dishonoured. May his soul rest in peace,” the President said. – SAnews.gov.za
