South Africa joined Kenya and the wider African diaspora on Saturday to celebrate the life of the late Raila Amolo Odinga, CGH, former Prime Minister of Kenya — a freedom fighter whose moral courage and democratic convictions transcended borders and generations.
The memorial and thanksgiving service, held at St Stephen’s Anglican Church in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, brought together diplomats, liberation-era veterans, and faith leaders in a moving tribute that bridged nations and histories.
Presiding over the ceremony, Rev Father Trevor Prince of St Gabriel’s Anglican Church in Florida described the gathering as “a meeting of faith and freedom — a covenant between the living and the departed.”
Among those present was Lindiwe Sisulu, daughter of South African liberation icons Albertina Sisulu and Walter Sisulu, a long-serving cabinet minister and ANC NEC member. Her quiet presence symbolised a generational continuity between Kenya’s and South Africa’s liberation struggles — a connection later echoed by other speakers.
Moeletsi Mbeki, political economist, thinker and son of Govan Mbeki (Oom Gov), remembered Odinga as a Pan-African thinker “too busy living Not Yet Uhuru to ever write its sequel.”
Molly Dhlamini of the South African Communist Party, representing the SACP’s Central Committee, praised Odinga’s reconciliation politics and warned that Africa’s economic and cultural freedom remains incomplete. “His seed must yield new struggles — economic, political, and cultural,” she said. “Because indeed, it is not yet Uhuru.”
From Kenya, Ambassador Sunya Orre, Deputy Head of Mission in Pretoria, hailed Odinga as “a living idea — one who taught us that democracy must have a heart, that freedom must be lived, not merely declared.”
The continental tone was reinforced by Dr Efious Farai Mugwagwa of Zimbabwe, who recalled Odinga’s role in guiding the late Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai during Zimbabwe’s power-sharing crisis.
“He was a man who thought beyond emotion and ego,” Mugwagwa said. “He always sought what would make nations work.”
The service interwove generations and art forms. Seventeen-year-old Nyaratiro, a Kenyan-South African student, opened with a haunting rendition of “Tears of an Angel.”
Later, Emmanuella Seda performed Odinga’s favourite song, “Jamaica Farewell” by Don Williams, while Nigerian musician Emmanuel E.C. performed The Last Post — a military honour rarely accorded to civilians.
The imbongi (praise poet) Andile Stali (Shalom) moved the congregation with his pan-African eulogy.
“We have seen you walk with Aa Madiba, fed by Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela, blessed by Albertina, counselled by Chief Luthuli — the great buffalo having coffee with Kofi Annan, discussing the affairs of the continent.”
Representing the Odinga family, Steve Ajulu — nephew to the late statesman and brother to the late Prof Rok Ajulu, who was married to Lindiwe Sisulu — thanked South Africans for their solidarity, “South Africa was Raila’s second home. He believed our struggles were reflections of one another — apartheid there, one-party rule here, and the same colonial shadow in between.”
His son, Yieke Ajulu, delivered a heartfelt tribute that drew warm applause. “He taught me that strength is not power, but standing up for others.”
Prof John Ndiritu of Wits University — an engineer and Yogi — then led a reflective meditation, linking Odinga’s training as a mechanical engineer to the spiritual architecture of inner peace. “He engineered not only systems,” Ndiritu said, “but the moral flow of nations.”
Geoffrey Simiyu, representing Kenya’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), read a message from Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna, pledging to preserve Odinga’s ideals as “a covenant of justice, democracy, and inclusion.”
In a moment heavy with symbolism, Rev Father Trevor Prince noted that the service fell on All Souls’ Day, the day Christians remember the faithful departed. He administered the Eucharist and insisted on the Last Post in honour of Odinga — “a saint in the making,” he said, “for saints are made of people who carry their cross in public life.”
Organisers also reflected on Odinga’s enduring faith and his family’s defiance of colonial naming conventions during his baptism — a quiet act of reclaiming African dignity.
Condolences were extended to Dr Canon Ida Odinga, Rosemary Odinga, Raila Junior, Winnie Odinga, and Dr Oburu Oginga.
As the final hymn rose through the vaulted church, the atmosphere was both sacred and civic — a union of two nations joined by one conscience.
For a moment, the Pan-African spirit breathed again — and the man called Agwambo seemed to whisper from beyond: freedom must not only survive history; it must give it form.
