The Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Ms Thandi Modise, today paid a heart-warming tribute to Nelson Mandela and Albertina Sisulu, during a parliamentary debate held to commemorate the centenary of the two struggle icons.
Taking part in the discussion, on the topic Remembering Nelson Mandela and Albertina Sisulu – Celebrating the life and times of two great giants of our liberation. Ms Modise said the two freedom fighters “remain our points of reference because of their personal values – honesty, frankness, dependability, consistency, patience, humbleness and diligence”.
“They stood for liberties and rights; they stood for correction and advancement of others – not their own,” she said.
The Chairperson said Mr Mandela and Ms Sisulu may be gone but their sacrifice and contributions are engraved in the townships and villages of our country. “Men and women who follow on Ma Sisulu’s and Madiba’s footsteps must use the occasion to find solutions to deal with inequality and distrust. It is not about us; it is about our grandchildren.”
Ms Modise also used the debate to call for clean governance, equality and an end to all forms of discrimination. “We must clean government so that the resources go to those who most need them: the poor. We must respect the rule of law, our governance systems; so that the thieves among us find no peace, and our education system must enable us to find one another and help equalise the future.
“We have endured the indignity of apartheid. We must understand more deeply the pain of segregation on any other matter – economic, social, and so on. We must stand up for the social inclusion of South Africans who are not necessarily heterosexual; we must fight the exclusion on the basis of disability or culture. We need to ask ourselves whether our democracy is growing or regressing: the growing numbers of our political parties at each election means there are things we are not getting right. All of us – or politics in RSA is seen as just another factory – which means again as public representatives, we need to introspect,” she said.
“To remember these giants, our feet must start the march to a country that disagrees but does not hate itself; a people who love and share but do not beat and kill each other. A country that works together to build its economy must stand together against theft, corruption and crime. Let us fear God and respect His law: ‘Love thy neighbour as you love yourself’.”
By Sakhile Mokoena
26 June 2018
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