Hon Chairperson, on behalf of the DA, I pay tribute to the life of Sister Bernard Ncube. Her life deserves acknowledgement for her compassion for the struggle for freedom and women's rights. Sister Bernard Ncube, who was elected a Member of Parliament in 1994 and chaired the Committee for Arts and Culture and for Science and Technology, leaves a legacy of inspiration and courage. She was also an alternate member of various select committees in the NCOP.
She was born in 1932, studied theology in Lesotho and entered her Catholic order in 1955. Thereafter, she taught until 1960. In the years to follow, until the early 1980s, she was instrumental in the formation of women's organisations in the then Transvaal region. She was elected president of the Federation of Transvaal Women in 1984. Between 1983 and 1986, she was detained six times under the emergency regulations of the day, and once placed in solitary confinement for three months. She was charged with sedition and subversion. She was eventually released because of international pressure.
She was a leader of the United Democratic Front. In 1989 she was part of the delegation who met with President Bush of the United States of America. In 1991 she was elected a national executive committee member of the ANC. She had courage. For instance, in 1986 she was instrumental in bringing a court interdict against the activities of the SA Police and SA Defence Force in Kagiso. Few would have dared.
She also went against the wishes of the Vatican when she agreed to her nomination to the ANC's parliamentary lists in 1994. The Catholic Church leadership disapproved of clerics and nuns getting involved in party politics or holding office. Her final deployment was as mayor of the West Rand region in Johannesburg.
She was determined to see change happen. She said, "Repression was not only in detention, but also in the mind of the child born without fundamental human rights." We will remember her passing with sadness and hold dear in our hearts her contribution to freedom in South Africa.
We offer our heartfelt condolences to her family. May she always be remembered for her life and her legacy.