Parliament shocked at sudden passing of National Assembly House Chairperson and veteran MP, Ben Skosana
Parliament is shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of Mr Ben Skosana, a National Assembly (NA) House Chairperson and a Member of Parliament since 1994.
Mr Skosana’s sudden passing away yesterday is even more poignant because it comes in the final term of this Parliament and on the eve of its last State of the Nation Address when the country is celebrating its 20th year of freedom.
Mr Skosana served our democracy since 1994. In 1998 he was appointed Minister of Correctional Services. More recently, he served as the House Chairperson in the NA, responsible for Members’ Interests.
Mr Skosana was a lifelong member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and was its representative in London. He also represented the IFP in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) negotiations which crafted the basis for our departure from our apartheid past to a democratic South Africa.
As a Member of our democratic Parliament, Mr Skosana strived to place at centre-stage the interests of our nation and the imperative to harness a common national effort to strengthen our nascent democracy. In this respect he did - and achieved - a lot.
We will always remember him as a South African, committed to entrenching the democracy for which so many had sacrificed their youth and their lives.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to Mr Skosana’s family, his friends and his party, the IFP, in this time of sadness and loss. His presence will be missed, also among us, here, in Parliament.
Here, too, tears are shed at the absence of his physical presence among us.
Lala ngoxolo Mhlanga. May your soul rest in eternal peace. You have played your part and for all you have done we are forever grateful.
