To preserve the legacy of slain Bloekombos teacher and community leader Vuyo Duna (37), the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) Bellville branch has been renamed the Vuyo Duna branch.
A memorial lecture to honour his life was recently presented at Bloekombos Secondary School by Dr JP Sigudla, a former teacher and member of Sadtu.
Duna was gunned down at his home in February last year while on his way to Bloekombos Secondary School in what was alleged to be a politically motivated killing.
In January court papers revealed that the hitman involved was paid R1 500 for the killing.
A leader
At the time of his death Duna was a Grade 12 Xhosa teacher, a community leader and an active member of the ANC. He was well loved in the community and a former candidate for City councillor in Ward 101.
“We have to conceptualise how the life and legacy of Vuyo Duna should reside within our teaching profession as educators and, of course, within the ANC as a strong member of the movement that stands for equal education for all learners, black, brown and white.
“Over and above, how we should always derive inspiration from it. This is why the Sadtu Belville branch has now been renamed as Vuyo Duna branch,” Sigudla said.
“Vuyo Duna will always be remembered as that instrumental leader who led the process of political education which served to mobilise the community of Bloekombos towards our nation building. His involvement in the community of Bloekombos was inspired by the huge number of uneducated youths and that led him into trying to infuse education into the formal conduct of organised and formal politics and hence he became a member of Sadtu.”
He went on to say that the community of Bloekombos is proud to be associated with the name, memory and legacy of Duna and is humbled by the contribution that he made in the upliftment of black people.
“I was not too close to him but it happened that one day I attended a parents’ meeting here and I came across him and before the start of the meeting we had that lengthy discussion on how to make positive and meaningful contributions to our societies as educators.”
According to Sigudla at the end of the first term hundreds of learners are still queueing up for admission at schools that are full to their capacity.
A murder trial is ongoing at the Cape High Court where two men are facing charges of murder and conspiracy to murder.
The case was postponed to November.
