Speaker, Cope notes that Comrade Nomatyala Hangana possessed fearlessness in her opposition to injustice and oppression by the apartheid system. It was little wonder that her outspokenness and ready willingness to be in the front line of the struggle got her into frequent trouble. She was always being arrested by the police.
I got to know her well and I admired her clarity of vision and her deep commitment to a noble cause. During the period when the UDF began mobilising people against the system of apartheid, she actively participated in many campaigns, such as the Crossroads protests at the time. She was a sterling member of the national executive committee of the ANC Women's League, as well as being the secretary of the ANCWL in the Western Cape before becoming a Member of Parliament in 1994. All of us who knew her well will also recall with deep appreciation the vigour and commitment she displayed in her role as the national convenor of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign.
Cope also recognises her valuable contribution in various portfolios, particularly in her role as the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Housing. She genuinely cared about housing for the poor. Her promotion to the post of Deputy Minister of Provincial and Local Government was well deserved. She definitely proved to be equal to the challenges that the difficult portfolio offered.
The people of Stutterheim, a small farming town in the Eastern Cape, will forever remember her for having honoured their town. It was chosen as the venue to hold a national seminar on local government. A national government- sponsored event in Stutterheim is indeed a great event.
Nomatyala used her legal knowledge to serve not only the people of the Western Cape but the nation as well, considering that she was always in the very vanguard of women's rights. She spent her youth and adult life fighting for the full emancipation of women. She lived her life courageously, honestly, selflessly and successfully. The correct response to her death is for all of us to take the baton she held out and continue vigorously to combat the continuing scourge of brutality and victimisation unleashed against women, children and lesbians.
Cope readily joins with others in this House to offer our most sincere condolences to her bereaved family, her colleagues in the ANC and friends, as well as to the people of Beaufort West, who lost a dedicated and committed servant of the people.