Mr Speaker, on behalf of Cope, I would like to say that it is with sadness that we convey our heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Minister, Comrade Padayachie, his friends and the bigger family, the ANC. We are all united, not only in our desire to pay our last respects to Roy Padayachie, but to go on our knees to do so.
We pay this tribute to a remarkable son of the soil, who died with his boots on, on the battle field and in a foreign country, representing the South African government and the people of our motherland, South Africa.
Comrade Roy has written his book, but he has ended it with a different chapter by departing while on foreign soil, hard at work. I listened to speaker after speaker during the memorial service yesterday, 10 May 2012, reciting chapters from Comrade Roy's life. We can read the same chapters and say that he was a selfless human being who sacrificed his life up to the last day for the greater good of all of us in South Africa. What a remarkable man!
He was an open-minded person, who had no fear of expressing his views and engaging other views in the pursuit of honesty. As a committee member, I noted that, from when he was a Deputy Minister to the period when he was a Minister, he remained the same - simply Comrade Roy, with a down-to-earth tone, a sense of balance, and seriousness in dealing with all the challenges.
On the 21st, when he met with the committee, telling us what he was going to do with the budget, he summarised it in five key areas, about which I won't go into in detail, as time is short. As South Africans, we have indeed lost a leader of our time, who had vision and clarity of mind when it came to challenges.
The last chapter of his book should be called, "Qualification for an award and calls to regard him selfless, as human, a comrade, down to earth, community leader, teacher and hero, and the soldier who fell with his boots on".
Last night when I was reading and looking for a suitable poem for him, I found this poem, which is attributed to Ronald Rohr:
Bury my body, but do not bury my beliefs, Time will come when my life will cease. But when that time comes I ask that you remember these things Bury my body but don't bury my beliefs Bury my heart but don't bury my love Bury my eyes but not my vision Bury my feet but not the path of my life Bury my hands but don't bury my diligent efforts Bury my shoulders but not the concerns I carried Bury my voice but not my message Bury my mind but don't bury my dreams Bury me but don't bury my life. If you must bury something, let it be my faults and my weakness, but let my life continue on in you.
I ask that we let his soul rest in peace. Thank you. [Applause.]