Hon Speaker, hon members, we have been meeting in committees and coming to this House for the past five years. We have learnt to understand each other as family members do. It is therefore indeed very emotional to stand here knowing well that I am seeing some of these faces for the last time in my life.
I am short of words in thanking the UDM for deploying me in this Parliament to represent the people of South Africa, a duty I am satisfied I have done to the best of my ability. I am also grateful for having had the opportunity to meet these wonderful people.
My gratitude goes to all the chairpersons of the committees in which I served. They created platforms that enabled greater convergence and coherence of our best intellectual resources, contributing to more far- sighted legislation and effective implementation. In all the committees that I served in, we were like family members tolerating each other. An outsider would not even notice that we came from different political parties. Mr Speaker, I do not know how Parliament was in the previous terms because this is my first term. However, one thing that I am sure of is that you made this term a very interesting one. You maintained your neutrality as a presiding officer right through, and you also maintained the quintessence of politeness even in trying times. You have the patience of Job. This also goes for your Deputy Speaker and the House Chairs. They did a very good job. I commend them for that. [Applause.]
Hon members, my dear colleagues, regardless of what may happen to us in the next term, let us thank our parties for choosing us amongst all their members to come and represent South Africans here. This is an enormous and valuable experience that we could not have gotten anywhere else except here. Nobody will ever take it away from us. To those members who are not coming back, but are willing to come back, do not despair. This is not the end of the world. To frustrate yourself with something that you cannot change is very unfair to yourself. There is a proverb that says, "The die is cast."
Kwatshiwo emyezweni kwathiwa siza kufa ngokufa. Ayisoze itshintshe ke loo nto! [It was said from the garden of Eden that man will die and turn into dust. That can never be changed!]
I am not saying "niza kufa" [you will die]; all that I am saying is: Do not frustrate yourself with something that you are not going to change. You must always try to maintain a positive attitude even when things get tough. This reminds me of a quotation from the great Mahatma Gandhi:
Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviour. Keep your behaviour positive because your behaviour becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.
Your destiny is in your hands and not in anybody else's hands. If there are any who say, "We will see", prove them wrong! From the bottom of my heart, I would really love to see you in life after Parliament, the same people that you are now, of course, with reasonable wear-and-tear, because the age is catching up. Thank you. [Applause.]