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By ANA Reporter 
6h ago
PRETORIA – President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his sadness at the recent death of the South African ambassador to Senegal, Lenin Magigwane Shope.
“Ambassador Shope passed away at his official residence in Dakar, Senegal, earlier this week,” the presidency said in a statement on Saturday.
Ramaphosa offered his sincere condolences to Shope’s mother, Gertude Shope, a staunch fighter who spent many years in exile and became president of the ANC Women’s League and was a member of South Africa’s first democratic Parliament.
“President Ramaphosa’s thoughts are also with the brothers of Ambassador Shope, Lyndall Shope-Mafole and the South African Ambassador to Cuba, Thaninga Shope-Linney. His father was the late trade unionist, freedom fighter and revolutionary intellectual Mark Shope.
“Ambassador Lenin Shope himself represented South Africa in Cuba during a diplomatic career in which he also served as head of mission in Botswana, Italy and Australia,” the presidency said.
He was educated in Cuba since 1976 and trained as an engineer at the Technological University of Havana from 1982 to 1986.
“Our country and one of our distinguished revolutionary families have lost a son who dedicated himself to achieving our freedom and establishing and deepening South Africa’s democratic relations with our global partners,” Ramaphosa said in the statement.
“His early life in Cuba shaped the worldview and passion with which Ambassador Shope promoted South African interests, and especially the betterment of life in ordinary South Africa, through his diplomatic career.
“Therefore, we share this loss with the government and people of Cuba who adopted young Lenin Shope as one of their own and endowed South Africa with a disciplined cadre and an outstanding patriot,” Ramaphosa said.
African News Agency
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