Leading official of South Africa’s ruling ANC party dies

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to the long-serving deputy secretary-general of his ruling African National Congress party Jessie Duarte, who died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. Duarte, 68, was elected to the leading position in the ANC in 2012 and had been serving until she went on medical leave in November last year. Ramaphosa praised Duarte for being a “faithful, dedicated and fiercely loyal leader of the African National Congress.” He praised her for fighting for women’s rights during and after South Africa’s struggle against white minority rule and the system of racial oppression known as apartheid which ended in 1994.