Hon Speaker, hon Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Your Excellency Deputy President Motlanthe, the family of President Mandela, hon members, hon guests and the nation in mourning, I could not find an expression apt enough to explain the passing on of former President Mandela, but there is a Sepedi saying ...
Mokgapa o mogolo o wele, dithaga di lla ma?ogo?ogo. [The father of the nation is gone, the great tree has fallen and the birds have lost their home.]
The big tree has fallen and the birds that used to nest there are left stranded. We all knew that President Mandela had been sick for some time and yet that was not enough to prepare us for the eventuality. We were a nation in denial and somehow hoped against hope that the dreaded day would never arrive.
Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, first President of a democratic South Africa, really deserved to be referred to as the father of the nation.
Papago set?haba. Mokgapa o mogolo o wele thaga di lla ma?ogo?ogo. [The father of the nation. The great tree has fallen and the birds have lost their home.]
"Father of the nation" is a title he carried with humility and dignity, and in the process earned South Africa the respect of the global community.
President Mandela was a unifier. He tirelessly worked for the unity of the people of our land and he stretched out a hand of friendship, even to those who had persecuted him. He would have been excused if he had come out of prison an angry and bitter person. In fact, there was a lot of anxiety from some who had believed that the country would descend into chaos.
Yet he chose a very difficult path - the path of unity, love and reconciliation. It is easy to hate but it requires a brave person to love. The writer Dr John Maxwell, in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, states that one of those laws is the "law of connection", and Maxwell summarises this law by saying that a leader touches the heart before asking for the hand. Or, people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Madiba loved South Africa and her people. He had a caring attitude. That is why it was easy, even to those who might have differed with him, to respond positively when he reached out to them. He had touched the people's hearts and they happily and confidently responded when he asked for a hand.
As I've said, Madiba earned the respect of the whole world. But how can we as a people pay tribute to Madiba? We can do that by erecting statues in his memory. We can accelerate the building of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital. We can name schools and boulevards after him. Yet, the greatest monument we can build in his honour is a free and prosperous South Africa - a South Africa free from poverty and want; a truly equal society where women and children can walk the streets without fear of abuse and crime; and a South Africa free of corruption.
On behalf of Azapo, I convey condolences to the family, to the abaThembu, to the ANC and to the people of South Africa. He has fought a good fight and he has finished the race. We say "a good fight", not a perfect fight. So we say ...
Robala ka kgotso, Madiba! [Rest in peace, Madiba!]
Lala ngoxolo, Dalibhunga! [Rest in peace, Dalibhunga!]
Lala salama, baba wataifa! [Rest in peace, father of the nation.]