McBride described Webster as the biggest influence on his life and said that he had infused all who served with him with the resilience, commitment and dedication needed to fight the apartheid machinery. MK special operations operative Gordon Webster
Durban - MK (uMkhonto we Sizwe) veteran and former chief of the metropolitan police for Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Robert McBride on Thursday paid tribute to fellow MK special operations operative Gordon Webster.
Webster died on Tuesday aged 58. He had been in hospital for more than a week after the vehicle he and his wife were travelling in collided with a stationary vehicle near Estcourt.
His wife passed away a few days before him.
In 1986, Webster, then 22, and fellow MK operative Bheki Ngubane had been shot at by police on Sinathing Road in Pietermaritzburg. Ngubane was killed and Webster, shot five times, was rushed to Edendale hospital in the early hours of April 27.
McBride, his father Derrick and others carried out a daring rescue operation and freed Webster after a shootout with police.
McBride said Webster taught him everything he needed to know about the ethos of MK and conducting special operations in KwaZulu-Natal.
“I live with the rules and skills that he taught me up to today and I continue to survive based on his teachings. He gave us the impetus to achieve the goals of the ANC for the good of the country. We were youngsters when we joined MK and did not know the importance of what needed to be done,” said McBride.
He described Webster as the biggest influence on his life and said that he had infused all who served with him with the resilience, commitment and dedication needed to fight the apartheid machinery.
McBride shared how Webster would be able to get operatives to relax in the midst of a tense special operation by sharing a joke.
“He understood that there was a need to be dedicated and focused during trying times, but he also tried to set people at ease.
“He helped lead us during the most important phase of MK and the message he and others sent was that MK was there to stay,” he said.
Speaking of the hospital rescue, McBride said that the support given to them as they rescued Webster from Edendale hospital supported the adage which says: ‘A guerilla is a fish and people are the water’.
“We had plenty of water surrounding us,” said McBride.
According to media reports at the time of the escape, Webster provided the hospital with an alias, Steve Mkhize, and was rushed to the theatre, where four bullets were removed. As he recovered in the ICU, the notorious apartheid security police had identified him as an MK operative.
While he recuperated a doctor later whispered a secret code word to him letting him know that fellow MK operatives knew where he was and that help was on its way.
Webster’s brother Trevor’s girlfriend, Pam Cele, a professional nurse at another hospital, then informed him of a plan to free him from the hospital.
Webster would later remark that during the escape doctors and nurses sang struggle songs and shouted ‘Viva ANC’ while he was whisked away on a hospital trolley.
Webster would eventually be taken to Wentworth in Durban before travelling in a caravan to Gaborone, Botswana where doctors eventually removed the last bullet that had been lodged next to his heart.