Hon Speaker, hon Deputy Speaker, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members of the National Assembly, the family of Comrade Collins Chabane, comrades and friends, a huge baobab tree from Xikundu village in the northeast of South Africa and Limpopo province has fallen. Even though he was small in stature, Comrade Collins was a political baobab tree. I am one of those who often complained to him that some of us have to always watch our diet whenever we eat. He would just load a big pile of pap and meat on his plate and devour it all with no fear of any repercussions, unlike those of us who are unlucky.
A true descendent of Nghunghunyani, Sekhukhune, Makhado , Mzilikazi, Shaka and other kings and warriors of our nation has indeed fallen. The animal, inyamazana [animal], isilwane [animal], as we knew him - is no more. His heart stopped beating at around 01:15am on Sunday, 15 March 2015. As I say this to you, hon members, I must admit that this still sounds unreal even though I saw the accident scene and also saw his mortal remains at the Polokwane Hospital mortuary on Sunday morning.
The ANC dips its banner of honour for one of our best, hon Collins Chabane - a well-rounded cadre nourished from his teens by some of our finest leaders, exuding all the values of our movement such as commitment to service to the people, honesty, integrity and discipline. He was a multiskilled and a multitalented individual. He was an intellectual, a debater, an organiser, an administrator, a soldier, a political commissar and a musician. But, above all, he was a humble servant of the people of South Africa, Africa and the world.
At the age of 54 - soon to be 55 next month - as the ANC, we expected a lot more from Comrade Collins Chabane. We were discussing at the funeral of the late hon Diale on 18 January, where we were both speakers, that the passing of the elders presents a serious challenge to us, the generation of the 70s and 80s and that, increasingly, the burden of guiding and leading the ANC is falling on our shoulders. But today we are one short; we are short of the hon Minister Chabane.
The year 2015 has not started well for us as the ANC. Since January we have been burying many of our leaders. Limpopo province suffered the most with the passing of comrades such as the hon Diale and the honourable Thembi Nwendamutswu, the former MEC for Education. Also, at national level, we have buried quite a number of our leaders since the beginning of the year.
Hon Collins Chabane is a product of the vibrant, defiant and militant youth of the 1976 uprising. Clearly, the heroic uprisings at the time when he was only 16 years of age had a major influence on his political outlook. That is why at the age of 17 years he was already in the trenches. After completing his matric at Shingwezi High School in 1978, he enrolled for a Bachelor of Science, BSc, degree at the University of Limpopo, Turfloop, in 1979. There he immediately joined in with other student activists such as the hon Ngoako Ramatlhodi, the Minister of Mineral Resources, the late Peter Mokaba, Tom Nkoana, Pitsi Moloto and many other young lions at the time.
In 1979 he was part of a Turfloop contingence at the formation of the Azanian Students Organisation. This was a very difficult period of political ideological transition from black consciousness to the nonracial outlook of the ANC at the black university campuses. Those of us who were in Natal were reluctant to participate as we saw this as giving resurgence to black consciousness. But, after the launch in December 1979, through the intervention of comrades in the ANC underground, we were given the assurance that these were indeed comrades within the congress movement.
We soon joined hands and reworked the Azanian Students Organisation, Azaso, constitution and, in June 1981, we were able together to wrestle the organisation away from the Black Consciousness and from Azapo and fully into the fold of the ANC, where some of us were elected to lead that structure together with Comrades Abba Omar, Comrade Aaron Motsoaledi and Comrade Sefularo who passed away.
In the meantime, hon Collins Chabane, Peter Mokaba, Pitsi Moloto and other comrades had left South Africa for military training under the ANC in Angola. Comrade Chabane came back into the country with a number of comrades in 1981. Some of the comrades did not last long before they were arrested, but Comrade Collins operated as area commander in the far north and north-eastern Transvaal for a full three years before he was detected by the apartheid police in 1984. He was put in solitary confinement for one year and in 1985 he was sentenced to nine years on Robben Island where he joined, and he was also later joined by, a number of old and older comrades in addition to comrades from among his peers in Azaso such as, amongst others, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, the current MEC for Health in KwaZulu-Natal and Dr Vijay Ramlakan, former Surgeon General, to name but a few who joined him at Robben Island.
He started new academic studies at Robben Island where he completed an N4 Diploma in Electrical Engineering: Heavy and Light Current. He also started the N2 Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance, which shows the calibre of his mind. However, he could not graduate because it was impossible to do aircraft maintenance at Robben Island, otherwise he would have become an aircraft engineer by the time he left the island.
After his release following the Groote Schuur Minute, he was tasked with starting from the scratch the ANC regional conference of the northern Transvaal in the then Pietersburg under the chairmanship of Comrade Thabo Makunyane. He was assisted in starting the office by, amongst others, the current chief executive officer, CEO, of Transnet Mr Brian Molefe and the current Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr Lesetja Kganyago.
In December 1990, at the first regional conference of the northern Transvaal, hon Chabane was elected the first regional secretary of the then northern Transvaal which later became Limpopo. This was a post which he held until 1998 - a regional secretary and provincial secretary after 1994 when it became a province. He served under the chairmanship of Comrade Joel Netshitenzhe for the first time and later under Comrade Ngoako Ramatlhodi as the chairman of the province. I had the pleasure of working with them as part of the top five of the Limpopo province from 1992 until 1998. Throughout that period, Comrade Chabane was the cornerstone of our region and the province, carrying the organisation on his broad but small shoulders.
As in any organisation, there would be times when there would be some tensions and disagreements, and Comrade Collins would always speak at the end of any debate after having listened to all the views. Even when it was very tense in the discussion, he would lighten the moment with his famous laugh, and all of us would then relax.
He was elected into the national executive committee, NEC, in 1997 in Mafikeng and served right until his passing on Sunday. He was elected in all four subsequent conferences and took on many tasks within the NEC, including in the disciplinary committee, constitutional committee and lastly, in 2008, he was appointed to head the task team which was looking at the reorganisation of government.
As a public representative, his track record is well known. In 1994 he became a member of the National Assembly and the Constitutional Assembly which drafted our Constitution which was concluded in 1996. In 1997, he was redeployed to the Limpopo legislature where he was appointed MEC in the Premier's Office. In 1999 he became MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport where he established the Limpopo Road Agency. In 2004, he became MEC for Economic Development. In 2009, as we all know, he became the Minister in the Presidency in charge of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration. At the time of his passing, he was the Minister of the Department of Public Service and Administration.
Hon Chabane was also a committed family man and also part of a bigger Chabane family clan. He leaves behind his wife and two children. As the ANC, we pass our heartfelt condolences to his wife and family, close friends and the ANC and its alliances. We also pass our condolences to the protectors who perished with him and to the families of Sergeant Sekele and Sergeant Lentsoane.
Fare thee well, my brother and comrade. Robala ka khut?o mogale wa bagale [Rest in peace, hero amongst heroes]. kha vha edele nga mulalo[Rest in peace], etlela hi ku rhula nhenha ya tinhenha[Rest in peace, hero amongst heroes]. Inkomu. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.