Hon Chairperson, it is indeed a very sad day. This afternoon we are saying goodbye to one of South Africa's most fearless freedom fighters. Diminutive in stature, Sister Bernard was a towering giant in terms of moral rectitude. She was always dressed in her white habit, with a demure wimple on her head. She strove with all she was worth for a united and just South Africa.
Although she was frequently imprisoned by the apartheid authorities and held in solitary detention for months, or bombed where she slept, or harassed in numerous ways, she took all that was thrown at her in her stride.
Here was an individual determined and committed to mobilising South Africans, men and women, to take up their position in the great struggle. She fervently maintained that women must take their rightful place. She often said that women never went back, they only went forward. Sister Bernard had that look that often left you with a question. She seemed to be saying, "What are you and I going to do about the suffering of the people of our country?"
I recall - this was while I was in the confines of Modderbee Prison in 1986 - the newspaper reports indicating that she had instigated an interdict against the South African Police and the Defence Force not to attack people in Kagiso. At the time that was an extremely courageous thing to do. Few people would have ventured there and it made her a marked person by the security forces. It was therefore hardly surprising that she was arrested shortly thereafter and detained for more than 16 months. She and 14 other Kagiso community leaders were later charged for sedition and other serious offences.
Sister Bernard believed her Catholic faith had to be a living faith. She lived what she believed in. At one point she responded to a journalist and said, "God always creates space; ground on which we are able to advance the cause of justice and freedom of the people."
Her strength matched her belief. To her, justice and freedom meant much more than political freedom. She wanted poverty and its causes to be fully addressed and eliminated.
When I heard that Sister Bernard had passed on, I really regretted not having asked her what order she belonged to, and what vows she took.
Sister Bernard followed her conscience; she showed this through her involvement in party politics. She also availed herself for office, even though this was frowned upon by the church to which we belonged.
Now that she is gone, her work, her performance and her exemplary character must not be allowed to disappear from the face and political life of our nation. Her legacy must be made to live on.
It is therefore with sadness that we register our regret that someone with such a reservoir of moral integrity is gone at the very time when our country most desperately needs to draw from those reserves and the examples she set.
To everyone ever associated with Sister Bernard, be it as family members, comrades in formations, associates, or friends and neighbours in communities, Cope offers its sincerest condolences. The passing of so noble a spirit cannot but touch us all, and we indeed feel the sadness of being parted from her. Rest in peace, Sister Bernard! May your life and work inspire us deeply as we seek our future. [Applause.]