Chairperson, hon members, Minister Molewa and Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday we learnt with absolute shock and sadness of the tragic news of the passing away of yet another veteran of the ANC, Prof Kader Asmal.
We were shocked because the tragic death of Comrade Asmal has happened in the same month when we have just buried yet another stalwart and champion of our people, Mama Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu.
Our nation has lost yet another humble servant. Prof Asmal was a fearless speaker for human rights. He dedicated his life to the fight for freedom and justice in South Africa. Allow me, Chair, to join hands with our compatriots throughout the country in solemn memory to this fallen, fearless advocate for freedom, human rights and justice.
Prof Kader Asmal showed true dedication and an unwavering commitment to the founding principles of our constitutional democracy, and to the ideals of a truly united, nonracial and nonsexist society. He was one of the architects of our democracy and of the human rights culture and discourse in our country.
Prof Asmal grew up in Stanger in rural KwaZulu-Natal and, while still a schoolboy, he met the late president of the ANC and the first African to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, the late Chief Albert Mvumbi Luthuli. Through his interaction with one of the leaders of the ANC and a great stalwart of our movement, Prof Asmal aspired to be a champion of our people and advocate for human rights, especially when it came to the repressive and discriminatory laws of the apartheid regime and the brutality that many of us endured under apartheid rule.
Prof Asmal spent most of his youth as a passionate teacher and a fearless advocate of human rights and international peace. He spoke against human rights abuses on the African continent, in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East, especially the plight of the people of Palestine.
In 1959 Kader qualified as a teacher and moved to London, where he continued with his studies to be a lawyer. Owing to his sharp acumen and astuteness in common law jurisprudence, he became a barrister specialising in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions. While in London, Prof Asmal continued to speak against the atrocities and repressive laws of the apartheid regime. He started the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and later the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement.
He returned to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC in 1990. He served as a member of the ANC's constitutional committee, which spearheaded the development of the ANC's constitutional guidelines that informed the current Constitution of our country. In 1993, he served as a member of the negotiating team of the ANC at the multiparty negotiating forum, joining an illustrious list of ANC leaders who spearheaded and championed the ending of apartheid rule in our country.
After the first democratic elections in 1994, Prof Asmal was elected to the National Assembly and served the South African people as the first Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry in a democratic South Africa. It is a coincidence that you are both here today. It is in this department that he championed various programmes and initiatives to expand our people's access to clean water.
After the 1999 elections, Prof Asmal became the Minister of Education where he championed the ANC government's literacy campaign. Among his initiatives as the Minister of Education was the launching in 2001 of the South African History Project to promote and enhance the conditions and status of the learning and teaching of history in the South African schooling system. Although Prof Asmal retired from active politics in 2008, he remained an extraordinary voice among human rights defenders in South Africa, the African continent and the Middle East.
Prof Asmal lived his life for the ANC and remained an ardent member of the ANC. We know that when Prof Asmal reaches the other side of life, he will join the rest of our heroes and heroines of the ANC. We know that when the roll call is read on the parade, we will find the name of Prof Asmal among those who will be present and ready to work.
He has run the race; he fought and became the victor. All that awaits him is the crown from John Langalibalele Dube, Alfred Xuma, James Sebe Moroka, Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Ida Mtwana, Lilian Ngoyi, Dorothy Nyembe and many other departed leaders of this glorious movement. He really deserves a good rest. May his soul rest in peace. Thank you, Chair. [Applause.]