Speech at the funeral of KZN MEC Dumisani Makhaye

Ethekwini, 30 October 2004

Deputy President of the Republic, the Hon Jacob Zuma, Premier of the Province, the Hon Sbu Ndebele, Members of the Makhaye family, Mayor of Ethekwini, Obed Mlaba, and people of KwaMashu, Comrades, friends and fellow mourners:

This is a moment of great pain and grief for the family of the late Dumisani Makhaye. It is also a moment of intense grief and sadness for all of us in the national government, his movement, the African National Congress, and our people as a whole.

At this critical time of the transformation of our country into a new non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous home for all our people, we have great need for outstanding patriots such as Magagula, Dumisani Makhaye.

We need not one, not two, not ten, but a thousand Dumisani Makhaye's. Because of that, all of us know that this was not the time for us to lose the one Magagula that we had. Because of that, all of us know that the untimely loss of Dumisani Makhaye has created a breach in our forward line that will be difficult to close.

Magagula spent his young years in struggle for the liberation of our country from apartheid oppression. He sought that freedom, ready to lay down his life if necessary, because he wanted our people to have the possibility to build a better life for themselves.

He was as ready to serve as a combatant in the first stage of our democratic revolution, to ensure the defeat of the apartheid system, as he was ready to serve as a combatant in the second stage of our democratic revolution, to help achieve the goal of a better life for all our people.

He agreed to serve in the democratic governments of this Province so that he could make his contribution to the realisation of this objective. And all of us know that Dumisani Makhaye discharged his obligations in this regard with the great determination, skill, courage, boldness, discipline and enthusiasm with which he engaged the overall historic project of the fundamental transformation of our country.

He did all this because he knew that for its success, this historic project requires cadres who must necessarily and practically approach their work with great determination, skill, courage, boldness, discipline and enthusiasm. And thus, in Magagula, we had both a thinker and a doer. We had a cadre for the new South Africa who knew how to combine theory and practice.

Our country continues to carry the burdens of its past. Many of the outcomes that colonialism and apartheid worked over many centuries to achieve continue to define the new, democratic South Africa. It is for this reason that one of our central strategic tasks remains the eradication of the legacy of colonialism and apartheid.

The eradication of that legacy means that:

• contrary to what colonialism and apartheid worked to achieve, we have to eradicate the poverty and underdevelopment that continue to afflict millions of our people;
• contrary to what colonialism and apartheid worked to achieve, we have to build the truly non-racial and non-sexist South Africa for which Dumisani fought, and which is now visualised in our Constitution;
• contrary to what colonialism and apartheid worked to achieve, we have to ensure that we expand, modernise and transform our economy, including the second economy, so that it generates the resources we need to provide a better life for all our people;
• contrary to what colonialism and apartheid worked to achieve, we have to build a democratic state committed to serve all our people, as well as empower them so that we realise the objective that the people shall govern;
• contrary to what colonialism and apartheid worked to achieve, we have to strive to ensure that nobody in our country is left to suffer and die through destitution, without even a modicum of help and support from government;
• again contrary to what colonialism and apartheid worked to achieve, we have to ensure that the most vulnerable in our society, the women, the children, the elderly and people with disabilities get the necessary protection and support from the democratic state;
• contrary to what colonialism and apartheid worked to achieve, we must continue to build new relations of friendship and solidarity with the peoples of Africa and the rest of the world, committed to the objective of the creation of a just world order.

All these are immensely difficult challenges. All of them can only be solved if we respond to them with correct and appropriate policies and programmes. Successfully to address these challenges, we will have to work hard and consistently over a protracted period of time to implement the policies and programmes we have adopted, confident that though the struggle may be difficult, victory is certain.

What this means is that we have great need for such cadres as was Dumisani Makhaye. We need cadres who have the work skills that the second stage of our democratic revolution demands. At the same time, these skilled cadres must have the necessary political commitment to the defence of our democratic victory and the use of that victory to achieve the objective of the fundamental transformation of the lives of our people, especially the poor.

Magagula, Dumisani Makhaye, was such a cadre. Throughout our years of struggle, during both the first and second stages of the democratic revolution, both in exile and here at home, he demonstrated great talent and skill as he carried out his tasks.

But what drove him to strive for excellence in everything he did was his political commitment to serve the people of our country, his commitment to the victory of a democratic revolution that would create the possibility for the realisation of the noble goals that our national Constitution prescribes.

We have gathered here today in KwaMashu, in great numbers, to say farewell to a great patriot we are proud to call a comrade. There are many of us in this province and elsewhere in our country who see and describe ourselves as the comrades of the late Dumisani Makhaye.

And I think I know that we know what we mean when we use the word comrade. We mean more than a brother or a sister. We mean a fellow fighter for freedom and development, to whom we are tied by a shared and solemn commitment to serve the people of South Africa.

We use the word comrade as soldiers speak about their fellow combatants as comrades-in-arms, amafela ndawonye. We use it to identify those in our society who are ready and prepared to sacrifice everything to achieve the goals we have set ourselves, as we engage in struggle to eradicate the legacy of colonialism and apartheid and achieve the objective of a better life for all our people.

We have gathered here today to say farewell to Comrade Dumisani Makhaye. When we identify him as a comrade, must mean that we commit ourselves to honour and continue his legacy.

It must mean that as we prepare to lower Magagula's mortal remains into his final place of rest, we pledge to strive to be as he was:

• principled and courageous combatants for the victory of the democratic revolution;
• skilled and disciplined activists for the reconstruction and development of our country;
• determined and selfless workers for the achievement of the goal of a better life for all our people;
• initiators of bold actions for fundamental change in our country, Africa and the world, who are driven by the revolutionary passion, enthusiasm and confidence that described Comrade Magagula, the outstanding patriot and activist, Comrade Dumisani Makhaye.

On behalf of our national government and our people as a whole, I am privileged to discharge the heavy responsibility to extend heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Dumisani Makhaye, to the Premier, the government and the people of KwaMashu and KwaZulu-Natal, and to all those who are his comrades. In the hope that this will help to lighten your burden of grief, I would like to assure you that we too mourn the untimely departure of Dumisani Makhaye, uMagagula.

May he rest in peace!