It is with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of our beloved Comrade Toni. The African People’s Democratic Union of Southern Africa (APDUSA) wishes to express our deepest condolences and solidarity with the Wilcox family with the fall of a giant in our revolutionary movement.
Toni Wilcox was truly the embodiment of the ‘universal person’ and representative of what it means to be human. She was instrumental in shaping the character and intellectual formation of an entire generation of revolutionaries and young intellectuals. Her passion for the great achievements of humanity was infectious. Those who visited the Wilcox home would be warmly greeted with the celestial sounds of some of the most beautiful arias from La Boheme, Aida, Cavalleria Rusticana, and many great operas. APDUSANs would be infused with passion when she would lead and direct the singing of the ‘Internationale’, or the ‘Lament’, based on one of the movements in Antonin Dvořák’s ‘New World Symphony’. She also had the distinct ability to capture the imagination of young men and women when reading some of her favourite poems.
Always speaking in a soft tone, her warm and gentle coaching not only made her a good educator, but also a great mentor in the traditions of Marxism. Toni believed in the need to nurture future generations of revolutionaries. Those who joined the APDUSA as young members during the1980s were profoundly influenced by her unshakeable commitment to the democratic demands and aspirations of our fellow workers and the landless peasantry.
Her deep sense of humanity and commitment to the ideals of APDUSA could not be shaken when the organisation was vehemently attacked by the apartheid regime during the 1960s and 1970s. Many of our members were imprisoned and forced into exile. Toni directly experienced the cruelty of the apartheid regime when her husband, Bobby Wilcox was imprisoned alongside 12 other members of APDUSA. During the long ‘terrorism trial’ the security police showcased their intensive surveillance of APDUSA political activities and why they were so determined to eliminate its ideas and cadres. This was both a personal family and political matter for Toni, who took up a leading role in the support committee to mobilise the defence of the imprisoned APDUSANs. When a much younger group got arrested after a meeting with the UMSA/APDUSA exiled leadership in Harare in 1980, Toni again became a central activist in the solidarity and support campaign of her comrades.
Toni played a crucial role in rebuilding APDUSA as a national organization from the 1980s onwards, making the Wilcox home the hub for coordinating APDUSA/UMSA political activities for decades. She was instrumental in maintaining the connections with UMSA/APDUSA members in exile. Her assistance to Jane Gool-Tabata following the latter’s return to home soil after the passing of her husband, IB Tabata, is but one example of Toni’s selflessness. Her dedication to the cause for a socialist future has remained resolute throughout the betrayal of the working class and landless peasantry which unfolded under the so-called New South Africa.
In more recent years, Toni was not able to actively participate in organisational activities due to ill health. She remained keenly interested in everyday political questions confronting working people and continued to inspire young and old through her noble convictions. Her contribution to the APDUSA shall not be forgotten.