the funeral service of Mr Thulasizwe Mngomezulu, Pietermaritzburg
5 November 2006
Greetings and acknowledgements
We are assembled here today to bid farewell to the beloved Mr Thulasizwe
Mngomezulu. Seven days ago we were informed and quite sadly so, that his life
had been tragically ended on the corner of Boshoff and Church streets in
Pietermaritzburg. As we mourn his death today we recall of a writer, a
researcher, a heritage and culture expert, a linguist, who was somebodyâs son,
a member of the community, a member of the church and a senior civil servant,
is lying motionless and soulless. Thulasizwe Mngomezulu is dead.
He was a simple man who distasted materialism. His was a true life of an
intellectual, spent mostly in the generation of knowledge and thought. He left
an indelible mark on all who came across him. Speaker after speaker has
highlighted this fact. When you listen to all the speeches and you recall your
own encounter with him you begin to wonder as to why such a man had to be
killed so brutally. Our people mourn, our government mourns and the civil
service mourns. The province has lost a thinker and a patient provider of
knowledge and information.
The family is mourning the loss of its head and I say to his wife, children,
mother, friends and relatives: Be strong, for God is with you. I comfort you in
this, your hour of need and despair. A good man has been killed by senseless
criminals, who think they are winning the war. I want to assure you and to send
a strong message that says we will have the last word on this matter. We
defeated apartheid. We are normalising our society. We will defeat crime. We
will mobilise our society against crime and the criminals.
There shall be dawn and there shall be peace. There shall be no criminals
roaming our streets and seeking to take the lives of many. This war against
crime and the criminals is not over until we win it. We shall win it and good
shall triumph over evil. This crime has its roots in history. Many will recall
that at the height of apartheid the criminals ruled the trains, the buses, the
taxi ranks. Few were ever brought to book.
We are assembled here today to mourn the death of Thulasizwe Mngomezulu
because at this, our lowest hour and our hour of need, we are faced by the
devastating consequences of years of systematic attack on our dignity. People
humiliated for so long such as we were under apartheid and colonialism forgets
itself and chooses strange ways of resolving conflict. Today we have reached
our lowest level of existence, where we devalue our lives and those of others.
The violent crime wave that is confronting us today has its roots in history.
It would be a mistake no to consider crime from this historical
perspective.
The criminals are on the loose and they think we are losing the war. They
are wrong and we are poised to prove them wrong. Our history shows that since
1652 South Africa became characterised by random human slaughter and sponsored
loss of dignity for the oppressed. At the height of apartheid and when the
police were supposedly most effective, criminal gangs used to torment people in
the trains, in the buses, in the streets, everywhere. They did all this
tormenting and torture with impunity.
It was rare for the police to arrest these criminals, and Black people had
to live with this multi-faceted humiliation. The only people who were arrested
and sentenced speedily were the political activists. We have such a history.
Torturing and killing innocent people by anyone was often condoned by the state
and its organs, as long as it was not political. A culture was born and we live
with it today. The culture of rampant human slaughter took roots. It is now
fully entrenched in some communities. The new police service under democratic
rule is spending sleepless nights combating violent crimes and human
slaughter.
Our prisons are full and overflowing because the police are bringing the
criminals to book. However, we need other additional forms of social
interventions in order to combat crime. There needs to develop a regeneration
of morals and values. Such regeneration should include the revisit of our
pre-colonial values of life, because, as I have stated earlier, there once was
a time in our history when crime and criminality were socially looked down upon
and despised by society.
There was once a time in our history when criminals were well isolated by
society. If there was a criminal in the area everyone would know and they would
keep a close watch on the activities of the criminal. The criminal would feel
lonely and isolated and would leave voluntarily. There was once a time in our
history when the killing of a human being outside of an official war was
regarded as taboo and ultimate cowardice. No pride could be derived from
it.
There was a time in our history when the killing of a human being outside of
an official war was regarded as the lowest level one would go. There was a time
when human blood was sacred, revered and feared. That was the time when the
whole idea of violent death outside of a formal war was distasteful and the
killer was summarily punished by the social collective. We have lost that time;
of values, of dignity, of morality; of love for each other.
We shall regain that time. Crime and the criminals will soon fear not only
the law, but also the wrath of the social collective. We will soon re-engineer
our communities and the criminals will have nowhere to hide. Thulasizwe was a
man of heritage. I move that there is much we can do in the area of the
heritage of values, the intangible heritage, in order to honour the life of Mr
Thulasizwe Mngomezulu. He was a rising star whose humility was characteristic
of an intellectual. His lifestyle was simple. He would harm no one, and yet the
criminals took his life.
We should seriously consider revisiting, documenting and recycling our
pre-colonial value systems and adapt them for modern use. This should be done
as part of our integrated strategy to combat crime and immorality. It will soon
be important to include culture, traditions and heritage in fighting crime and
social violence. Society has these tools and society should use them to drive
the criminals out of our communities.
In conclusion I want to re-iterate what I said earlier that it has become
clear to all that crime knows no barrier. The criminals are becoming more and
more ruthless. Their priorities, which are cell phones, cars and small cash,
are reflective of people gone low. Thulasizwe will not be forgotten. The
criminals may have robbed us of his physical presence, but his spirit lives
on.
Hamba kahle Thulasizwe, imisebenzi yakho ngeke yaqedwa. UNkulunkulu
akwelulele
isandla. Sibonane kwelizayo.May your soul rest in peace.
Ngiyabonga
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
5 November 2006
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government (http://www.kwazulunatal.gov.za)
