Mr Speaker, "Mistress Winkie" Maele Isabel Direko was nobody's mother, but a mother to all. Her lifetime commitment to service to all presented her with several opportunities to serve the community she resided in. She was a leader who understood the basic law of science that nature does not allow a vacuum. She was always there to serve when service was required.
She was a teacher who understood that education was not meant to produce quantity, but quality. She was a domestic science teacher at Sehunelo High School in Bloemfontein where, incidentally, I was a student. Despite this position, she behaved and was treated like a school principal, which she later became. I haven't met any student who claimed to have been a victim of corporal punishment from Mistress Winkie, but there are a lot who have been the recipients of her sharp rebuke at one time or another. She knew how to shout at anybody who was out of order.
She was a community worker who belonged to a range of nongovernmental organisations, which included the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders, Nicro, the Girl Guides Association, and the National Council of African Women. She was proud of her membership of these organisations and gave her all to them. She was an inspiration and a mentor to all those who came into contact with her.
She regarded a political office as an extension of her community work. There is a lot of a talk about her work amongst the poor. When she was the Premier of the Free State, she intervened with a number of banks to save people who were going to be liquidated. Some of these businesspeople are now multimillionaires. Therefore it was not nice to be a bank manager during Mistress Winkie's tenure as Premier of the Free State!
She was a premier with empathy. Whilst she treated members of her executive council as colleagues, she always referred to them as her children! That is why she would suggest that we put money together to buy a suit for an MEC because of his Sanco background, and next she would call another one to order by saying, and I quote, "When you die, I will go to your funeral and say, 'Here lies a fool who could not keep quiet.'" [Laughter.] Mistress Winkie was a lot of things to a lot of people. At her funeral more was revealed of what she did during the dark days of apartheid. Although nature does not allow a vacuum, it's going to be difficult to replace her. To the Direko, Matjoa and Motsepe families, I can only say, "Gomotsegang." Ke a leboga. ["Condolences to you." Thank you.] [Applause.]