An icon of liberation theology who remained steadfast in his dedication to justice

Rumours of a hunger strike were persistent, and I kept pestering the then head of the security police in Venda, Gen Tshamano Gerson Ramabulana, about the condition of Tshenuwani Farisani, a Lutheran Church dean held in detention.

Ramabulana eventually said to me: “I keep telling you he is well ... Go to Tshilidzini Hospital at 2pm.”

I took a colleague with me, and we waited in bushes near the facility. When Farisani was led out of the van, I greeted him and asked him how he was faring.

Farisani said: “I am as you see me, my brother.” He had lost a lot of weight and was hurriedly taken away.

An article I wrote described all I had seen and included Farisani’s statement. When he was released, he told me I had saved his life. 

Farisani died on Thursday morning at  Mediclinic Muelmed Hospital in Pretoria.

He was almost 78 and had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It was a condition induced by the torture he sustained at the hands of apartheid-era security police thugs. 

He was also tortured in Venda in 1981, when he was accused of aiding guerrillas who had attacked the Sibasa police station.

Farisani was born on August 30 1947 on his community’s land outside Makhado, in Limpopo. The land had been expropriated without compensation by the white settler community, who had turned his parents into free labour on “their farm”.

Having grown up as free child labour himself, and having witnessed the abuse his parents and other black people suffered on the farms, his childhood fired his determination to fight for freedom. Like all black children on farms then, he did not go to school. However, at the age of 12 he was noticed by a female German missionary who sent him to school. 

He completed primary and high school in record time, obtaining a first-class matric. He enrolled at Maphumulo Theological Seminary, outside KwaDukuza in KwaZulu-Natal, where he met Black Consciousness leaders such as Steve Biko, Saths Cooper and others. He was expelled from Maphumulo because of his commitment to black theology, but completed his studies remotely and graduated with distinction.

He became one of the foremost anti-colonial preachers. The Lutheran Church sent him to Beuster Mission at Maungani, outside Thohoyandou. He became the first black head of the mission. 

When receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Venda in 2023, Farisani cried when he recalled his comrades had stolen money 'even for Covid-19'

Beuster became a hive of political activity. This led to police attention and at least four detention spells, including the ones described above. 

When the Venda bantustan won its “independence” from South Africa in 1979, Farisani campaigned vigorously against the move.

He was elected president of the Black People’s Convention at its second congress in December 1973. Among the people he touched with his ministry was Cyril Ramaphosa.

Within the Lutheran Church, he was appointed dean of the Devhula circuit and eventually became deputy bishop. 

After the detentions and torture, he went into exile in the US. He returned home in 1990 and became an MP after the 1994 elections. He was later redeployed to Limpopo, where he served as an MEC and then as the speaker of the legislature. He retired from politics in 2009. 

However, Farisani remained involved in community issues. When the VBS Mutual Bank scandal broke and it emerged that his own comrades had been complicit in the looting, he agitated for justice for the defrauded depositors. These actions brought death threats, but he stood firm.

When receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Venda in 2023, Farisani cried as he recalled that his comrades had stolen money “even for Covid-19”. His tears were those of a leader who felt betrayed.

Farisani leaves behind a legacy of profound commitment to freedom and justice, as well as service to people. He is survived by his wife and three children, and will be buried on Saturday June 7 at Maungani outside Thohoyandou.

• Tsedu is a former editor of Sunday Times and a former chair of Sanef