Programme Director,
Minister Susan Shabangu,
Bishop B. Lekganyane,
Bishop E. M. Moremi,
Leaders of various Church Denominations,
Members of the Provincial Executive Council present,
Honourable members of Parliament and provincial legislature,
Mayors and councillors of all municipalities in the province,
Provincial leadership of the African National Congress and other MDM structures,
Veterans of liberation struggle,
Leaders of other political parties,
Chairperson of the House of traditional leaders in Limpopo Magoshi a rena; maaparankwe,
Members of the business community,
Representatives of institutions of learning,
Different media houses present here.
Comrades and friends,
The people of Limpopo.
The 5th of December 2013 shall go down in history, as a sad day for the people of Limpopo, South Africa, Southern African region, Africa and the World as a whole. It is the day on which a freedom fighter and selfless servant of the people, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, passed on.
We have grown accustomed to his presence, and without Madiba we have become weaker and poor. He was and shall surely continue to be a source of strength and inspiration to all of us. There is no doubt that Mandela’s death signals the end of the generation that gave us freedom and our humanity.
Programme director
Today Blacks in general and African majority in particular, are equal citizens in the land of their birth, because Mandela and his generation remained resolute in their fight against apartheid.
Women have regained their dignity in South Africa because this generation of visionary leaders was unwavering in principle, and undeterred in its commitment to resolve to women emancipation. South Africa has claimed its rightful place in the world community of nations.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We owe the internationally-acclaimed democratic constitution we have and our freedom to Mandela and those he led with. They have bequeathed with a rich heritage of revolutionary experience, and we must not disappoint them in our forward march to economic emancipation.
Comrade Madiba is indeed no more, a colossus has fallen.
The story about his life paints a picture of a person whose loyalty to the course of his people was undivided, a man who stood by his words, a human being who so much despised and fearlessly fought white supremacy, not because he wanted to replace it with black supremacy, but because he was opposed to any system of oppression and exploitation of man by man.
Madiba dedicated his whole life to the struggle for freedom. He served his nation and the world with honour and distinction.
Programme Director,
History is replete with heroic tales this revolutionary. It was the youthful Nelson Mandela together with other firebrands of the 1944 ANCYL generation that called for freedom in their lifetime with a clear programme to radicalise the ANC.
When all South African of various races were called upon to defy apartheid laws, it was Mandela the activist who led the 1952 Defiance Campaign as the Volunteer-In-Chief. It was Mandela, the combatant, who when history demanded that we take up arms and fight the enemy because all possible means of engagement were closed, established Umkhontho we Sizwe together with his fellow comrades and became its first Commander-In-Chief.
Ironically he passes on during the month in which MK was established and changed the course of history in South Africa. It was Mandela the peacemaker who called for peace in our country when the country was sliding on the brink of a precipice as a result of state sponsored violence which created fertile ground for the rightwing forces in our country to assassinate Chris Hani in an effort to plunge our country into a civil war across the racial divide.
Programme Director,
As we gather here today, we must therefore not only mourn his death, but celebrate a life well-lived. We must celebrate this life of a colossal giant who epitomised the very values of our constitutional democracy. A man whose life sacrifices and selfless pursuit for justice saved our country from sliding into the bloodbath of unequal proportions.
Programme Director,
Perhaps the closet I can come to describing the loss that we feel as a nation and indeed as Nelson Mandela’s people is to borrow from his own words, these are the words he echoed at the funeral of the late President of the African National Congress, President Oliver Tambo, he said and I quote:
“A great giant who strode the globe like a colossus has fallen. A mind whose thoughts have opened the doors to our liberty has ceased to function. A heart whose dreams gave hope to the despised has for ever lost its beat. The gentle voice whose measured words of reason shook the thrones of tyrants has been silenced”.
Programme Director,
The people of South Africa have lost a father, Africa has lost a leader and indeed the world has lost an icon, humanity is indeed poorer today without Madiba. We are engulfed by this enormous sense of loss because Nelson Mandela’s magic hand has in different ways touched all of us.
The whites who feared the prospects of a new South Africa were shocked at the magnanimity with which he extended a hand of friendship and called upon them to make a contribution into the reconstruction and development of our country. Blacks who were crying for freedom continue to regard him as a symbol of hope in that he truly epitomised their aspirations and championed their cause to the very end.
The Nelson Mandela whose life we are celebrating today was a man with an unrivalled passion and affinity for education. In 1989 while serving a life term imprisonment President Mandela graduated with an LLB from the University of South Africa.
Upon his release he became the first Black Chancellor of the then University of the North and is one of the most practical ways that utata Madiba related with our province of Limpopo. The challenge for all of us, particularly for young people is to make education fashionable in honour of President Mandela.
We should do so this guided by his own words that: “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation.”
Programme Director,
On behalf of the government and people of Limpopo we promise you, Madiba, that we will carry on your legacy of fighting poverty, unemployment and inequality through various programmes contained in our 2009 elections manifesto, let alone the National Development Plan.
Our provincial government vow to you during this moment of grief that we will leave no stone unturned in fighting crime and corruption in all our departments and municipalities.
We are in the process of studying the National Intervention Team that was appointed by the National Cabinet to stabilise the finances of this province and we will act on all its recommendations.
Working together with law enforcement agencies, we have begun acting on earlier recommendation, and we are resolute that that heads will continue to roll for those whose hands are found on the till of taxpayers. Related to this, is our commitment to deliver basic services to our people at a faster rate.
Programme Director
We can only build from Madiba’s legacy in our continued fight against the scourge of HIV and AIDS.
In honour and memory of Madiba, we undertake to increase access to Early Childhood Development Centres, and more importantly, call on our people to their join government in the fight against the abuse of children.
As the ANC government we will continue to strengthen the social security network for children, intensify the school nutrition programme for poor schools and increase the number of no-fee schools so that no child can be denied an opportunity to learn.
Programme Director,
How else do we summarise the essence of Madiba’s life except to borrow the words of his friend and lifelong companion, Xhamela who wrote a tribute to Madiba which could not be published before his death as an agreement between both of them.
He said and I quote: ‘As he rests in his eternal sleep, I am certain of one thing: that Madiba’s face is enveloped in a gentle, enduring smile. No, not the broad, beaming smile we are accustomed to. Not the one so full of warmth that one felt bathed in sunshine. Rather, the quiet smile, reflective, born out of looking over his life and times; a smile tinged with a hint of mischievousness for having beaten the odds, cheated the hangman and knowing he had helped make South Africa and the world a better place.”
Programme Director,
The question may as well be that now that all sorts of monuments have been named after Mandela from stadiums, bridges, hospitals, universities, streets and organisations what more can we do to honour this son of the soil?
It is my firm belief that we must the befitting tribute we must pay to Madiba is:
- To strive to build a South Africa that truly belongs to all those who live in it, united in their diversity.
- To work towards the healing the divisions of our past
- To establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.
- To love one another and take care of our children and, more importantly, to
- Forgive all those who trespassed against us, as Nelson Mandela forgave those who jailed him for 27 years.
Programme Director,
It is only correct that we extend our sincere words of gratitude to Mandela family for having shared their son with us. You are in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time of bereavement. You should, however, find solace in the knowledge that not only South Africans but the people whole world are with you and grateful of your son.
Mandela’s deeds shall remain forever etched in our memories. He has done his part and we must allow him to rest in peace.
Robala ke khutso Seaparankwe, Tsela chweu Mogale wa Bagale, ya gago tema o e kgathile Pula!
