Somlomo, i-Cope idlulisa uvelwano kwi-ANC ngokushiywa kwayo sisithwalandwe, intandane yethu, uMama uNontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu. [Speaker, Cope sends its condolences to the ANC on the loss of their veteran and icon, our beloved Mama Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu.]
After the death of Comrade Steve Biko, the University of Fort Hare was never the same for us young, married, women academics. We searched high and low for an answer and the truth, until we found uMama.
Her leadership skills manifested themselves at an early age, when she was chosen as head girl in Standard 5 at Xolobe.
Eso sikolo sakhe sisekhona nanamhlanje kwesikaNkosi uMnyhila obenguninalume, eTsomo, kwaye sithiywe ngegama lakhe. [Her school still exists even today in the district of Nkosi Mnyhila, her uncle, at Tsomo, and it has been named after her.]
She never abandoned the poor.
Abantu baseXolobe, amaZotsho, bayayibulela intombi yabo uMaNdlangisa, uThole, kuba engakhange ayilibale intlupheko yabo ngokuthi abakhele esi sikolo esebenzisana namaziko abucala. [The people of Xolobe, the amaZotsho clan, are grateful to their daughter, MaNdlangisa, Thole, because she never forgot their poor conditions and she built a school with the assistance of private institutions.]
The hallmark of her leadership was her intrinsic humility, ingrained with deep love for her traditional values.
KwaMama akulityalwa mngqusho, akulityalwa mvubo, akulityalwa ntyabonyti. uMa ubesoloko esithanda isintu sakhe ngalo lonke ixesha. [At Mama's home you would always find samp and beans, crumbly mealie meal porridge with sour milk, and melon. Mama always loved her culture and tradition.]
I am sure that many of our hon leaders here have seen that infectious smile whenever she was in her traditional wear.
UMama taught us good discipline. When we were young, as the ANC Women's League, we went to a conference, eMalibongwe, in Amsterdam, followed by a conference in Botswana, to meet with our leaders in exile. UMama insisted that we, the delegation of young South African women, be exemplary in our behaviour.
Of course, one look of disapproval from uMama was enough to let you know that you had overstepped your boundary. Her disciplined upbringing and remarkable ability to care for others made her one of the most remarkable mothers in our country.
For two years after the release of our leaders we shared offices with uMama, as our leader, at what later became known as the Shell House ... apho sasikumgangatho we-17, ootata bethu bekowama-24. [... where we occupied the 17th floor, and our male counterparts the 24th.]
Mama Sisulu lived by the ethos of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfika. She hated racism with a passion. She wanted all the people of our country to rise above the racism that degraded our humanity. Her reach was broad and her persuasive influence was total. When a life has been lived as completely, courageously, honestly, selflessly and successfully as Mama's, the correct response to the punctuation mark in that life is for us to carry on her legacy.
Thina ke besingamaphelo akhe kuba besibancinci. Ngoku kufuneka thina sikhulise la wethu amaphelo - ooNdabeni, ooMazibuko, oo-Adams, ooManana, ooBabalwa abahloniphekileyo - ngamaphelo ethu. Kufuneka sibenzele umzekelo wokuba umama ukhulisa njani na. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[We were like her last-born children because we were young. Now it is our turn to raise our own last-born children - such as hon Ndabeni, Mazibuko, Adams, Manana, and Babalwa - they are our last-born children. We must be exemplary and show them how a mother raises her children.]
The question worth asking is: Can we in honesty say that we too live by the values that she cherished and act with the courage that she showed? Our generation is so willing to compromise the truth and so ready to suppress that truth. In her remarkable life she showed how the truth sets a person free.
UMama leaves the world uncontaminated in any way and with her name unblemished in any manner. She departs with a perfect testimonial. Her name and what she stood for must be defended because they bore a remarkable similarity to the values that are enshrined in our Constitution.
One who followed her and one who abided by the spirit of the Constitution would have been companions on the same path. We mourn her loss, but let us never mourn the loss of the principles and values she stood for. That would be a loss too great for us to bear.
Ithi ke Ma i-Cope: "Hamba kakuhle. Lala ntombi, mzukulwana wakwaMnyhila, Thole, MaNdlangisa, maze' ebhonxe amabele eyenyisa isizwe sonke." Masimkhululeni ahambe kuba umzamo omhle uwuzamile; ugqatso ulufezile; ukholo ulugcinile. Okwethu kukubambelela. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[Cope says to you, Mama: "Farewell. Rest in peace, beloved daughter, grandchild of Mnyhila, Thole, MaNdlangisa, a mother who fed the whole nation." We need to let her go because she has fought a good fight, she has finished the race and has kept the faith. Ours is never to give up, but to hold on.]
I would like to sing: